Rastrick Big Local encompassed a large semi-rural area in West Yorkshire south of Brighouse town centre. It included green spaces, was surrounded by woods and nature reserves, and took around 40 minutes to walk end-to-end. As of 2021, 12,100 people lived there (ONS, 2022a). Residents were geographically split by the River Calder and the main road to the M62 motorway, which divided the Field Lane and Carr Green estates from the Woodhouse estate. Local people voiced struggles with public transport, traffic and parking.
92 per cent of residents were White British, and 23 per cent over the age of 65 – both relatively high compared to regional averages (ONS, 2022b; 2023). The area benefited from local schools, a library and lots of sports clubs, and while residents felt there were plenty of resources for older residents, they felt there was a lack of spaces and facilities for young people and children.
Rastrick Big Local’s vision was to develop community, economic, and personal resilience. They focused on improving community engagement, community spaces, and the environment; and supporting young people and residents’ health and wellbeing. The partnership prioritised creating local activities, as residents told them they struggled to get around due to poor transport and the large size of the area.
Made up of residents, the partnership adopted a formal governance structure and included non-voting representatives, including a councillor and housing officer. To increase cohesion across the area, representatives from all three estates were included, although partnership members reflected that the ‘Rastrick Big Local’ name and boundary put some Woodhouse residents off participating as they didn’t feel they were part of Rastrick. The partnership addressed this by hosting events in Woodhouse to directly engage residents there.
Partnership members volunteered in existing groups around the area, giving them a good understanding of gaps and opportunities for community funding. Rastrick Big Local ran three grant funding programmes to encourage resident participation and target specific community needs. Cash4Change provided small grants for new community groups to test ideas; Voice Your Choice involved residents voting on up to three community projects a year; and the Big Impact Fund backed larger projects. An engagement worker assisted Rastrick Big Local throughout the programme and coached local groups to access external grants. The partnership reflected that the worker enabled them to negotiate, support, and initiate activity in the community, often with minimal Big Local cost.
Rastrick Big Local partnership felt that, while smaller projects may not have as much impact as larger ones, the experience, skills and knowledge residents gained through applying for funding were as important as the projects themselves. Over time, the partnership increased resident engagement with their small grants programmes by redesigning their website and application process, including more information to guide and inspire residents. They also encouraged applicants to communicate with partnership members in advance to develop their application.
Towards the end of Big Local, the partnership reflected that they should be less reactive and more strategic for the remainder of the programme. In 2022, spurred on by the cost of living crisis, they consulted with residents and brought together partners and community organisations they had grant-funded to refresh their final Big Local plan and re-energise the membership. Four projects emerged: a new community energy scheme; a new community garden; making the cricket club more accessible; and continuing community engagement.
This consultation also led to the creation of the Rastrick Networking Group. The Big Local worker facilitated the group – which included local venues, clubs and services providers – to share resources, explore potential partnerships, signpost residents to each other, and respond to community challenges. The partnership saw this as part of their legacy, making the area more resilient in the long term.
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 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.
In 2015, the key themes for Voice Your Choice were children, young people, and the environment. Residents voted for new changing and social facilities for Rastrick Juniors football team because young people (particularly girls) were dropping out of the team due to a lack of appropriate changing facilities. In response, Rastrick Big Local match-funded the build of the clubhouse for Rastrick Football Club alongside Sport England.
Over five years, the partnership persevered with the football club committee to overcome many practical challenges and delays, such as building a new facility on flood-prone and badly drained land. However, the clubhouse eventually became a well-used family-friendly hub, giving young people a space to change, and parents shelter while they watched their children play.
In the early years of Big Local, residents from across the three estates worked with local group Your BackYard CIC to form Rastrick Plays Better and create play areas across Rastrick. They successfully won Voice Your Choice funding to develop four play areas. In later years, the group split into two sub-groups reflecting Rastrick and Woodhouse as separate areas, and levered in a further £210,000 combined to contribute to play facilities for young people.
Rastrick Big Local’s Cash4Change fund supported over 250 local organisations through offering grants of £1,500 each to pilot ideas that would develop the personal, social, and financial resilience of individuals and the community. The Big Local worker helped mobilise residents to form new groups and apply for the funding, which developed local connections, capacity, and resilience.
All grantees attracted further funding or support. For example, with help from the Big Local worker, local mothers established a formal group, wrote a bid and fundraised to refurbish the local playground. Their Cash4Change grant allowed them to improve the green space, play area and cycle track for Woodhouse residents and families. It also helped them attract over £120,000 to run baby and toddler activities, and develop new premises for a breakfast club and after-school club at the local Woodhouse Primary School.
After a few years, the partnership launched their Big Impact Fund to support projects that needed a larger amount of funding and would leave a local legacy.
Inspired by participatory budgeting, Rastrick Big Local delivered Voice Your Choice – a grant programme designed to engage residents in deciding which projects should be funded in their area. Residents awarded a total of £65,000 in Big Local grants per year for five years.
The partnership would choose a theme for Voice Your Choice (such as the environment, young people or health and wellbeing), and invite local people to apply for grants to fund projects based on it. Residents and schoolchildren then had a month to vote for the proposed projects, either online or in person at community centres and shops. Around 13 per cent of the local population voted, and the total funding pot was then split between first, second and third place. The partnership noticed that within this programme, smaller-scale proposed projects tended to miss out on votes and funding, so they encouraged those unsuccessful applicants to re-apply for smaller grants allocated through Rastrick Big Local.
The local cricket club was near two new housing estates which had limited green space and community activities. It was valued as a key community asset for the area and had an increasing membership waiting list, so the partnership allocated funding to it several times over the course of the programme. This covered the cost of a new roof, building an accessible path, and tarmacking a gravel car park. These improvements enabled it to host NHS screenings for elderly residents.
Following a Big Local plan refresh in 2022, an additional £150,000 of Big Local funding enabled the club to build an all-weather pitch, which prompted a local high school to develop a girls’ cricket team. Repeated Big Local funding helped the club grow into a well-utilised and accessible hub for activities and services all year round. It became an additional venue for service providers and a market space, and helped relieve pressure on existing hubs which were at capacity at peak times.
Situated on Field Lane, one of the most deprived parts of Rastrick, The Space was a small disused community centre which an independent group worked tirelessly to refurbish. In 2018, they secured £150,000 through Rastrick Big Local’s Big Impact programme, which leveraged in additional funding from organisations such as The Tudor Trust. Funding was used to refurbish two main rooms, a community café, a meeting room, an IT room, and install a hearing loop, an accessible toilet and public Wi-Fi. The partnership chair and Big Local worker collaborated with the committee and trustees of The Space to manage the refurbishment.
Reopening the following year, The Space became a hive of activity offering IT support, a youth club, a dog-training class, a lunch club, and a bustling Community Cafe. The centre provided Rastrick Big Local with a base for their worker, who collaborated with the centre’s staff and volunteers to launch additional services, clubs, and networking events, and increase community engagement. By the end of the Big Local programme, they had secured an additional £250,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund, enabling them to provide services and activities to residents beyond the end of the Big Local programme.
Residents of Field Lane estate had restricted access to green space and growing areas. As part of their Big Local plan refresh towards the end of the programme, the partnership therefore allocated Big Impact funding to create an accessible community garden in the grounds of Field Lane Primary School. The £150,000 grant covered the costs of fencing and gates, gardening equipment, compost bins, soil, polytunnels, public liability insurance, picnic benches, grass, plants, seeds, and tools.
As of late 2024, Big Local was working with Field Lane Primary School and the council to establish this multi-purpose community space. The partnership’s plans were for the garden to open in the following summer, and be managed by resident volunteers. It was designed to facilitate intergenerational work, and create a green space that could support resident mental health and wellbeing. At the garden, primary school pupils would learn about plants, and its produce would be cooked in The Space’s community cafe next door. Garden equipment would be available to residents to borrow, and those waiting for their own allotment could garden in its communal space.
After five years of campaigning and fundraising to make a council-owned local library more accessible and save it from closure, the Friends of Rastrick Library applied for Voice Your Choice funding. Over 750 residents voted in schools, online, and across polling stations in shops and community hubs. Collectively, they voted in favour of restoring the Grade II library. Rastrick Big Local initially considered negotiating an asset transfer with the council to establish a community hub in the building, but decided ultimately to collaborate with Friends of Rastrick Library to save it from being sold off and converted.
The partnership worked closely with the group to preserve this community space for Rastrick residents. Rastrick Big Local allocated £65,000 to restore period elements and add a ramp, making the library more accessible to wheelchair users, parents with prams, and other residents who couldn’t climb the library’s steep steps.
Towards the end of the Big Local programme, the Rastrick Big Local partnership organised events so that key stakeholders could shape and inform their final plan. This initiated the Rastrick Networking Group: a network of organisations and spaces that could collaborate to continue Big Local’s legacy and make the area more resilient.
The Rastrick Networking Group were concerned about the rising costs of operating community venues. Rastrick Big Local therefore allocated £150,000 through their Big Impact Fund to reduce the running energy costs for seven community buildings in the network – including hubs, sports venues and church halls – enabling them to run activities and events for residents and improve their facilities beyond the Big Local programme.
The funding covered the costs of surveys of the community venues and improvements, such as installing solar panels, improving insulation, retrofitting heat pumps, and switching to energy-saving lighting. These helped improve energy ratings for the buildings, making them more sustainable and resilient to future heating and lighting costs.
The partnership planned for their worker to continue to support the network until the end of the Big Local funding, aiming to help those involved to apply for further funding and use their newly subsidised venues to offer services. For example, enabling those offering support services to have a fixed base in the community and for the buildings to operate as ‘warm hubs’, with food provision and mental health support for residents.
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 Rastrick Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. (Accessed: 19 March 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Age structure of the population: Aged 65 years and over’. (Accessed: 19 March 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British’. (Accessed: 19 March 2025)
