Chessington District Residents’ Association attended the launch by Kingston Giving of their research ‘What Kingston Thinks’. Over a six-month period during 2024, two hundred residents were interviewed about their views on living and working in the borough of Kingston.
Overall respondents were positive about living in Kingston with 94% responding that they were ‘very’ or ‘somewhat satisfied’ with Kingston as a place to live. However, only 33% said their mental health and wellbeing was going well. Long waiting times for mental health care and accessing child and adolescent mental health services were rated lowest.
The event was convened by Hicky Kingsbury, chief executive officer of Kingston Giving with speakers including Leader of the Council, Councillor Andreas Kirch. The event was attended by councillors, officers and voluntary and community representatives.
The insights from this research are now shaping and shifting Kingston Giving’s priorities, with a focus on addressing mental health as the most pressing need identified in the report.
Context
Kingston is the third-smallest London borough with around 167,000 residents. The overall crime rate is low with 60.3 crimes per 1000 people in Kingston compared to the London average of 105 per 1000. Kingston’s population is ageing with 14.5% over 65, a number anticipated to grow by nearly 50% in 20 years. Currently, 67% are aged 15-64, 24% are under 20. While Chessington has the highest number of individuals with disabilities (16.1%), while Kingston borough is below the national average with 13.1% residents.
Who is Kingston Giving
Kingston Giving – previously Kingston Charitable Trust – connects residents and fosters collaboration across public, private and voluntary sectors, empowering residents to tackle issues and inequalities across Kingston. Through grants giving and resource sharing, Kingston Giving’s purpose it to drive positive change.
Read the full report