Pimlico Million - Peabody Avenue and Churchill Gardens Estate
Key points
- Pimlico Million Big Local strengthened community cohesion by engaging and empowering residents from diverse communities and enabling local organisations to develop inclusive activities.
- The partnership improved wellbeing by supporting local organisations to connect, collaborate and better meet residents’ needs around services and activities.
- A wide range of popular resident-led activities were supported, from cross-cultural celebrations that attracted hundreds of participants to resident-led vegetable gardens and a community radio station.
About the Big Local area
The Pimlico Million Big Local area in south Westminster was home to 7,885 residents in 2021 (ONS, 2022a). Almost half came from ethnic minority communities, including people with Arab, African and Bangladeshi heritage (ONS, 2023a; 2023b; 2023c). Residents in 15 per cent of households did not speak English as a main language (ONS, 2022b).
This densely populated area comprised five housing estates managed by different providers (Chelsea Gardens, Churchill Gardens, Ebury Bridge, Gatliffe, and Peabody Avenue and Close), along with a few private-sector riverside properties. Most residents lived in Churchill Gardens and Peabody Avenue and Close, which were separated from some of the smaller estates by busy railway tracks leading into Victoria station. Throughout the programme, significant regeneration took place in the area and partnership members observed a reduction in community cohesion from the resulting churn in residents.
Compared with London averages, the area had a high level of deprivation (MHCLG, 2019) and partnership members reflected that its central London location meant residents often paid high prices for groceries. The area was also more densely populated than London overall (ONS, 2023d). Schools, community centres, residents’ associations and children’s and youth projects, as well as faith-based organisations were all active locally, though many were not based in the Big Local area. The partnership noted these groups had little history of working together.
How the Big Local area approached delivery
The Pimlico Million Big Local partnership valued community consultation throughout the programme, gathering feedback via resident and stakeholder surveys, during local events and festivals and at youth-focused workshops. At the start of Big Local, by consulting residents across the area, they identified priorities around creating and maintaining green spaces, investing in local groups, encouraging collaboration and increasing social cohesion. They also adopted a cross-cutting principle that residents of all age groups, from all communities and neighbourhoods, should benefit.
The partnership comprised, on average, nine members, including residents and people who worked in the area. Members were active locally in paid and voluntary roles, for example in youth and arts organisations or community projects coordinated by faith organisations. They brought valuable knowledge and skills in areas like community development, charity law and governance, managing conflicts of interest, project delivery and fundraising. They were, however, time-poor, and allocated funds to employing workers to manage Big Local projects and administration.
Aware that members didn’t fully represent the area, in 2020 the partnership refocused the role of the worker to engage the community and, the following year, set up a community base in one of the smaller estates experiencing extensive regeneration. These measures enabled Pimlico Million Big Local to reach residents and groups across the area, while building links with new communities. They also diversified the partnership’s membership to reflect the gender, age range, and ethnicity of residents. Newer, less experienced members were then supported through training and opportunities for them to lead their own activities, which extended Pimlico Million’s reach.
Because of an abundance of local organisations, the partnership saw themselves as “enablers rather than doers”, so they developed a small grants programme to encourage innovation and community-led activities, which ran throughout the programme. In just one year, Pimlico Million Big Local invested over £50,000 in 41 projects. Some projects enabled children and young people to participate in trips and cultural projects, while older people benefited from arts and wellbeing initiatives. The partnership also built effective relationships with the community engagement team and youth advocacy leads at Westminster Council, collaborating with them to identify and meet community needs through initiatives like digital inclusion training, well attended cross-community celebrations and a youth project.
Towards the end of the programme, the partnership focused on supporting organisations they had previously worked with to maximise impact and become more sustainable. They supported newer groups to build a track record, helped established organisations engage with a wider range of residents and enabled collaborative working between local organisations. Pimlico Million felt their legacy was also evident in strengthened community cohesion and increased use of green spaces.
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
Community engagement
Building skills, pride and joy through a community radio station
After a resident with a passion for music gathered together 11 local enthusiasts, the Pimlico Million Big Local partnership funded the equipment and training required to set up Pimlico Free Radio Station. They went on to fund a part-time station manager, who oversaw production while recruiting volunteers from different communities and training them in DJing, presenting and interviewing skills.
Every day this self-styled “groovy community radio station” offered a packed and eclectic programme of gospel, funk, rock and soul. Residents could phone in and request their favourite song or drop by to meet the DJs and see how a radio station operated. By the end of Big Local, about 25 regular volunteers aged 11 to 60 gained skills, confidence and a sense of achievement by producing and presenting on air. St Gabriel’s Youth Club also supported young people to launch their own show.
Working collaboratively
Widening the reach and effectiveness of local services by creating community networks
In 2019 the partnership awarded £5,000 to The Abbey Centre to facilitate quarterly workshops where a network of voluntary and community sector charities and organisations shared information with one another about health and wellbeing services within the area. Updates on local services were also shared with up to 150 organisations in a twice-monthly newsletter. Participants appreciated the opportunity to collaborate and better meet resident needs. For instance, The Abbey Centre developed partnerships with organisations such as Ebury Bridge Regeneration Project, Carers Network and Single Homeless Project, which enabled their service users to access advice, activities and services that improved their physical and mental health. As a result, Pimlico Million Big Local continued to support these connections for the next five years.
Pimlico Million Big Local also brought together a new network for youth organisations. Throughout the programme, the partnership supported a range of youth projects. These included a regular summer project that combined arts and therapy to empower young people, and a project that brought children from five schools together to perform alongside Syrian musicians and professional singers in front of an audience of 600. However, the partnership had always known there was limited collaboration between youth organisations in the area. So, towards the end of Big Local, after working with Westminster Council Youth Advocacy Team to secure £70,000 of council funding, they brought together five youth organisations to jointly plan how to invest it. This initiative contributed to Pimlico Million’s legacy by forging a collaboration to endure beyond the programme.
Accelerating community inclusion by building relationships with a local community centre
In 2021, the partnership decided to respond to concerns that a large community centre with excellent facilities in the heart of a local estate was not inclusive of residents of all ethnicities. Keen to turn this around, the partnership shared concerns with the centre and discussed ways to move forward in open, constructive conversations. They invested time getting to know centre representatives and built such a strong relationship that they began to hold their partnership meetings in the space.
At the same time, Pimlico Million supported women from diverse communities to join the local residents’ association and play a role in shaping new, more inclusive, uses for the centre. The partnership’s patient and collaborative approach resulted in popular events hosted at the centre – from Silver Sunday afternoon teas to annual International Women’s Day celebrations that brought together hundreds of people from diverse communities. Towards the end of the programme, the partnership also brought six separate organisations together to host a free Eid event at the centre. 600 residents attended, sharing food and hosting their own craft and wellbeing workshops.
Community assets and spaces
Making gardening accessible to all
Throughout the programme, Pimlico Million supported existing gardening groups and intergenerational projects that created opportunities for residents to learn new skills and transform public spaces together. A key initiative was Mobile Roots, a tailor-made 12-month project that ran in 2018. Thanks to Pimlico Million Big Local’s £13,000 investment, London-based outdoor learning provider Think Outside placed planters on wheels in public spaces across the area and ran planting workshops with schools and a youth club, families and other residents. As a result, children in a local school were able to eat fruit and vegetables they had planted and nurtured themselves, while older residents shared gardening memories during flower-planting sensory workshops.
A later example saw Pimlico Million Big Local match-fund £10,000 from Westminster City Council and commission Urban Growth to create a dedicated area in Churchill Gardens Estate, where residents didn’t have their own gardens. Over the following year, 11 raised beds were installed and hundreds of children participated in workshops to sow garlic and leeks or make bird feeders. Residents enjoyed planting and harvesting vegetables and connecting with one another in this new community space.
Creating a Covid Memorial Garden for quiet reflection
Pimlico Million Big Local provided a grant of £2,000 for a well-established and thriving resident group (the Peabody Avenue and Close Gardening Club) to transform a derelict area into a quiet space where anyone from the area affected by the Covid-19 pandemic could sit and reflect. Residents aged between 30 and 70 took pride in maintaining the garden and obtained a further grant from Pimlico Million to install an irrigation system to allow the garden to flourish in the future.
Health and wellbeing
Supporting over-50s to re-engage with sport through walking football
Pimlico Million supported a group of men in their 50s to re-engage with sport by playing walking football every Thursday evening. After Pimlico Million Big Local provided a grant of £2,000 in 2018 — for equipment, coaching and advertising — the group became a self-organised club and joined a competitive league. By the end of Big Local, the club had 40 regular players, who reported that, as well as helping their physical fitness, walking football had created opportunities to meet new people and improved their mental health. One member of the club was even selected to represent England in the national Over 50s Walking Football team.
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 Pimlico Million Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
References
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (2019) ‘English Indices of Deprivation 2019’ (Accessed 27 May 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. (Accessed 27 May 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Main language, English language proficiency, and household language in England and Wales’. (Accessed 27 May 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Other Ethnic group: Arab’. (Accessed 27 May 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African: African’. (Accessed 27 May 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023c) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh: Bangladeshi’. (Accessed 27 May 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023d) ‘UK Census 2021: Population density’. (Accessed 27 May 2025)