Leys Community Roadshow - First Step In a Long Journey to Equality
A new event brought organisations and local community members under the one roof for the first time.
In a first for Blackbird Leys, an event held earlier this week in the Leisure Centre aimed to bring community representatives and people using their services under one roof.
The Leys Community Roadshow saw about 68 different organisations including Thames Valley Police, who were there providing career information, The Museum of Oxford, the NHS and many others all there to, as organiser Shabnam Sabir said, “come out from behind their screens and meet the people they work with.”
Parish councillor for Blackbird Leys and trustee of local charity Leys CDI, Dan Wadsworth described the event as “great”, adding he’d found it useful to speak with many new people, form new connections and learn more about the community.
Sabir, who only began her job as Oxford City Council’s locality manager for the Leys area in July of this year is passionate about helping others. Describing herself as Oxford born and bred, she’s been working in the community for over 20 years.
Soon after beginning her Council job, she knew she needed to bring everyone together and make connections so vital for everyone’s work.
When the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, was published last month, she already knew what the findings in Oxford would be.
Published for the first time since 2019, the report provides the government’s most detailed measure of relative deprivation across England.
The data ranks areas according to seven domains: income, employment, health, education, crime, housing, and the living environment.
These indicators show where communities face the greatest social and economic disadvantage, helping councils, charities and local organisations identify need and where to target support.
The 2025 figures offer an updated picture of inequality after years of economic pressure, the pandemic and rising living costs - all highly impacting places like Blackbird Leys.
Sabir notes that although there’s been some improvement in tackling deprivation since 2019, there’s more inequality in the community than ever.