Collyhurst
Key points
- Underused local green spaces were developed, which encouraged community connections, supported locally grown food, and created a better environment.
- The partnership became the first funder of Yes! Manchester, an award-winning charity established in 2016 to help north Manchester residents find employment, access volunteering and learning opportunities, and improve their digital skills.
- Local people were supported to have a voice and influence in local regeneration plans, including liaising with the council and developers and initiating a Residents’ Charter to provide a framework for local people to have a say in housing plans.
About the Big Local area
Situated in an inner-city area of Manchester 1.5 miles northeast of the city centre, Collyhurst had a population of around 3700 residents (ONS, 2022). Funding for Collyhurst Big Local was announced in 2013, against a backdrop of huge redevelopment taking place in the area. This period of notable change left some residents feeling disenfranchised.
Collyhurst was a site of ongoing investment and redevelopment for many decades. Its Victorian back-to-back housing terraces were demolished in the 1960s and replaced with high-rise flats and maisonettes. Housing during the Big Local programme was 20 per cent owner occupied compared with over 60 per cent regionally (ONS, 2023a), with a high proportion of the local population in social housing (ONS, 2023b).
The Collyhurst Big Local area contained several housing estates, and a lack of mixing between residents on each estate had led to some separation between local communities. The area lacked facilities, containing only a few shops and a small number of closed pubs, which many residents remembered as thriving centres of community activity.
How the Big Local area approached delivery
The Collyhurst Big Local partnership comprised members from all over Collyhurst, along with representatives from local voluntary organisations, churches, and public sector stakeholders, including housing. Because Collyhurst was home to several individual housing estates with minimal social crossover between them, most existing community-led activity took place within each estate. The partnership largely focused on uniting these discrete parts of the area.
Making environmental improvements (such as walking routes) and supporting residents to have a say in plans affecting the local environment was a central theme from the beginning. Partnership members engaged with neighbours, local leaders, businesses, and community organisations to understand the issues that Collyhurst was facing and to be able to support projects that would improve the lives of local people.
Decisions were informed by community conversations, which brought local people together around discussing Big Local investment plans for the area. Food and drink were provided, and local volunteers played an important part. Alongside these more formal consultations, the partnership also engaged the community through discovery days, newsletters, and social media.
Manchester Communication Academy (MCA), a local secondary school with longstanding roots in the area, was the partnership’s Locally Trusted Organisation (LTO). MCA were able to make use of their rich local knowledge to help the partnership direct their funding to places it could make the biggest impact. For over half of Collyhurst Big Local’s lifetime they also had access to a funded Big Local worker, who helped co-ordinate resident engagement, projects, and celebration events. The partnership established three sub-groups early on, for youth, people, and places to match their priority themes.
New housing developments created a lot of uncertainty among residents. Many felt unclear about what the plans were, how they would be affected, and even if they would be able to stay in their homes. Initially, a housing agency and the Collyhurst Big Local partnership helped guide key conversations about these developments between residents and the council.
Later on in the programme, the partnership established Connecting Collyhurst, a community group set up to be the primary vehicle for these local planning conversations going forward. Operating as part of the local St. George’s Community Centre, the group’s focus was supporting the community’s voice for the future. As well as describing the intended outcome of the group, the name Connecting Collyhurst also articulated a central aim of Collyhurst Big Local.
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.
A locally trusted organisation (LTO) was the organisation chosen by people in a Big Local area or the partnership to administer and account for funding, and/or deliver activities or services on behalf of a partnership. Areas might have worked with more than one locally trusted organisation depending on the plan and the skills and resources required.
What the Big Local area did
Resident leadership
Supporting the community’s voice in local regeneration plans
Collyhurst Big Local were involved in developing a Residents’ Charter that helped to address local housing regeneration plans and set out minimum standards for consultation. It also specified how decisions should be made, and how residents could have input into them. Respondents supported the idea of the charter, with many stating that they felt that this would safeguard their interests in the future.
The partnership also worked with a charity specialising in community development and engagement to support residents to frame their conversations with developers and the council.
Local economy
Improving employment opportunities for local people
Improving local employment and training opportunities was an important strand of Collyhurst Big Local’s plan for the area. In 2013, a project called Yes! Manchester was established to provide a free, holistic approach to supporting local people into work, education, and training. Based in the heart of Collyhurst, the service offered a computer suite to all residents, alongside partnering with other agencies to help and support social enterprise start-ups.
Collyhurst Big Local provided early investment in Yes! Manchester, helping the enterprise to get started. The partnership also allocated funds to specialist support for new enterprises in Collyhurst, which included a new café, a furniture upcycling shop, and a Construction Training Academy.
Supporting financial well-being
In the early days of Collyhurst Big Local, residents reported feeling that low incomes and badly managed debt were among the top factors contributing to poor quality of life. Through networking with other Big Local areas, the partnership learned about Community Money Advice (CMA), a national charity established to help people tackle financial problems. They felt CMA’s approach was a good fit with what they were trying to achieve in the area. This led to the partnership funding a pilot money education project, which confirmed the need for a debt advice service for residents. From here, Gateway M40 – a local, independent debt and money advice charity – was established by a local vicar who co-chaired Collyhurst Big Local.
Gateway M40 comprised local volunteers trained as debt advisors, including some residents with lived experience of financial challenges. The project enabled £4 million of debt in the area to be addressed, and secured £1 million added to incomes through corrected benefit claims.
Community assets and spaces
Investing in a footbridge and community-centred walking routes
One of the partnership’s main ambitions was to build a new pedestrian bridge across the River Irk, connecting residents from nearby Smedley Dip to the rest of Collyhurst. With support from Groundwork, a local organisation involved in a broader Connecting Collyhurst project, the bridge was officially unveiled in 2019.
The new Irk Valley Bridge improved accessibility to local schools and public facilities for people in and around the Collyhurst area. It also made a positive visible change to the local environment, including the incorporation of local children’s artwork into the walking route.
Investing in young people
Supporting a local youth organisation to help young people
Supporting young people in the area was another important goal for Collyhurst Big Local. They directed some of their funding towards YPAC, a local youth and play work charity, who established a youth work team to engage young people in Collyhurst.
The team helped build trusted relationships with local young people. They also identified and engaged young people at risk of involvement in anti-social behaviour or criminal activity, or who were struggling at school. The initiative provided informal support to local young people, offering them opportunities to develop new enterprises and realise their potential.
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 Collyhurst Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
References
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. (Accessed 9 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘UK Census 2021: Owner occupied housing’. (Accessed 9 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: Social rented housing’. (Accessed 9 October 2024)