Oldham - Clarksfield, Greenacres and Littlemoor
Key points
- The NEON community centre was reinvigorated to become an award-winning hub, which enhanced wellbeing through volunteer-led social activities and support groups.
- The partnership brought different local communities together by creating safe play and social spaces in previously disused parks and alleyways.
- A community growing space with a café, workshops and social activities helped create new friendships.
About the Big Local area
The Oldham Big Local area covered three adjoining areas in Greater Manchester which were home to 9,472 people in 2021 – Clarksfield, Greenacres and Littlemoor (ONS, 2022a). In 2012 each neighbourhood had its own distinct community, with distinct demographics and divided infrastructure (including a busy main road).
Clarksfield – a tight network of terraced houses and back-alleys – had community assets including a school, Clarksfield Community Group, and Arundel Park. Arundel Park was the sole public space and historically a source of local concern around antisocial behaviour. Greenacres was made up of larger homes with gardens (managed by the main housing association), and some terraced housing. At the time of Big Local, its assets included two play areas and two community centres – Greenacres and the Networking in East Oldham Neighbourhoods (NEON) Centre. The Littlemoor estate – made up of small flats and maisonettes – had a more transient population, with a high concentration of single and older people. Assets included a children’s centre and Waterhead Park.
The Big Local partnership reflected that residents in Clarksfield and Greenacres were ethnically diverse, while Littlemoor residents were largely white. In 2021, over 40 per cent of residents across all three areas were from Asian communities, predominantly of Pakistani heritage (ONS, 2023a; 2023b). The overall area had a relatively young population, with a third of residents under the age of 19 (ONS, 2022b). Compared to elsewhere in the North West, homes were more likely to be overcrowded (ONS, 2023c). Health needs were also high, while rates of physical activity were low (MHCLG, 2019; Sport England, 2023). Over half of children aged 0–19 in the overall area lived in relative low-income families (DWP, 2024).
How the Big Local area approached delivery
From the inception of the Oldham Big Local partnership in 2013, consultations and annual reviews identified consistent priorities: improving the physical environment, providing activities, and promoting wellbeing and community spirit. Initially, most of the partnership were non-resident professionals and agencies, who focused on funding organisations to deliver activities. However, in 2016, the partnership took steps to increase resident involvement and ensure balanced engagement across the area. They changed their constitution, designated voting places for residents from Clarksfield, Greenacres, and Littlemoor, and recruited two additional development workers who engaged residents and identified needs within each area. Investment was also targeted for each neighbourhood.
The newly resident-led partnership soon developed into a stable, committed group, with a resident chair who remained in place until the end of the programme. Members included active residents and supportive representation from the council, local school and community organisations. Resident members met before partnership meetings, enabling them to identify priorities and ensure decision-making was resident-led.
The partnership moved from delivering one-off activities led by existing organisations to improving community assets and building local capacity to deliver longer-lasting projects. Residents developed skills to get things done, and individual projects acted as catalysts for positive change. Partnership members described this community capacity as “the Big Local web”, which was able to continue beyond Big Local despite the lack of a legacy organisation, because hubs and activities had become embedded in the community.
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.
What the Big Local area did
Health and wellbeing
Creating a community growing space
In 2016, a resident gained council support to convert a disused bowling green in Littlemoor’s Waterhead Park. The Oldham partnership welcomed them as a member and worked with residents, groups, and funders to create Veg in the Park (VIP), a community growing hub. Over the following eight years, Big Local funding was invested in developing the space with gardening equipment, landscaping, and sessional and part-time workers. Alongside external funding, this resulted in a thriving volunteer-run café, a crafting and woodworking workshop, and multiple growing spaces. As well as selling fruit and vegetables, the site provided homes for beehives, a pond, a bug hotel, and a resident hedgehog.
Veg in the Park played a role in bringing the community together, through a range of initiatives including the Little Sprouts gardening club, life-skills sessions for young people with care experience, a pizza-making evening for 100 residents, and a long-lasting highly valued bereavement group. Another example of the space’s broad-reaching impact was a wake held for an older resident. Attended by 70 people this event celebrated their life and acknowledged the importance of Veg in the Park for them.
The initiative helped to develop residents’ gardening skills, foster friendships, and keep people informed about activities in the area. Volunteers were proud of bringing the park back into community use and reported that it supported their wellbeing. The council agreed to continue funding maintenance and utilities costs, securing this work as part of Big Local’s legacy in the area.
Community assets and spaces
Rejuvenating the NEON Centre as a central hub
The existing Networking in East Oldham Neighbourhoods (NEON) Centre in Greenacres sat at the intersection of the three neighbourhoods in the Oldham Big Local area. The centre was in a state of disrepair, and not fully functional structurally or in terms of its equipment provision. The partnership felt it had potential to become a wider community hub, and Big Local funding was invested in the building, IT equipment, kitchen, boiler, and roof.
NEON offered a range of targeted activities, alongside events bringing together residents from across Clarksfield, Greenacres, and Littlemoor. These included a Friday brunch delivered by Veg in the Park volunteers, which regularly attracted 30 residents; a weekly cooking class for people with additional needs; a knit-and-natter group; and a men’s peer-support group. Most activities became volunteer-led, including instances of those who benefited from the groups becoming volunteers.
NEON grew into a one-stop-shop for local services, acting as an IT hub, a neutral space for family mediation, and a venue for councillors’ surgeries. Its success was driven by an open ethos, and strong relationships with users and partner agencies. Its achievements were recognised through winning a 2021 Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. Towards the end of the programme, NEON’s legacy was established when the council committed ongoing funds to run a multipurpose hub where residents could seek housing and debt advice.
Returning a disused park to community use
From the inception of Oldham Big Local, Clarksfield residents had expressed desire for safe community spaces and facilities. In response, the partnership brought the disused local Arundel Park back into community use. With match-funding from the council, they cleared the area, created a football pitch, and installed play equipment, an outdoor gym and picnic benches. In 2024, further Big Local funding was again matched by the council to support new plans for a multi-sports area.
The project helped to unite communities, for example, one Bonfire Night a community barbeque was held in the restored Arundel Park – a place residents had previously reported as feeling unsafe. The revamped park also provided a space for events that drew in hundreds of people from across the Big Local area, such as the Great Get Together, an annual celebration of everything that united the Clarksfield, Greenacres, and Littlemoor communities.
Cleaning, greening and transforming alleyways
Cleaning up and bringing back-alleys into use as community spaces was an early and ongoing priority for the Oldham partnership, responding to community feedback that had been consistent in consultations from the start. They secured grant-funding for the project, which was matched by the council. The partnership mobilised residents and the local community association to create cleaner, greener spaces that championed residents’ voices in a bespoke design approach. For example, some alleys were prioritised as safe play-spaces and were tarmacked and marked-up for hopscotch, while others were transformed into social spaces and landscaped with benches and plants.
The partnership reflected that these changes had wider community impacts, as residents participated in clean-ups, and accidents and fly-tipping decreased. During the area’s Covid-19 lockdowns, the alleyways served as safe spaces for walking and playing. During the Queens Jubilee in 2022 and Eid, alleyway parties brought together neighbours who hadn’t previously met.
Community engagement
Supporting residents to develop sustainable groups and activities
Key to Oldham Big Local partnership’s ethos was building residents’ confidence to leverage in other funds. They supported residents and groups in two ways – with small grants, and by encouraging them to access funding, training, and governance support from a local community infrastructure organisation. As a result, Veg in the Park established themselves to go forward as a community interest company (CIC); Clarksfield Community Group was strengthened by enhanced skills, governance, and funding; and new local groups were forged. In an example of both strands of their approach, the partnership supported residents to qualify as football coaches, who then ran football teams after gaining private-sector funding.
Towards the end of the programme, the partnership reflected that one of their greatest achievements was being a catalyst for positive change through their small-grants scheme (the ‘Treasure Chest’), leaving a legacy of self-sustaining resident-led initiatives.
How the Big Local area spent their funding
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 Oldham Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
References
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2024) ‘Children in low income families: local area statistics’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (2019) ‘English indices of deprivation 2019: Health deprivation and disability domain’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census: All persons’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Age structure of the population: Population aged under 19’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh: Pakistani’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023c) ‘UK Census 2021: Overcrowded housing’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)
Sport England (2023) ‘Active Lives survey: adult small area estimates Nov 21–22’. (Accessed 23 January 2025)