LCC - Langold, Costhorpe and Carlton
Key points
- The partnership sought to revive community spirit in the area through delivering popular events for residents, including an annual festive lights event, Christmas market, and a local summer music festival.
- They worked with local schools to support and increase opportunities for children and young people, including funding the creation of a new nursery, making major improvements to local play and creative facilities, and creating five new educational apprenticeships.
- Focused on capacity-building and sustainability across their work, the partnership funded equipment for long-term use, and supported groups to gain the skills and confidence to run activities and raise future funding themselves.
About the Big Local area
The Langold, Costhorpe, and Carlton Big Local was situated in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire. The Big Local area comprised two former mining villages – Langold and Carlton – along with the small nearby hamlet of Costhorpe, with Langold situated in the north, Costhorpe in the middle, and Carlton in the south.
The area’s overall population of just over 8,000 remained largely unchanged throughout the period of the Big Local programme (ONS, 2012; 2022). The closure of the Firbeck colliery in the late 1960s profoundly affected employment, families, infrastructure, culture and leisure in the region. The area comprised a higher percentage of adults without academic, vocational, or professional qualifications compared to the regional average (ONS, 2023). Additionally, youth unemployment was a problem in the area (DWP, 2024a; 2024b), as well as higher levels of children living in low-income households compared to regional and local authority averages (DWP, 2024b).
However, the area had a good number of public and commercial facilities for residents, including several schools, churches, a library, and a diverse range of shops and restaurants along the high street that ran through all three settlements.
How the Big Local area approached delivery
The Langold, Costhorpe, and Carlton (LCC) Big Local partnership prioritised initiatives around improving the environment, financial stability, and employment opportunities. A significant portion of their efforts were dedicated to improving facilities and activities for children, and fostering aspiration and employment among young people. They also aimed to establish a strong, supportive, and collaborative community, thus addressing a widely felt loss of community spirit.
The partnership struggled to recruit residents to the partnership and attract residents from across the three villages, generally relying on a small group of active volunteers within the partnership and in the community to deliver their core projects, such as the Christmas lights and LCC Music Festival. Although relying on volunteer delivery sometimes impacted delivery speed, those most involved gained valuable skills, experience, and knowledge. The partnership saw sharing these skills with the wider community after the end of the programme as being a key part of their legacy.
Grant-funding also played a vital role in the partnership’s approach – particularly in their engagement with local schools, youth groups, and community organisations. The partnership believed that this funding created opportunities that would otherwise have been unattainable for many residents, and that this contributed to heightened awareness of Big Local within the area.
Langold, Costhorpe, and Carlton Big Local partnership’s work was underpinned by a focus on sustainability and legacy. To create long-term as well as immediate change, they funded improvements to local infrastructure and invested in shared equipment and resources. They also worked with parish councils on the annual Christmas lights programme, and established a community interest company – S81 Music Festival CIC – to continue producing the annual LCC Music Festival beyond the end of the Big Local 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.
What the Big Local area did
Place-based pride and connection
Building community spirit through annual events
Langold, Costhorpe, and Carlton Big Local partnership wanted to restore belonging and pride in the area, and create a strong and supportive environment for residents. They aimed to achieve this largely through organising open public events to bring the community together.
At the start of the programme, a unique Christmas lights initiative began: the partnership collaborated with schools so children could design personalised lights for all three parts of the community. More lights were designed by school children and purchased over time. Each year, the lights were strung along a road that divided the area, creating a sense of unity and cohesion while honouring the uniqueness of each area. As part of their legacy, the partnership planned to hand over ownership of all the lights to the two parish councils for future maintenance.
After a few years, the partnership expanded these efforts by organising a Christmas market featuring displays, village carol services and Santa Claus. The Christmas market became an annual event and drew in hundreds of people. Funds raised from stalls contributed to the following year’s market and other events. As the markets went on, the partnership invested in structural equipment to help ensure continuity into the future.
The Christmas lights marked one of Langold, Costhorpe, and Carlton Big Local partnership’s first visible successes, earning consistently positive feedback from the community. Partnership members also considered the market a significant achievement, drawing in residents from across the Big Local area and enhancing community spirit.
Investing in young people
Improving access to early education, facilities, and apprenticeships
Langold, Costhorpe, and Carlton Big Local partnership invested in three distinct long-term projects to support local children and young people at different stages in life: setting up a nursery, enhancing play and learning facilities, and funding new apprenticeships. The initiatives were different in approach, but motivated by the shared goals of improving local services, raising aspirations, and increasing opportunities for young people in the area.
In 2017, £150,000 of Big Local funding was awarded to Ramsden Primary School in Carlton, to establish a much-needed nursery and community space. The intention was to consolidate nursery attendance, previously spread over a number of nurseries in the area, and bring children into the school a year earlier. The partnership felt this would help ensure equality of opportunities across the area, and lead to better educational outcomes. The Ramsden nursery opened its doors in 2019 and quickly became a valued local asset, with high demand necessitating a wait list for admission.
In Langold, the Langold Dyscarr Community School also received a £150,000 Big Local grant to improve educational outcomes among pupils. Feeling that improved facilities for pupils would also help to address behavioural issues, the school directed its funding towards a playground renovation and a music room with instruments. The partnership noted improvements in behaviour and educational outcomes following these investments, which they felt would have longer-term impact in the area. Representatives from both schools joined the partnership as members following the investments.
For older young people the partnership also focused on raising aspirations and creating job opportunities through funding local apprenticeships. By 2020, five new teaching-assistant apprenticeships in schools within and just outside of the area had been funded. The young people who completed the apprenticeships went on to further education or employment.
Community engagement
Producing a major local music festival
One of Langold, Costhorpe, and Carlton (LCC) Big Local partnership’s core goals was to enable local residents to deliver plans and events themselves. One such project was the establishment of an annual summer music festival, aimed at uniting residents across the area.
The LCC Music Festival’s inception took place in 2015, through a collaborative effort by interested residents, supported by Big Local funding. Later, the partnership formed a dedicated committee from this enthusiastic group, who were tasked with organising the annual festival going forward. From the beginning, the project was conceived with a vision of enabling the event to continue beyond the Big Local funding and fostering self-sufficiency among its organisers.
By 2018, the festival had evolved into a major fixture in the local calendar, drawing widespread community participation. To reduce reliance on external suppliers and technicians and bolster the festival’s quality, impact, and longevity, Big Local funding went towards purchasing essential production equipment. As the programme came to an end, the partnership established a legally recognised entity, S81 Music Festival CIC – a community interest company set up to manage the festival’s ongoing delivery and continue to unite the community through affordable music.
Through delivering the festival, many residents gained new-found confidence and skills in organising and executing community events. The transformation of the initial working committee into the formalised CIC – alongside the partnership’s investments in resources and equipment – laid a foundation for the sustained delivery of the festival for the benefit of residents well into 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 Langold, Costhorpe and Carlton Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
References
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2024a) ‘Universal credit: Employment status by age’. (Accessed 17 October 2024)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2024b) ‘Jobseekers allowance by age’. (Accessed 17 October 2024)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2024b) ‘Children in low income families: local area statistics’. (Accessed 17 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) ‘UK Census 2011: All persons’. (Accessed 21 September 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. (Accessed 21 September 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023) ‘UK Census 2021: Highest level of qualification: No qualifications’. (Accessed 21 September 2024)