Located on the east side of Southampton, the Big Local area covered parts of Harefield, Midanbury and Townhill Park. Being in the SO18 postcode, the Harefield, Midanbury and Townhill Park Big Local area was known as SO18 Big Local. The area was made up of neighbourhoods built as council estates on the east side of Southampton, which were not physically connected and included a lot of green space. With a population of 6,231 (ONS, 2022), it was within the 20 per cent most deprived areas of the country (MHCLG, 2019). Local employment was mainly through schools or small shops.
Throughout the period of the Big Local programme, all five local pubs shut, a community centre closed and entered a state of disrepair, and a church hall was demolished. The Townhill Park neighbourhood was subject to the biggest redevelopment programme in Southampton in a generation, with 450 homes in walk-up blocks planned for demolition to be replaced by 650 new properties. This was planned to happen over 10 years from 2012, at the same time as SO18 Big Local. However, by 2023, only 56 new homes had been built, while more than 300 were demolished or emptied, and the neighbourhood had large empty plots surrounded by hoardings (Southampton City Council, 2024).
At the start of the programme, the partnership worked with Southampton City Council to create a profile of the area and commissioned organisations to consult with different community groups. This consultation involved a range of methods, including events, interviews, and interactive games designed to identify local issues. Some residents were also trained by the Locally Trusted Organisation (LTO) as community researchers to carry out interviews, ensuring a wide range of voices and experiences were captured.
The consultation found that residents felt divided from other neighbourhoods in Southampton. Transport was highlighted as a key challenge, with the area’s hilly geography and infrequent bus services making access to key services and recreational activities difficult. Residents also expressed a desire for more free or low-cost activities, as well as improvements to the local environment.
Informed by the results of their consultation and the backdrop of regeneration in the area, the SO18 Big Local partnership prioritised empowering residents, addressing loneliness, isolation and mental wellbeing, improving the local environment, and strengthening community engagement through activities. The partnership organised themselves into subgroups aligned with these themes, enabling members to take forward ideas and projects. At the outset, the partnership decided to use a range of delivery methods, including commissioning external organisations, running a small grants programme, and supporting partnership members to lead projects themselves. Their approach became more strategic over time. For example, after initially funding existing local groups, they decided to end the small grants programme as interest had declined, and instead focused on commissioning a smaller number of organisations with a track record of effective delivery.
Recognising the lack of community spaces in the area, the partnership established a base to support delivery and engagement. Working with the council, they secured a shop unit on a low-cost lease, which became the Harefield Hub. The hub provided a visible and welcoming space for drop-ins, events, meetings, youth activities, and community engagement.
Membership of the partnership changed over time but was mostly formed of residents and volunteers. Two residents were employed part-time as Big Local workers from the start, supported at different stages by project-specific staff including youth workers and a community gardener. One worker remained in post for the duration of the programme, and with only two chairs over its lifetime, the partnership felt this consistency enabled the group to be creative and become more confident in decision-making.
The Big Local workers fostered good communication across the neighbourhoods with physical and digital newsletters, and regular social media posts. SO18 Big Local became an important point of contact in the community as the Big Local workers and partnership members built their knowledge of community needs.
Halfway through the programme the partnership explored setting up as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), but decided against it for several reasons, including that the area was not seen as a single community by residents. Instead, they focused on sustaining their achievements and legacy by supporting new and existing community groups and partnering with organisations to continue delivery. This included transferring the Harefield Hub lease to another community organisation (Oasis) on the same terms, to ensure it remained a community asset. A residents’ group set up by the partnership, Townhill Regeneration is Leaving Legacy (THRILL), took on the running of the Townhill Park Regeneration Forum. The partnership’s approach ensured that their work joined efforts up and forged new collaborations between organisations.
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.
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.
Supporting residents to take on leadership roles and influence change in their area was a key focus of SO18 Big Local’s work. The partnership acted as an organiser and enabler, helping local people to build confidence, develop skills, and take collective action on issues that mattered to them.
After six years of demolition, half the residents being moved out of their homes, and very few new homes being built on the council-run Townhill Park development, SO18 set up Townhill Park Regeneration Forum. Residents and local organisations were able to bring concerns directly to Southampton City Council, and invited councillors to tour the estate to see the lack of progress. The partnership played a key role in organising and sustaining the forum, ensuring it remained a consistent space for residents to share their experience and influence decision-making. Over time, the forum was recognised by the council as a key group to engage on regeneration issues and valued the group as a means for consulting the community.
As part of this work, the Forum submitted resident-informed proposals to a Boundary Commission review so that Townhill Park would not be split into two electoral wards and would remain well-represented by one set of councillors.
Alongside the forum, the partnership produced information packs about the development for people who had moved into the new buildings. They also made a short film interviewing residents and a local headteacher about the impact of the drawn-out regeneration on the community. More broadly, SO18 Big Local acted as a conduit between residents and the council, helping to remove barriers to engagement and supporting residents to raise issues, contribute to consultations, and take part in wider discussions about the future of the area.
The partnership setup THRILL (Townhill Regeneration is Leaving Legacy), a group to continue advocating for resident involvement in the development, including to facilitate the Townhill Park Regeneration Forum. As Big Local came to an end, THRILL continued to support resident leadership, holding its first AGM in 2025 to advocate for those living amongst regeneration, and contributing to consultations to ensure local voices were heard.
In the first few years of the programme, the SO18 Big Local partnership supported residents to advocate for improved bus services in their area. An existing bus service ran hourly, stopped in the early evening, and didn’t run on weekends. The partnership surveyed residents and found that this service frequently left residents stranded or unable to attend medical appointments. This resulted in residents having to pay for taxis, and limited job, social and leisure opportunities outside of the estate.
A group of residents used this feedback to successfully make the case for funding from the Council to provide more frequent bus services. The partnership acted as a facilitator for this work, helping residents to gather further evidence and present a petition for improvements. They also supported communication between residents and the bus company to open a dialogue and ensure concerns were heard.
This work helped build residents’ confidence to take action on other local issues, with the partnership continuing to support individuals to raise concerns with the council, such as improving access to play areas, and road crossings. They also created a Friends of Townhill group to link residents with the council’s environmental team and enable ongoing community involvement in local green spaces.
Through their small grants fund, the SO18 Big Local partnership helped develop funding application skills among local groups. The fund ran for five years providing £73,000 to local projects, with £28,000 in matched funding from developers. When a grant was successful, a member of each applicant group was required to sit on a grant making panel, helping build their understanding of what makes a good application and develop grant writing skills.
Other opportunities were taken to use Big Local funding to support the sustainability of local organisations. Big Local funding was used for an expert in organisational structure to help three local organisations improve their governance and business strategies. This helped local groups to build their confidence and submit strong applications together for other sources of funding beyond Big Local.
Flexible and long-term funding allowed the partnership to contract different organisations to support children and young people in a variety of ways. The partnership were responsive to what young people said they wanted, specifically more fun, affordable activities in their area.
The partnership employed a youth worker to engage young people directly, running activities and creating opportunities for them to get involved in volunteering and decision-making. Young people took part in activities such as bouldering, an inflatable assault course, and bungee runs.
SO18 Big Local also commissioned organisations to deliver sports and activities. Southampton Children’s Play Association provided holiday playschemes in both areas of Harefield and Townhill Park. This provided free sessions with a mix of indoor and outdoor activities. In the first year, four weeks of playschemes were attended by 275 children, increasing to over 350 children in 2021. During Covid-19 lockdowns, the project adapted to deliver ‘playschemes in an envelope’ to families, alongside pop-up sessions where play equipment could be borrowed. Across these activities, more than 1,400 free packed lunches were provided to children. The partnership also funded Soccer4All to deliver subsidised holiday sports courses, alongside twice-weekly football sessions for primary-aged children, helping to increase access to activities.
Alongside activities, the partnership supported young people’s education around healthy relationships. A local charity was commissioned to run ‘STAR’ — a project delivering relationship and sex education in schools. 1,214 pupils were engaged in workshops and sessions designed to get young people thinking about what healthy relationships look like, engaging with topics such as consent, peer pressure, internet safety, and mental health. An end of project evaluation showed that 98 per cent of young people better understood what makes a healthy relationship, 97 per cent had an improved understanding of consent, and 98 per cent knew where to go to seek support.
The partnership wanted to help more residents in the SO18 Big Local area to get online to improve their access to services and combat isolation. They evolved their approach to digital inclusion as needs changed. They first set up a weekly ‘tea and tech’ drop-in session for residents, and later partnered with other organisations to set up SO:Let’s Connect – a project focused on digital inclusion across Southampton.
They ran a pilot across Harefield, Midanbury and Townhill Park which supported ten people to access services online, five of whom had no prior access to the internet. Using this learning, they were able to provide IT equipment, internet connectivity, and support from volunteer Digital Connectors to residents during Covid-19 and beyond, including those with less digital confidence.
The Mosaic Way was a project funded by Big Local and the SO18 partnership’s Locally Trusted Organisation (TWICS), with a grant from the People’s Health Trust. Thirty residents met to create nature-themed mosaics, supported by experienced community artists. When the Covid-19 lockdowns stopped them meeting in person, the group kept in touch over WhatsApp and continued working on their own mosaics. Over 60 mosaic tiles were installed across the area, plus two larger mosaics, made by different people working on separate pieces which were brought together.
A short film was commissioned telling the story of the Mosaic Way which helped create a more positive perception of the area with coverage from local press. The partnership considered the project to have had a positive impact on people’s health as walking trail routes and ‘spotter sheets’ for families and local schools were created around the mosaics.
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 SO18 Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (2019) ‘English indices of deprivation 2019’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019 (Accessed 17 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 17 October 2024)
Southampton City Council (2024) ‘Townhill Park Estate Regeneration’. Available at: southampton.gov.uk/housing/estate-regeneration/townhill-park-regeneration/ (Accessed 17 October 2024).
