Social isolation impacts on personal mental health and physical health.  Liberal Democrat Councillors Dave Murphy and Chris Gloster bring a motion for the 17June Oldham Council meeting.  Loneliness has a significant negative impact on the community.  The idea behind Chatty Checkouts and Chatty Cafes is to get people speaking to one another. This is at designated tables in cafes and shop checkouts counters.  People can forge friendships and escape the trap of isolation.

Oldham has already begun to pioneer this idea, but the Liberal Democrats want to take this further and get Oldham Council behind it.

Councillor Murphy comments: “Councillors should be constantly to looking at new ways to solve this ever-present issue.  Oldham Borough is aspiring to be an Age-Friendly local authority.  We need to take the first step as Councillors in backing this.”

Councillor Gloster had this to say: “Loneliness and isolation don’t just affect the elderly in society.  The highest suicide rates apply to single men aged in their 40’s.  The Oldham Liberal Democrats want people from all backgrounds to get talking.  Together we can combat the evils of segregation.”

The Council meeting will be held on 17June and starts at 6pm.

Copy of Motion:

Council June 17, 2020 – Notice of Opposition Business, Motion 3 – Chatty Checkouts and Cafés

Social isolation impacts on personal mental health and physical health.  This also has a negative impact on the community.  Councillors should be committed to looking at innovative ways of addressing this issue.  This commitment must form part of Oldham Borough aspiring to be an Age-Friendly local authority.

Council notes that:

• In the UK the Chatty Café Scheme (https://thechattycafescheme.co.uk/) has been established with 900 participating outlets so far offering opportunities for customers to converse at Chatter and Natter Tables.  Costa Coffee has become the scheme’s first national partner.
• The Pub in the Hub scheme is offering support to public houses joining the scheme.
• In the Netherlands Chatter Checkouts have been introduced in supermarkets, dedicated lanes where interaction between the customer and staff member is purposefully expected to take longer as conversation forms part of the transaction.
• Local authority run premises, such as libraries, leisure centres, and the local markets; health centres and hospitals run by the NHS; and pubs, cafes, shopping centres and retail parks run by business partners have potential to host such schemes.
• Operators of supermarkets and other retailers in the Borough may wish to establish Chatter Checkouts, maybe at quieter times of the trading week.
• There will be many people suffering from mental ill-health from the isolation of lockdown measures following the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Council resolves to:

• Ask the Chief Executive to write to the Chatty Café Scheme offering this Council’s support after Coronavirus lockdown measures have lifted.
• Ask the Overview and Scrutiny and Health Scrutiny Boards, in consultation with Age UK Oldham and District Teams, to 1.  Examine the practicalities of introducing Chatter and Natter Tables in Council premises, 2.  Identify where they could be established, 3.  Identify how referrals to such provision might form part of social prescribing.
• Ask the Chief Executive to write to Town Centre Partnership Board and major supermarket chains in the Borough for their views and suggestions for establishing Chatter and Natter Tables and Chatter Checkouts.
• Ensure that the Council’s website has a link to the Chatty Café Scheme.
• Engage with local market stall holders and vendors asking them to participate.

Proposed by:  Councillor Dave Murphy, Seconded by: Councillor Chris Gloster