North Brixton
Key points
- Specialist organisations were supported to reduce youth violence and improve community safety, through targeted work in schools and the community.
- Frontline community groups (those delivering services directly to the community) had increased access to affordable venues and offices due to networking and advocacy.
- Young people had more opportunities to build their confidence, self-esteem and access employment by funding job fairs and mentoring.
About the Big Local area
Situated in the south London borough of Lambeth, the North Brixton Big Local area included four housing estates: Stockwell Park Estate, Angell Town, Loughborough Estate, and Canterbury Gardens Estate. Each estate had its own identity and the partnership reflected that there was division between the estates, particularly across the main Brixton Road.
In 2021, the area’s population of 10,519 people was diverse, with 33 per cent identifying as Black Caribbean or Black African and 23 per cent identifying as White British (ONS, 2022; 2023a; 2023b). While the Big Local area had nearly three times the population density of wider London (ONS, 2023c), it had green spaces (like Max Roach Park and a small park area in Angell Town estate). The area also included Brixton Road, with its array of shops, cafes, pubs, markets, and public transport links.
Half of the households were rented from Lambeth Council or social housing associations (ONS, 2023d). Unemployment was higher in North Brixton than wider London, with 8 per cent of working age people receiving benefits for unemployment in North Brixton in 2025, compared to 6 per cent across London (DWP, 2025a; 2025b). The area experienced a higher crime rate than other parts of London, particularly violent crime, with 76 incidents per 1,000 population, compared to 29 per 1,000 across London (Police UK, 2025a; 2025b).
How the Big Local area approached delivery
The partnership created their initial priorities through community consultations on each of the four estates in the North Brixton Big Local area. Residents came together and identified their priorities, at events with food and time to socialise. Residents across the estates shared certain priorities, while other priorities were specific to an estate. For example, Stockwell Park Estate residents prioritised the integration of new residents; Angell Town residents prioritised the impact of crime (particularly knife crime) on young people; and Loughborough Estate residents prioritised the appearance of buildings and outdoor areas.
The partnership also reflected on the local context in developing their priorities. For example, prioritising crime (responding to high local crime rates) and community cohesion (responding to perceived division between estates). The partnership also identified a Latin American community in the Stockwell Park estate, and felt it was important to focus on engaging this group to help overcome barriers to support and advice (such as language). An external facilitator led an away day at the early stage of the partnership’s development. Members reviewed the consultation findings with this local context in mind and identified three priority themes for their first Big Local plan: community safety, community cohesion, and increasing employment (particularly for young people).
The partnership involved resident members from each estate, bringing knowledge of needs and strengths in their area. A worker with strong, existing community connections was employed in 2015. The partnership drew on the worker’s and members’ community connections to raise awareness of the opportunities presented by Big Local.
The partnership offered a grants programme to further build community relationships. Grants were awarded to 33 local groups and projects, including Joy of Sound (who delivered over 30 drumming workshops to residents) and Brixton Soup Kitchen. The Big Local worker and partnership supported some groups to build their capacity with governance and fundraising advice.
With many community groups and organisations already active in the area, the partnership saw its role as connecting and supporting individuals and groups. They convened over 30 organisations to share information and improve referrals to each other’s services. This network continued beyond Big Local, particularly in Angell Town, where groups shared resources like space, printing facilities, and administrative support. The network also fed into Lambeth Council’s planning and consultation. Throughout Big Local, stakeholders (like Lambeth Council) saw the network as a way to work with the community. Relationships built through the network further enabled delivery by the partnership, such as a heat resilience programme with Lambeth Council.
In 2018, the partnership set up its own Locally Trusted Organisation (LTO), Big Local Impact, taking on employment responsibility for the worker. Due to challenges with governance and communication, Local Trust decided that Big Local Impact would not continue in this role. As part of winding up Big Local Impact, the worker was made redundant. The Covid-19 pandemic further impacted the partnership, but members continued supporting each other which resulted in an innovative online art exhibition, promoting artwork from young residents.
Between 2021 and 2023, it was difficult to progress without an LTO, and the partnership struggled to develop and agree on an updated plan based on community consultation. The partnership felt unsupported without a worker and LTO in place, and membership declined. A new chair led the development of a final plan which, after extended negotiations with Local Trust, was agreed at the end of 2024. Following this challenging period Angell Town Resident Management Organisation was appointed as the LTO and the new chair played a key role in driving delivery of the new plan.
While developing the final plan, the partnership recruited new resident members from local groups and networks. They saw this as an opportunity to involve young residents in Big Local, hoping to help them build confidence and skills, and develop as young leaders. Members participated in Local Trust’s Community Leadership Academy. The partnership then recruited staff, re-employing the previous worker (to support delivery) and an additional worker (to develop thematic forums – groups of organisations with a shared interest in particular priorities from the plan). The thematic forums initially focused on youth training and employment in relation to construction skills.
The partnership’s final plan continued its strategic support of local organisations working on community safety, cohesion, and increasing employment opportunities. In early 2025, a series of relaunch events and a stakeholder evening promoted the partnership’s plans. Towards the end of Big Local, the partnership looked to set up a Community Interest Company. This was intended to continue the partnership’s work and build on its strategic connections with the Council and local partners, particularly in supporting health and wellbeing, and community safety.
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.
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.
What the Big Local area did
Investing in young people
Increasing safety and participation in education
Following initial consultations across the estates in the North Brixton Big Local area, a priority for the partnership was to reduce youth violence and knife crime, making the community safer.
From 2019, Big Local funding was allocated to work supporting people impacted by gun and knife crime. This included supporting Circle of Life Ignite (formerly Sound Waves) – a group led by mothers and friends, where people support each other and create positive change in communities affected by trauma.
Later in the Big Local programme, the worker and partnership members supported the creation of Ecosystem Coldharbour – a consortium of eight organisations working together strategically to reduce youth violence, specifically knife crime. Big Local funding was allocated to others in the consortium and the partnership further supported with capacity building. As well as bringing young people’s voices into decision-making spaces, the consortium delivered the Greater London Authority (GLA) funded programme – MyEnds – which provided further resources and support to community-led projects tackling violence by providing positive opportunities for young people. Between 2024 and 2026, this project received £800,000 from the GLA.
Big Local funding was also used to commission organisations (like The Safety Box and Hood Lessons) to deliver sessions in primary schools for teachers, children, and families, aiming to build young people’s confidence, communication skills, and self-esteem. The project focussed on reducing school exclusions (temporary or permanent removal of a child from school), by working with teachers to share knowledge about working with children in vulnerable situations and identifying additional areas of support. Each organisation engaged 17 children at risk of exclusion across different schools.
The partnership also collaborated with Oasis Charitable Trust, who provided a hub which hosted many of the organisations supported by Big Local. Oasis provided specialist support for young people and their parents and carers. This included mentoring and a therapeutic approach for parents and carers (Non Violent Resistance, which helps to raise the presence of adults in a young person’s life, to foster positive relationships).
Local economy
Building young peoples’ employment opportunities, skills, and confidence
Motivated by youth unemployment rates and community consultation, the North Brixton Big Local partnership worked to increase employment access for young people and help build their skills and confidence to apply to opportunities.
The worker took a networking approach to developing this initiative – supporting information sharing and improving referrals between organisations. From this network, Spiral Skills volunteered to lead the development and organisation of community job fairs, which were supported by Big Local funding. Five interactive job fairs took place in community venues, like the Evelyn Grace Academy.
The job fairs brought together local businesses and young people (aged 14–25), to break down employment barriers while building young people’s confidence and skills, including through follow-on support and mentoring. The events featured live music, inspiring speakers, employer stalls, and networking zones. They reached up to 500 young people and engaged with 200 local employers.
Community assets and spaces
Increasing access and improving community assets and amenities
As with other areas of London, the cost of rent for community organisations was identified as a barrier to them being able to grow, thrive, and deliver crucial services and support in the community. The North Brixton Big Local partnership aimed to increase access to affordable space for use by residents and organisations, by convening local voluntary organisations and influencing Lambeth Council.
The Big Local worker undertook research on local assets and the role of community organisations, which included recommendations for the future use of assets. Social landlords were convened and this work encouraged better collaboration between landlords and tenants. The final report demonstrated to the Council the local contributions and impact of community groups and organisations, using a quantifiable, social value approach. With this data the Council produced a strategy with a separate rent agreement for voluntary sector organisations across the borough, so organisations paid a third of what they would have or could access space rent free.
Big Local funding was invested in community facilities, such as the Loughborough Community Centre and Max Roach Park. The partnership engaged corporate and resident volunteers to help with cleaning, painting, and gardening, and initiated planting projects with schools and sheltered housing. At Angell Town Park the worker connected with the Royal Horticultural Show, so the park could receive plants at the end of the show.
An example of joint working and creating a new facility was the development of an outdoor gym on the Angell Town Estate. The Big Local worker brought together the four social housing landlords on the estate and got agreement on shared funding for the project, alongside Big Local funding. The outdoor gym aimed to provide a safe place to exercise (particularly for young residents). In 2019, 70 people participated in a community barbecue to celebrate its opening.
Working collaboratively
Putting community voices at the centre of local research
After 2025 became the UK’s hottest summer on record, North Brixton Big Local partnered with Lambeth Council to deliver a research project to explore the effects of high temperatures, and potential strategies for cooling people’s homes. The Cooling Fiveways project identified local people and areas most at risk, captured the lived experience of residents through interviews, workshops, and focus groups, assessed existing strategies of cooling homes, and trialled simple, low-cost cool kits.
In their project reflections, Lambeth Council said they selected North Brixton Big Local as a partner because of their established presence, trusted reputation, and strong relationships within the area. The partnership recruited and managed a dedicated research team to deliver activities, and their existing relationships with hyperlocal organisations and service providers granted the council access to a broad, diverse group of residents as well as use of community venues to host activities. In this respect, North Brixton Big Local acted as a bridge between the local authority and the experiences and voices of residents in the area.
At the end of the project, the council and the partnership held a closing event to share key findings and encourage further collaboration. The partnership felt this was a key example of what can be achieved by working collaboratively, with community voices at the centre, and the council described North Brixton Big Local as critical to the project’s ability to produce high-quality, inclusive research.
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 North Brixton Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
References
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2025a) ‘People on universal credit: not in employment’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistics-august-2025 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2025b) ‘Jobseekers allowance’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistics-august-2025 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Met Office (2025) ‘An Attribution Study of the UK mean temperature in summer 2025’. Available at: metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/research/climate-science/attribution/hctn_summer_2025_analysis_v1.pdf (Accessed 6 June 2026)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS021/editions/2021/versions/3 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS021/editions/2021/versions/3 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023c) ‘UK Census 2021: Population density’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS006/editions/2021/versions/4 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023d) ‘UK Census 2021: Social rented housing’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/bulletins/housingenglandandwales/census2021 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Police UK (2025a) ‘Crime type: All crimes (12 month total)’. Available at: data.police.uk/data/
Police UK (2025b) ‘Crime type: Violent crime and sexual offences (12 month total)’. Available at: data.police.uk/data/ (Accessed 5 December 2025)