Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local covered three semi-rural villages — Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe — in a former mining community in north-east Derbyshire. The area’s total population was 6,615 (ONS, 2022a) with the number of households in the area having increased by 8 per cent between 2011 and 2021 (ONS, 2012; 2022b). Levels of deprivation related to health and disability were higher in the Big Local area than in the East Midlands generally (MHCLG, 2019), as was the percentage of children aged 0–19 in low-income families (DWP, 2025).
Housing within the area boundary comprised a mix of terraced homes, with Elmton featuring more rural detached homes. Within the boundary, there was a well-known archaeological site known as the Creswell Crags, featuring caves and unique cave art, and a museum attracting visitors throughout the year. The partnership noted that some residents struggled with connectivity due to it being a rural area, but that there was also a strong sense of community pride associated with the area’s rich history and that residents had access to a number of local amenities.
Following initial consultation with the community, Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local partnership identified four core priorities. These were: providing opportunities to bring people together; environmental and aesthetic improvements to the area; improving the local economy by focusing on local heritage and tourism; and increasing leisure activities, particularly for children and young people.
The Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local partnership was made up of residents from across the three villages, including parish councillors. They employed a dedicated worker to support delivery. In their first plan from 2014, the partnership laid out what they hoped to achieve: a community that can celebrate its past while being proud of what it has to offer for future generations; a community with spirit, in which newcomers feel welcome and tourists feel the connection between the community and Creswell Crags; a community of diverse needs and opinions, united over one shared vision; and a happier and healthier environment, home to individuals proud of where they live and able to demonstrate positive change.
The partnership originally organised themselves into subgroups based on their priorities. However, this made it difficult to make decisions and progress projects, due to a lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Instead, they decided to have designated project leads who were responsible for driving projects forward. The partnership reflected that this helped them to get things done, although at times meant that work was not evenly distributed across the group.
The Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local partnership worked closely with local parish, district and county councils. This enabled them to access vital resources to deliver big projects and build relationships that would benefit the community. For example, the partnership felt that effective working with local councils had given them access to land, additional funding and expertise (such as legal advice).
The partnership valued the input of specialists around understanding technical construction issues relating to their main legacy project, the development of Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre. This advice and support were invaluable in helping move the project forward by providing skills, knowledge, and experience that the partnership recognised they did not have themselves.
Local authorities’ financial support, advice, and expertise helped to deliver Big Local projects, and Parish councillor involvement was also felt to have been positive, as they utilised their influence to help make projects happen. Partnership members reflected that this had been possible because the council’s role – as an aid to Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local partnership and resident priorities – was made clear from the start.
Towards the end of the programme, the partnership identified their legacy as the community venues and spaces they had supported and improved. Community facilities were developed equally across the three areas, providing each area with a base for continuing activities and community engagement. Similarly, some of the events and activities supported by the partnership during the programme continued to run once funding had been spent, such as the Creswell Community Gala. Although they did not continue delivering as a group, some partnership members continued to support projects through the Community Benefit Society set up by the Big Local partnership, as part of the development of Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre.
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.
The Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local partnership saw creating a new leisure space as an important way of addressing a number of priorities. The new centre was intended to fill the gap left by the 2016 closure of a once well-used leisure centre originally built for local miners. After establishing that the old site was unsuitable, the partnership worked with local authorities to develop Creswell Heritage and Wellbeing Centre, a new £3m community space that opened in April 2023. The new centre included a soft play area, sports and fitness facilities, caving facilities linked to the Creswell Crags, café area, and bicycle hire. A skatepark (another Big Local funded project) was located near to the new centre.
The partnership supported the creation of the Community Benefit Society, set up to build and run the centre and ensure it remained rooted in the community. Through incorporating as a group of residents and stakeholders (including some partnership members), the Community Benefit Society were able to cultivate a sense of community ownership by bringing in additional funding for the project and involving local people in decision-making.
The partnership faced many challenges in bringing the centre to fruition – including securing approval, rising costs, and the Covid-19 pandemic – but their commitment to the community’s vision and positive relationships with local stakeholders helped them to deliver this project and open the centre.
The centre was opened with an event attended by residents and partner agencies. It was free to the public over the first weekend it was open, to give residents the opportunity to see the new facilities. Not only did this provide a new leisure space for the community, but the partnership also felt this was a way to support the local economy, through employment and attracting more visitors to the area. This formed a central part of the partnership’s legacy, with the centre offering the community access to sports facilities and classes, alongside play facilities and holiday schemes for young people.
One of the Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local partnership’s central goals was to help residents and visitors to feel more passionate about the area, both to encourage tourism and restore a sense of community spirit they felt had deteriorated following the closure of the mines in the early 1990’s. They focused on reconnecting the area to its heritage, promoting local activity, funding renovations and improvements, and refurbishing important community spaces to help bring residents together.
Creating social spaces for each of the three villages was an especially important part of this work for the partnership. As well as the new leisure centre in Creswell, they made refurbishments to the Elmton School Room (completed in 2019) and Hodthorpe Community Social Club (completed in 2020). The school room was repainted and fitted with new double-glazed windows, a multipurpose disabled toilet, a new kitchen, flooring, and gutters. The social club was also able to extend their kitchen and re-furnish the space thanks to the grant. For both projects, investment in these buildings helped to create a focal point in their respective villages through which community activity could be organised.
Alongside renovations to community buildings, Big Local funding was also used to improve the local environment. Projects included planting flower beds, creating a memorial for the Creswell Colliery Disaster of 1950, and creating tourist information boards for each of the three villages. Grants also supported the cleaning, paving and replanting of the War Memorial in Creswell, as well as improved access for wheelchair users and new seating areas in two local parks. To ensure the area’s ongoing maintenance, the partnership jointly funded a two-year post with Elmton with Creswell Parish Council for a local person to keep the village tidy and free of litter. The council eventually made this a permanent post.
Another important strand was supporting the local economy. One notable example was a grant made to the Creswell Crags during the Covid-19 pandemic, which funded a woolly mammoth sculpture and an awning. The awning helped to ease financial pressures at a time where safety restrictions were impacting income streams. The Creswell Crags reported that the investment from the partnership had made a difference to visitors and local people.
Local volunteers were engaged to support these developments, and the new spaces helped long-time residents and newer residents to mix. The partnership saw the investment into these projects as building a patchwork of local spaces that residents and tourists could enjoy.
The Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local partnership delivered a range of activities that benefitted different demographic groups in the community and bought residents together. This included organising low-cost trips and free holidays activities for families, which helped forge new connections and memories within the community.
The partnership also organised an annual event specifically for people aged 55 and over as part of international Silver Sunday celebrations, in response to community feedback about a need for accessible activities for older residents. Attendees were provided with door-to-door transport, lunch and activities, delivered in partnership with other local stakeholders. This joint working increased what the local area could offer older residents, and one attendee – a local benefactor – agreed to fund future events beyond the Big Local programme.
The partnership also supported the reinstatement of the annual Creswell Community Gala, in line with their vision of reconnecting the area to its past and priorities around community spirit and the local economy. The Gala had not been running for a few years prior to Big Local, and residents had been calling for its return. The reinstated gala (which became self-sustaining in 2023) brought together different parts of the community, including families, local businesses, volunteers and community groups. The event also gave the partnership the opportunity to talk to attendees and gather community feedback on key projects.
Early in the programme, the partnership allocated some funding for a feasibility study to see if they could improve broadband speed and connectivity in Elmton, the smallest of the three villages. Residents had reported challenges related to slow and unreliable broadband.
The partnership approached one provider but were concerned about the high cost of the quote and its potential unreliability. They approached a second provider, Pine Media, who proposed a solution that brought high-speed broadband to all homes in the area. There was initially some hesitancy from residents to progress with the proposal, and so the partnership funded the installation of temporary aerials that would trial the service from the local pub, with the aim that 10 households would sign up (the minimum Pine Media needed to provide a permanent service).
Through this trial, residents found improved, reliable internet speeds. The required 10 households signed up and one month later all households in the area were connected. For a relatively small cost, partnership members reflected that this had a significant, lasting impact on people in Elmton.
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 Elmton, Creswell and Hodthorpe Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2025) ‘Children in low income families: local area statistics’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2024 (Accessed 6 May 2026)
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (2019) ‘English indices of deprivation 2019: Health deprivation and disability domain’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019 (Accessed 6 May 2026)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) ‘UK Census 2011: Households with at least one usual resident’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/2011censuspopulationandhouseholdestimatesforenglandandwales (Accessed 15 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 10 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Households with at least one usual resident’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 15 October 2024)
