Growing Together - Northampton East
Key points
- The Growing Together Northampton partnership more than doubled the Big Local investment into their community by leveraging in additional funding and supporting other local organisations to generate their own income.
- The partnership fostered community pride by funding improvements to community spaces, brought together a consortium of public agencies to restore local lakes and consulted with residents to develop a Neighbourhood Plan.
- By merging their Big Local partnership with a local community-focused organisation, they ensured future sustainability.
About the Big Local area
Located in the north-east of Northampton, the Growing Together Northampton Big Local area consisted of four housing estates: Blackthorn, Goldings, Lings and Lumbertubs. Each estate had its own school and small shopping district. Within the boundary, there were three artificial lakes and the 22-hectare Lings Wood was nearby, with a range of small green spaces and parks.
In 2021, there were over 13,000 residents and the housing stock comprised low-rise blocks of flats, houses and some high-rise blocks (ONS, 2022). The population in the area increased by 11 per cent between 2011 and 2021 (ONS, 2012; 2022).
How the Big Local area approached delivery
One of the first decisions residents were able to make was to name the Big Local area through a voting process at two community fun days in 2012. The name Growing Together Northampton was selected to reflect resident’s desires to bring together the four housing estates that made up the community. Following this, to inform their first Big Local plan, the partnership employed a community engagement worker, who knocked on the doors of 700 homes in the area to find out about the needs that residents thought should be prioritised and to promote the Big Local programme.
This community consultation also helped the partnership focus their work on four priorities: making the area feel safer; providing more activities for children and teenagers; improving the local environment and encouraging local people to look after it; and improving quality of life for older people.
The Growing Together Northampton Big Local partnership funded projects, activities and spaces in the community to achieve these priorities. For example, they commissioned existing organisations to deliver activities such as free drop-in activities for young people and a programme of events and trips for older people. The partnership estimated that they supported around 40 community groups and organisations over the course of the Big Local programme. Through their Community Grant Fund, they gave out 45 small grants of around £1,000 to £2,000. The grants supported what the partnership felt were small but effective projects that otherwise may not have taken place, such as community events or trips.
The partnership also frequently worked with other organisations and agencies, particularly the local authority, to progress projects. This collaboration, alongside supporting groups and organisations to fundraise from other sources, enabled the partnership to more than double its investment in the community.
In 2018, the partnership merged with their Locally Trusted Organisation (LTO), Blackthorn Good Neighbours. The organisation rebranded to Growing Together Northampton and partnership members became trustees to ensure the organisation maintained a resident-led ethos. Importantly, the merger meant the two groups no longer competed for funding. A smooth transition was facilitated by training and support for partnership members joining the trustee board, while sub-committees helped to clarify their roles and expectations.
As the Big Local programme came to an end, the partnership’s paid worker consolidated the achievements and learning of the Growing Together Big Local partnership in an impact report. The partnership reflected on the large physical legacy they had left through improvements to a range of indoor and outdoor community spaces, and how these had provided opportunities for residents to socialise, play together and feel an increased sense of pride in their area. The group also felt they had left a sizeable legacy of new or better-established groups and organisations in the community, most notably Growing Together Northampton which continued to support residents through the Blackthorn Community Centre following the end of the programme.
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.
A Big Local Plan set out what changes the partnership planned to make, how they planned to deliver on this and how funds were to be allocated. It was written for themselves, their community and Local Trust, as a guide and action plan.
What the Big Local area did
Working collaboratively
Restoring Billing Brook Lakes
Improving the local environment was one of the partnership’s priorities. During an early community consultation, residents expressed concern about three artificial lakes in the area that were in poor condition. As well as funding a technical study of the lakes, the Growing Together Northampton Big Local partnership brought together key stakeholders to restore Billing Brook Lakes. This included the local authority, the Environment Agency, Wildlife Trust, Anglian Water, and resident associations from the four estates). The results of the study enabled the co-ordination of a funding package of over £400,000 to restore the lakes, with the partnership’s contribution totalling £65,000.
Resident feedback on the restored lakes was universally positive, with the community reporting feeling a renewed sense of pride towards the natural space. More practically, agencies reported the lakes were better able to funnel water safely through the area (their intended purpose) and biodiversity improved within a year of the works’ completion.
Developing a Neighbourhood Plan to influence local development
Growing Together Northampton Big Local partnership developed a Neighbourhood Plan between 2014 and 2016, which helped them create a strong working relationship with Northampton Borough Council and ensure community views were reflected in future developments.
Passed through a local referendum, the Neighbourhood Plan provided a legally binding framework on how the council could redevelop the area between 2016 and 2029. It enabled the community to influence proposed developments including protecting 11 green spaces and ensuring that community facilities were refurbished and protected for the future. The document was successfully used to influence a major housing development and to ensure a new building in a parade of shops did not remove protected play parks and green spaces.
Community assets and spaces
Creating spaces to support community connections and access to services
Big Local funding was used to subsidise two community spaces so residents could access support and services, and connect with others in their area. The Blackthorn Community Hub became a key base for the partnership and a range of Big Local activity, hosting community events, food provision and holiday activities for young people. The hub’s connection to the partnership’s legacy organisation — Growing Together Northampton — meant the building continued to host a range of activity and support for residents following the end of the Big Local programme.
In the early years of Big Local, the partnership established Brookside Community Hub in a former shop space. This was based on community consultation, which indicated a lack of meeting spaces in the Lings and Lumbertubs estates. Residents highlighted a need for a space for informal, social connection. Therefore, two spaces were available in the hub, one for private consultations and one to run community activities, such as knitting groups, or to allow people to pop in for a coffee and a chat. This gave residents a space where they could get out of the house and connect with others. Mother and tots groups and Food in School Holidays activities supported local families, alongside more general drop-in sessions with local agencies such as Citizen’s Advice and Police Community Support Officers.
Big Local funding went towards a part-time member of staff to support Brookside Hub, alongside volunteers. The hub quickly grew to become an established community venue with over 360 residents visiting in 2019. A grant from the Tudor Trust enabled Brookside Hub to recruit a second member of staff and secured the future of the space beyond the end of the Big Local programme.
Providing new outdoor play facilities
During the initial consultation, the most common request from residents was for play parks for each estate. The majority of the play facilities in the area had been removed in the years prior to the Big Local programme.
The partnership used its funds to directly purchase and install six play areas, as well as two youth shelters, two outdoor gym spaces and a dog agility course. This was felt to dramatically improve the green spaces in the area. By the end of the programme, each estate had at least one play park. The partnership were also proud that some residents who were initially concerned that the play areas and youth shelters might attract anti-social behaviour went on to give positive feedback once the facilities were built.
In one estate, local residents initiated the development of a new play park, with the Growing Together Big Local partnership playing a supportive role. A family cleared some neglected green space near their house, which attracted other neighbours who brought play equipment for children to use. The residents approached the partnership to help them demonstrate local support for the play facilities and gain council approval to keep them. The partnership were able to draw on their existing relationship with the local authority to gain the council’s support and install another piece of equipment to turn the space into an established play park.
Investing in young people
Funding existing organisations to create opportunities for children and young people
Residents wanted Growing Together Northampton Big Local partnership to fund activities for children and teenagers to help curb anti-social behaviour. Nearly two-thirds of the community grants supported organisations working with young people. The partnership estimated that at least 950 young residents benefited from Big Local funding, used for youth activities in the area.
The partnership also allocated funds to Change of Scene, who used non-competitive outdoor activity to build the confidence of young people. This included camping, rock-climbing and kayaking. Many of the young people involved in Change of Scene’s activities went on to train as youth leaders for younger cohorts before going on to secure employment or education opportunities that they previously may not have considered.
Free 2 Talk was also supported by the partnership to provide two youth clubs based in community venues, using Big Local funding. A club for 8 to 11 year olds was established at Blackthorn Community Centre, with a programme of activities often centred around celebrating the diversity of the area through arts and crafts and volunteering.
Parallel sessions for older young people (aged 12+) were held at Brookside Community Centre. These often had an educational focus, with sessions on alcohol awareness alongside trips and sports activities. The partnership tapered off its Big Local grant to Free 2 Talk as the Big Local programme came to an end, and the organisation were successful in using the impact of their work to bring in a further four years of funding from the Home Office.
Finally, the partnership also supported early years learning. Following an OFSTED recommendation, Big Local funding was used to construct a covered outdoor play area and toilets at the Blackthorn Good Neighbours Community Nursery. This enhanced the nursery’s ability to offer outdoor play all year round, and it helped maintain its Outstanding OFSTED rating.
Community engagement
Using gardening to encourage local people to volunteer
The Growing Together Northampton Big Local partnership encouraged residents to care for each other, the community and their environment by volunteering. They felt that the visibility of people volunteering in the community and making tangible improvements would encourage others to get involved. However, recruiting volunteers was challenging at times. A Community Champions scheme was felt to be unsuccessful, with low uptake despite its focus on encouraging residents to volunteer solely on their own estate.
The partnership realised that many residents found frequent volunteering too time-consuming and found it hard to commit. They also reflected that smaller opportunities framed more around “getting involved” might feel less intimidating than explicit messaging around volunteering. As the programme progressed litter-picking and community gardening became some of the most successful volunteering activities, as running these on a drop-in basis allowed residents to join in when they had time.
Two gardening clubs were established that met most weeks during the Big Local programme. Brookside Community Gardening Club organised regular public events to share gardening skills with the community, and fundraised to thank its volunteers with an annual summer trip to a National Trust property. Meanwhile the Blackthorn Community Garden was largely transformed by a small group of volunteers who added six raised beds and planted fruit trees. As the Big Local programme came to an end, the partnership allocated some resource (funding and staff time) to work with the volunteers at the Blackthorn Community Garden to encourage more residents to get involved in supporting the space in the future.
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 Growing Together Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
References
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) ‘UK Census 2011: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/2011censuspopulationandhouseholdestimatesforenglandandwales (Accessed 9 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 9 October 2024)