The Northwood Big Local area was in the Merseyside Borough of Knowsley, nine miles north-east of Liverpool city centre. It covered the Northwood housing estate, an area of low-density housing built in the 1950s, when many families were relocated from Liverpool as part of the slum clearance campaign. The area was in the top 10 per cent most deprived in England (MHCLG, 2019), and in 2021, it was home to nearly 9,000 people (ONS, 2022). Over 40 per cent of residents lived in social housing (ONS, 2023a).
Residents mainly identified as white British (ONS, 2023b), and over a third of adults had no formal qualifications (ONS, 2023b). Compared to the wider local authority, the area had a higher proportion of children living in poverty (DWP, 2025). The area contained two community centres, schools, religious buildings, green spaces, and play areas. In 2021, Liverpool Football Club built a training ground and restored public pitches on land between the houses and the adjacent industrial estate.
Known locally as Northwood Together, the Northwood Big Local partnership was established in 2013. Over the course of the Big Local programme they focused on health and wellbeing; training, education, and apprenticeships; supporting families; and community ownership and involvement.
Big Local funding was used for a Community Development Manager, who helped the partnership to create strategic relationships to extend their work. The partnership collaborated with a range of organisations who shared their goals for and commitment to the area, with members of local housing associations and Knowsley Council invited to partnership meetings to advise and hear reflections about local need.
The partnership built open and trusting relationships with each other, as a foundation for good governance. Members expressed pride over not using traditional voting methods, instead making all decisions through discussion. As their work grew, they invested further in their skills and development as a group, taking away-days to reflect on progress, make plans, and develop their team building and leadership skills. When residents approached them about complex and sensitive issues, like domestic abuse and bereavement, members undertook mentoring and coaching training so they could build their skills and confidence to respond appropriately, and signpost to services. Over time the partnership evolved into an all-female, highly visible group of self-described “doers”, known locally as the ‘girls in blue’, due to their blue fleeces.
In the early years of the programme, the partnership decided not to pursue taking on a council-owned community centre, instead focusing on supporting residents impacted by austerity and later the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis. Northwood Together wanted to leave a legacy of a more confident, open, and joined up community, describing the local culture as one where residents took a long time to trust outsiders and were often hesitant to seek support. To reduce any stigma around accessing support, members were open about their own struggles, projects were delivered sensitively with a focus on encouraging take up, and there were opportunities for residents to provide mutual support. The partnership also created opportunities for residents to come together and to volunteer, with their Community Development Manager supporting a volunteer team to deliver activities, including coffee afternoons, community trips, and food initiatives.
As the Big Local funding came to an end, the partnership focussed on their legacy, identifying organisations to continue key initiatives and securing further financial and practical support for the area through local businesses. They also represented their community as part of Knowsley Council’s successful bid to secure £22m of national Levelling Up funding (though these funds were ultimately allocated to a different area of Liverpool).
After years of delivering within the community, the partnership described how they had developed a strong team of volunteers who were able to plan, manage projects, and involve local people. They highlighted the growth they had seen in themselves and the volunteers as a source of pride, and were keen to continue supporting community activity. They decided to create the Northwood Together Community Group, with a small team of volunteers continuing to deliver food projects, monthly coffee afternoons, and signposting to support.
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.
Throughout the Big Local programme, the Northwood Together partnership directed their attention towards creating opportunities for residents to develop skills, and to access training and employment. As well as supporting residents to access training through small grants, the partnership worked with the council and housing associations to create apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships for young people, helping them gain experience, skills, and qualifications.
The partnership felt these schemes had made a difference, supporting young people to access apprenticeships and move into full-time employment. After the Big Local funding ended, Livv Housing Group, a housing association, continued to deliver the pre-apprenticeship scheme.
The partnership aimed to reduce barriers to employment by creating opportunities for residents to learn for fun and build the confidence to better engage in learning environments. The Learning for Pleasure programme was delivered with Knowsley Family and Community Education, and offered a range of accredited (and non-accredited) courses to residents, including floristry, jewellery making, counselling, beauty, Maths, and English. Courses were held in the Northwood Community Centre to provide a familiar environment for residents.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a range of courses adapted and moved online so residents could continue their learning. By 2022, hundreds of residents had attended courses, and the partnership reflected on the confidence and skills gained by residents. Feedback to the partnership noted how the courses had provided pathways to employment for many residents.
Poverty was a primary concern in Northwood from the start of Big Local, particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis that followed. The partnership delivered projects to help residents access essential items and to meet their basic needs. For example, they worked with Faiths4Change – an environmental charity – to deliver a pop-up Clothes Swap Boutique, where residents could re-gift and pick up pre-loved clothes. Pregnancy tests and basic hygiene items were also made available for free, and residents were signposted to further support from agencies. The partnership also created a bursary scheme, which enabled residents to buy large household items, such as washing machines and furniture.
A consistent focus of this work was increasing access to food. Working with Liverpool Football Club, volunteers delivered over 70 chef-cooked meals to residents every week, with no criteria for access. They also partnered with Liverpool Zero Waste – an organisation redistributing surplus food from supermarkets. The partnership collected and distributed free food every week through food drop-ins, with residents taking what they needed, no questions asked. By 2022, the partnership had redistributed over 224 crates of food through these drop-ins.
Encouraging a culture of mutual support in the community, the partnership also held monthly donation events where residents donated dry food items that were redistributed. By 2024, the partnership estimated they were feeding hundreds of people a week across different projects. This support continued after the end of the Big Local funding, with the new Northwood Together Community Group delivering weekly food drops, emergency food parcels, and food donated by residents.
The Northwood area had a high proportion of children living in poverty, and the partnership had a particular focus on supporting families with children. Holiday activities, a youth club, and community events offered free and low-cost options for families, and the partnership delivered annual Christmas hampers, taking referrals from schools, GPs, and health visitors. In 2020, the partnership delivered 167 hampers to local families.
Big Local funding was also used for direct approaches to supporting local families. In response to the high number of families facing challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, the partnership worked with Home-Start Knowsley to recruit a Family Support Worker. In 2022, the worker provided one-to-one support for at least 35 families experiencing crisis.
After becoming aware of the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns on Northwood residents’ mental and physical health, the partnership worked with residents and the Volair Leisure Centre to develop the Shape Shifters programme. Launched in 2021, the six month programme was designed to improve general wellbeing by helping individuals lose weight together. Twenty-four residents received a gym pass, access to fitness classes, a personal trainer, and workshops on nutrition, food preparation, and mental health. Residents were supported by a team leader but also gave each other peer support and exchanged recipes.
Over six months, participants lost weight, with reductions in their cholesterol levels and risk of diabetes. Residents also reported improvements in their mental health and confidence, with individuals making new friends and feeling more connected. The project also created opportunities for residents, with some going on to volunteer to lead a future group of Shape Shifters. Others became more involved in the Northwood Together partnership, or gained employment due to the confidence they had built. After its initial success, the project was supported to continue by Livv Housing Group, who went on to replicate the model across the wider borough of Knowsley.
Over the years, the Northwood partnership supported residents to volunteer and to build their skills and confidence. They created inclusive volunteering opportunities through their projects and welcomed people experiencing social isolation, particularly for disabled people, people in caring roles, or people who believed they wouldn’t have opportunities to volunteer elsewhere.
Through keeping volunteering friendly and informal, partnership members were able to build relationships and help people identify hidden skills, sometimes leading to residents pursuing training or gaining employment.
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 Northwood Together 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 14 April 2026)
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 14 April 2026)
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)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘UK Census 2021: Social rented housing’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/bulletins/housingenglandandwales/census2021 (Accessed 17 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: Highest level of qualification: No qualifications’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS067/editions/2021/versions/3 (Accessed 14 April 2026)
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 17 October 2024)
