The Big Local area was based in Revoe, a small, densely populated area of Blackpool, near the iconic Blackpool Tower and seafront (ONS, 2023a). In 2021, the area was home to 3,373 people (ONS, 2022a), 27 per cent of whom were aged under 16, compared to 18 per cent in Blackpool (ONS, 2022b). Three-quarters of the population were White British (ONS, 2023b).
Most residents lived in terraced streets either side of the busy thoroughfare of Central Drive (ONS, 2023c). Over half the area’s homes were privately rented (ONS, 2023d), which contributed to a mix of transient and long-established communities. Revoe was one of the 10 per cent most deprived neighbourhoods in the country (MHCLG, 2019a) and, compared to regional averages, residents experienced high levels of unemployment and poor health (DWP, 2025a; 2025b; MHCLG, 2019b).
The area had few green spaces and limited options for hosting community activities. However, residents had access to a library, community centre, school, mosque, and church, and the nearby Revoe Park. Despite financial and infrastructure challenges, residents reflected that an active community of volunteers was invested in improving the area.
From the beginning of Big Local, the partnership consulted residents in the Blackpool Revoe Big Local area (known locally as Revoelution). This helped them identify four priorities: improving the local environment, engaging and supporting local communities, building capacity, and investing in young people. Underpinned by a desire to promote residents’ health and wellbeing, their long-term vision was an empowered community able to help itself.
The partnership averaged eight resident members, who led activities and organised community events. Blackpool Coastal Housing, a local vicar, and councillors were included as non-voting members. Several long-serving members joined the partnership after participating in Revoelution activities and getting involved in volunteering or leading projects. They valued the partnership’s informal support and encouragement, which equipped them with skills and confidence to organise events and create community groups.
The partnership prioritised delivering activities themselves, representing residents’ views, and partnering with specialist services and commissioners. With support from a project manager, freelance engagement practitioners, and youth workers, the Revoelution partnership offered a comprehensive programme of activities at their dedicated hub.
The partnership built relationships with residents and gained information about their needs and interests by regularly knocking on every door in the area. During the Covid-19 pandemic they knocked on every door twice and held over 1,100 doorstep conversations, following up with food parcels and household items as needed. Recognising that this proactive approach engaged residents while identifying and responding to unmet needs, the Revoelution team continued to visit households twice a year after the pandemic.
Partnership members represented residents’ views in various contexts. For example, some participated in forums around levelling-up and regeneration, some attended meetings with the Department of Work and Pensions, and one presented at an All-Party Parliamentary Group for ‘left-behind’ neighbourhoods. The links developed with the community were recognised by organisations like Blackpool Council and the NHS, who both commissioned Revoelution to engage with residents around local issues. As a result, the partnership was able to support more residents, while influencing powerholders.
Towards the end of Big Local, the partnership set-up a charity, with their members as trustees, committed to continuing their work after Big Local. Members reflected that the Big Local partnership’s legacy was visible in a more engaged community, sustainable resident-led activities, and lasting partnerships.
A Big Local partnership was a group made up of at least eight people that guided the overall direction of delivery in a Big Local area.
Early on, the partnership created the Revoelution Hub to provide much-needed community space. Blackpool Coastal Housing offered a converted house rent-free. Partnership members reflected that it had a welcoming, open-door feel, with volunteers tending vegetables and flowers in the garden and residents dropping in for a chat.
A few years later, the Revoelution Big Local partnership established a programme of resident-led activities in the hub, including the warm hub, job club, and targeted sessions for youth groups and Eastern-European residents (as the partnership observed a growing Eastern-European community in the area). Attracting around a hundred residents weekly, volunteers helped establish the hub as a trusted place for advice and support. Residents could access services from specialist providers, such as counselling and housing advice, while Blackpool Council Discretionary Support funds helped the partnership to distribute food parcels and household items. As the programme came to an end, the partnership planned for these initiatives to continue beyond Big Local.
Towards the end of Big Local, after unsuccessful efforts to secure space for informal gatherings, performance events, and markets, Big Local funding was invested in creating a temporary public square on the site of a demolished pub. As the square was on private land, the centrepiece (a large platform) was designed to be easy to dismantle and move.
Working with LeftCoast (a local arts organisation) and the University of Central Lancashire, the partnership supported residents from diverse communities to co-design and construct the platform. The project was planned during community workshops and residents made bespoke tiles to cover the platform, incorporating upcycled bottles, shells, and demolition debris.
In the first year, the Revoelution partnership used the platform to host a circus-skills workshop, choir, poetry readings, and a National Gallery pop-up studio. In 2025, the project’s value was acknowledged by the MacEwen Architecture Award, celebrating architecture for the common good. The competition judges described the square as a catalyst for further activities and creation.
Several Eastern-European families moved into the Revoe Big Local area, facing barriers navigating local systems, accessing services, and building relationships within the community. Towards the end of the programme, Blackpool Council approached Revoelution and offered £30,000 funding to support these residents. The partnership recruited an Eastern-European resident who worked with another Revoelution worker to build trust and participation with these residents. Over an 18-month period they provided in-depth support to 76 families.
Residents were supported with immigration processes, welfare benefits, debt management, food parcels, healthcare service access, and school placement. Weekly advice and support sessions continued throughout Big Local, along with English classes. Serving as a vital link between residents and agencies (like social services), the partnership provided interpretation and support at crucial meetings, for example helping residents obtain settled immigration status and healthcare for their children.
The Revoelution partnership helped foster a more cohesive community by organising events to bring diverse groups together and supporting residents to get involved. For example, they supported a Caribbean resident to establish a regular Caribbean café that brought residents of diverse backgrounds together. In 2025, the partnership worked with residents to organise a celebration for Children’s Day – a Romanian national holiday – bringing together over 100 people from different communities. They enjoyed donated food from a local Romanian-owned restaurant, while children performed songs, played on a bouncy castle, and participated in games and creative activities.
The partnership also organised their own events, like an over-55s lunch club and the Summer 2024 fun day. Partnership members and volunteers created a homely environment at the weekly lunch club, serving a sit-down meal for 40 people, who joined in themed events and day trips. The club helped residents experiencing social isolation to meet people, relax, and have fun.
The Summer fun day entertained more than 300 people across the Revoelution Hub and its garden, the public square, and a mobile stage. A local band, dance troupes, and young DJs performed, and children enjoyed donkey rides and face-painting. As residents relaxed together, one said the event, “lifted people’s spirits”, while a Big Local worker reflected that Revoe had become a community of communities.
Building on the success of the fun day, the following year Revoelution was awarded £9,000 by Blackpool Council to bring communities together. The partnership developed a project steering group with residents from diverse backgrounds, contributing to their legacy of resident-led change.
Many Big Local partnerships funded workers to support the delivery of Big Local. They were paid individuals, as opposed to those who volunteered their time. They were different from Big Local reps and advisors, who were appointed and paid by Local Trust.
Reflecting the high percentage of young people in the area, the partnership prioritised engagement with young people. They began by connecting with young people on the streets and listening to their concerns, before setting up three weekly clubs.
The Juniors Club, for children aged 9 to 11, launched in mid-way through Big Local, offering trips, arts and crafts, and sporting activities (like skateboarding sessions), which one young resident described as, “the most fun I’ve had for years”. A youth worker highlighted that the club’s emphasis on free play enabled children to plan activities within agreed boundaries, which catered to their individual needs and boosted their self-esteem. Creative projects like Proud to be Me celebrated young residents’ diverse cultures and unique talents.
The partnership also organised football sessions in Revoe Park with the aim of moving football away from residential streets. Up to 40 children attended twice-weekly sessions led by Football Association coaches. While developing their skills, participants learned to manage their emotions and grew in confidence. Big Local funding was then invested in an all-weather football pitch in the park. The facility opened as Big Local was ending in 2025, and was well-used by the partnership, the local football club, and the school.
Towards the end of Big Local, the Revoelution partnership launched a photography club for young people aged 11 to 21, some of whom had additional learning needs. During weekly sessions, participants learned photography techniques and took photos of their area. After visiting galleries in Bradford and Liverpool the young residents were inspired to host their own exhibition. With the support of the Revoelution youth worker, the club met with the local college’s Head of Art, who helped them with planning.
A Big Local worker reflected that Photography Club members gained skills and confidence in expressing their emotions and opinions, while widening their horizons, since several had never travelled by train or spent time outside Blackpool. One club member joined the partnership as a youth representative.
The partnership’s links with the community led a range of agencies to approach them. For example, towards the end of the programme, the NHS Integrated Care Board approached Revoelution and commissioned them to research factors behind the area’s high rate of unplanned hospital admissions.
With £30,000 funding from the NHS, the partnership spent two years conducting 80 doorstep conversations, visiting community organisations, facilitating discussion groups, and holding a consultation event involving residents and health professionals. The research identified key health issues and empowered the partnership to advocate for community health services. For instance, they successfully persuaded the Integrated Care Board to fund regular blood-pressure checks and a GP surgery to provide mental health support workers for young people.
Throughout the programme, partnership members encouraged and supported one another to lead activities, including a job club at the Revoelution Hub. From mid-way through Big Local, the job club supported residents to search for jobs, use computers, find housing, and claim benefits. Led by skilled partnership members, the club empowered residents to help themselves, find and maintain work, and develop their skills and confidence.
Each Big Local area received approximately £1.2 million (ranging from £1.199 mil to 1.209 mil) to spend over 10–15 years, depending on how much additional funding they accessed from Local Trust to address specific needs. For example, to bring people together at the start of the programme or to access training and support. This has been categorised for areas and at the programme level based on reports received from areas.
Partnerships chose their own priorities and categories for reporting, and were encouraged to use broad categories so they could use the funding flexibly. All areas spent a significant amount of money on ‘Big Local delivery costs’ such as workers’ salaries, stationery and IT equipment. You can find out more about programme level spend in this article. This is how Blackpool Revoe Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2025a) ‘People on universal credit: not in employment’. (Accessed 2 December)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2025b) ‘Jobseekers allowance’. (Accessed 2 December 2025)
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (2019a) ‘English indices of deprivation 2019’. (Accessed 2 December2025)
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (2019b) ‘English indices of deprivation 2019: Health deprivation and disability domain’. (Accessed 2 December2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. (Accessed 2 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Age structure of the population: Population aged under 16’. (Accessed 2 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘UK Census 2021: Population density’. (Accessed 2 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group:
White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British’. (Accessed 2 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023c) ‘UK Census 2021: Whole house or bungalow: Terraced. (Accessed 2 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023d) ‘UK Census 2021: Private rented housing: Private landlord or letting agency’. (Accessed 2 December 2025)
