Three Parishes - Gobowen, St Martins and Weston Rhyn
Key points
- The Three Parishes Big Local partnership commissioned local groups and organisations to support residents across the three distinct parishes that made up their Big Local area, using their community chest programme to direct funds towards creating and improving existing community spaces.
- Big Local funding was invested in support for small businesses and holistic debt advice services, both of which were previously not as accessible to residents due to their rural location.
- By funding local groups and services, the partnership felt they had supported them to become sustainable and grow their connections with the local community.
About the Big Local area
Situated close to the Welsh border in north Shropshire, the Three Parishes Big Local area had a population of around 7,800 people in 2021 (ONS, 2022a). The area covered the three villages of Gobowen, St Martins and Weston Rhyn (which were in three different parishes), and the rural areas between them. While there was a range of services, facilities and amenities across the villages, they were spread out and moving between them required personal transport. There was low job density in the area compared to the working age population (ONS, 2022b; 2023). Although there was a train station and bus service, it remained difficult to access the nearest large employment areas by public transport, particularly after 7pm.
How the Big Local area approached delivery
The Three Parishes Big Local partnership aimed to create a community that was resilient, confident, sustainable and could support everyone. They did this by prioritising the following local needs, which they named ‘community aspirations’: learning and skills; health and wellbeing; environment and green spaces; enterprise and employment; and community buildings and spaces. As the Big Local programme came to a close, the partnership reflected that in some of these priorities they had been overambitious; that they had been more successful in some than others; and that additional areas (such as families, children and young people) could have been included. Originally, the partnership wanted to split the Big Local funding equally between the parishes that made up the Big Local area, as they felt this was the fairest approach. However, as their understanding of local need developed over the years, they identified that one village’s new housing developments were stretching its services. So Big Local funding was ultimately allocated based on need, rather than an equal split.
The partnership was largely made up of individuals already involved in roles locally as parish and county councillors. Collectively they adopted similar approaches and practices, drawing on their existing relationships, networks and community knowledge. Recognising their limited capacity to deliver projects and activities themselves, due to their existing commitments, the partnership saw themselves as ‘enablers’ rather than ‘deliverers’. This involved commissioning and providing grants to local organisations and groups to deliver work, and relying on existing volunteer networks in the community. The partnership used this approach in different ways – sometimes to fill gaps identified within the community (such as support for local entrepreneurs) or to support existing resources (such as funding local community spaces).
The partnership also allocated funding for paid workers. Alongside supporting the Big Local partnership and providing integral insight on local needs, this was an important community resource, as it ensured that groups or individuals receiving grant funding from Three Parishes Big Local were able to access additional support. For example, Friends of Chirk Park, a group of local mothers, were signposted to other funding opportunities and provided with a grant to access a fundraising training course. In combination with the initial grant of £8,800 from Three Parishes Big Local, this enabled them to meet their goals of providing new play equipment for an empty playing field in the area.
The Three Parishes partnership was led by learning from their grant schemes, which was the main way of distributing Big Local funds. This included a Community Chest fund (for grants up to £500), a Big Grants Scheme (for grants over £500) and Business Support Grants. While the partnership felt the involvement of all members in funding decisions was fair, they reflected that they had replicated processes used in other settings which were not always ideal. The partnership felt that lengthy formal processes, previous match-funding requirements, and limited feedback to unsuccessful applicants may have been off-putting for applicants. They also experienced challenges ensuring appropriate monitoring and updates from Big Local funding recipients, which sometimes strained relationships with other organisations. However, through the grant-giving approach, the partnership reflected that they were able to build the reputation and awareness of the groups and organisations that received funding.
Towards the end of the programme, the partnership felt that Big Local had played a contributing role in helping the three villages be seen as more desirable places to live. They chose not to continue after the end of the Big Local, reflecting that they had left a legacy of new or more resilient groups and organisations operating in the area. They felt it was more important for these organisations to receive recognition for their projects and activities, than compete with them for future funding.
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 assets and spaces
Providing funding to improve community spaces
Many of the Big Local funding grants that were invested through the Three Parishes partnership supported renovations and improvements to existing community spaces across the villages in the area. These spaces were often already operating as community venues, but keen to expand their offer to residents. In St John’s Church in Weston Rhyn, a grant from the Three Parishes partnership was used to pay for secondary glazing on draughty windows. This was part of the church’s broader plans to create a more modern space for the community by renovating the 19th century building, and it was hoped the new glazing would significantly cut down on the large heating costs. Similarly, funding for St Martin’s Church went towards new audio-visual equipment for their chapter house. This enabled the church to run additional activities alongside their existing afternoon tea group for older residents and their baby and toddler group for local families.
One of the largest grants was allocated to the Gobowen Area Improvement Group for their purchase of the old Gobowen train station building. The funding enabled the group to proceed with initial renovation work, essential due to the poor state of the building. This meant they could lease out office spaces within the old station and bring in income to fund further development work for the site. The partnership felt it was important to contribute towards safeguarding a historic building, as well as providing a site for small businesses to operate in the area. The partnership also reflected that all their investments in existing community spaces were from organisations or groups that may have otherwise struggled for funding, so grants from Three Parishes Big Local played a key role in ensuring that they remained open and welcoming for all.
Local economy
Supporting self-employed residents and sole traders
Supporting self-employed residents was a priority for the Three Parishes Big Local partnership, given limitations around transport and employment in the area. In the early years of Big Local, the partnership set up a Business Forum with networking opportunities and a small grants scheme specifically aimed at sole traders. However, they soon realised they were not able to deliver these to the standard they would have liked, due to the high capacity and knowledge base required.
To provide more meaningful support to those in or wanting to start self-employment, the partnership commissioned a local businesses man to deliver Be a Better Fish – a bespoke one-to-one support package for business-owners, or those interested in starting one. Over time, the club grew to be a network of over 40 small business owners, encouraging collaboration and mutual support. It also featured specific support for those looking to apply for grant funding through Three Parishes Business Support Grants scheme. Between 2020 and 2022, 25 grants were given out to entrepreneurs. The partnership felt that, while in some cases these grants had constituted a relatively small amount of money, there had been clear improvements in the confidence of applicants who had accessed the support through Be a Better Fish.
Towards the end of the Big Local programme, Be a Better Fish launched a new strand of work running presentations on entrepreneurship in the local secondary school, to inspire young people to consider self-employment as a future career. This developed into St Martin’s Unlimited – an enterprise venture enabling pupils to try out small business ideas and learn more about running their own company.
Responding to crisis and urgent need
Bringing a money advice service into the community
The Three Parishes Big Local partnership felt there was a clear need for a money and debt advice service in the area, as nothing like this had been provided in the villages before. They commissioned Citizens Advice to expand on their typical debt advice offer and deliver a broader service for the community called My Money Matters. The holistic approach aimed to support residents with longer-term goals (such as understanding pensions or building savings) and those experiencing challenges around their finances (such as navigating changes to the benefit system or needing to reduce their monthly bill payments). The partnership also provided funding for an ‘emergency pot’ which residents could access in moments of need. Distributed at the discretion of the Citizens Advice worker, this included providing grants to residents to purchase death certificates or cover funeral costs.
As part of My Money Matters, Citizens Advice allocated a member of staff to the Three Parishes area, and the partnership credited this as a key reason behind the success of the project. They felt by being based in the community, the staff member had the trust and confidence of residents, which was particularly important during the Covid-19 pandemic when appointments moved from in-person to over the phone. They felt there were mutual benefits to this role too, as while the worker’s knowledge of the community helped with signposting residents to further support, information shared from the worker to the partnership helped them to better understand community need.
As the Big Local programme came to an end, monitoring from Citizens Advice estimated around £1m had been brought back into the community through supporting over 500 residents.
Community engagement
Keeping the community engaged
The Three Parishes partnership reflected on the challenging nature of engaging residents across three separate villages and that their approaches to sharing information with the community had not always been successful. While occasional events were popular, feedback had indicated that the newsletter produced by the partnership was not widely read, and their noticeboards were not always well-used.
However, the partnership felt they had some success in connecting with existing groups and organisations to engage the community, share information and bring people closer together. One of their paid workers had connections with local schools. Not only did this provide useful insight on community need (which the partnership were able to meet by encouraging schools to apply for grants, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic), it also gave opportunities for information to be shared with local families and to spread the word on events and opportunities happening in the Three Parishes area.
The partnership also had success providing grants to groups and organisations that brought residents together in the community. For example, celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee saw the partnership distribute grants to events happening in each of the three villages making up the Big Local area. In Gobowen this involved a new committee which brought together different local organisations such as the church, Scouts, mother and toddler group, football club and local businesses. They aimed to continue a historic tradition of a summer event in Gobowen, and used the Platinum Jubilee as a way to re-launch this effort. Big Local funding supported this committee to run a successful event, covering costs for toilets, activities and decorations. The partnership felt that while their ‘enabling’ role often meant they were seen purely as a funder in the community, they recognised that they had provided key opportunities for volunteers, groups and organisations to collaborate and meet community needs.
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 Three Parishes Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
References
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. (Accessed 8 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Population aged 16 to 64’. (Accessed 8 October 2024)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023) ‘Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES): Total employees’. (Accessed 8 October 2024)