South of a busy road and surrounded by infrastructure, the W12Together Big Local area spanned Wormholt and White City in west London. The area included housing estates, Wormholt Park, a health centre, schools, and was bordered by a football stadium, prison, college campus, and a shopping centre. During Big Local, the area experienced significant change, with the addition of housing developments, youth and education centres, and offices.
In 2021, the W12Together area was home to an ethnically diverse community of 13,945 residents (ONS, 2023; 2022a), with a higher proportion of young people aged under 16 than the rest of Hammersmith and Fulham (ONS, 2022b). Compared to local authority averages, W12Together residents faced greater economic challenges, with higher proportions of young people living in low-income families and pensioners living in poverty (DWP, 2024a, 2024b). Residents also faced a high risk of experiencing physical and mental health issues (MHCLG, 2019).
The initial Big Local partnership was known as the Wormholt and White City Partnership Board. Following their 2012 community consultation, they focused on celebrating the diverse community; bringing residents and groups together; health and wellbeing; employment opportunities so the community could benefit from local developments; and support for children, young people and families.
In addition to residents, the partnership included members from, or with connections to, a range of local stakeholders, including funders, community organisations, and agencies. The partnership worked with other organisations to secure additional funding, commission delivery partners, distribute community grants, and recruit workers. They established the W12 Festival; supported activities for older people; created a befriending service for residents experiencing social isolation; delivered skills development courses; and engaged young people and youth providers.
Following challenges that largely reflected community views about the programme not working for all residents, the Wormholt and White City partnership disbanded in 2019. A diverse group of residents formed a new partnership, who chose a new name – W12Together – to represent unity at a time when they needed to rebuild trust and relationships.
Community workers supported the partnership in engaging residents and organisations to identify local priorities and needs. With these insights, the partnership created a new vision, mission, and priorities, and published their Big Local plan. The Covid-19 pandemic prompted them to also develop a response plan for community support.
The new partnership worked to become a cohesive decision-making group and align their understanding of roles and responsibilities, though faced challenges with recruiting and retaining paid workers. They centred their work around three key themes, each led by a subgroup of members and workers. By ‘Coming together’, the partnership prioritised uniting the community while respecting cultural differences. Their work on ‘Youth’ sought to address challenges faced by young residents by creating safe spaces, investing in youth provision and empowering young people. Residents also wanted better ‘Health and wellbeing’, highlighting the need for improved community links, accessible services for the diverse community, and community-based solutions.
The partnership used different methods to build relationships with the community – they distributed grants, commissioned groups to deliver activities, and built the capacity of existing organisations. W12Together also engaged residents through paid workers; their website, social media, and newsletters; and working from community spaces. During and following their community consultation in 2022, they held open meetings to build trust and be transparent about decision-making.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, consultation confirmed their original priorities but further emphasised the importance of health and wellbeing. So, in the final year of Big Local, the partnership set up a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) – W12 Together- with members joining as trustees. The organisation focused on addressing health inequalities, including through collaborating with other community organisations across London that were formerly part of the Big Local programme.
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.
Health and wellbeing was a key theme for the W12Together partnership, following community consultation and observations of inequality in health outcomes. They sought to address this by improving access to health services, and supporting community wellness and resilience.
Initiatives centred around the Parkview Health and Wellbeing Centre, as the partnership wanted to increase resident understanding of local services, reduce stigma around primary care, and support person-centred participation in wellbeing. They worked with partners to train residents as community researchers – to understand how residents used the centre and what was important to them – and bring different services together under one roof to improve access.
Following insights from health professionals about local health concerns, Big Local funding was invested in wellbeing, dental, and diabetes initiatives in the centre and other community spaces. ‘Wellbeing bags’ contained treats (like tea and colouring pens), signposting, and information to raise awareness of self-care, while ‘Dental bags’ contained dental health tools and multilingual information. The diabetes initiative focused on providing multilingual information for culturally diverse communities, and connecting patients with services by bringing diabetes nurses to the centre.
Towards the end of the Big Local programme, an additional £100,000 grant was received from the NHS to fund health workers and the delivery of initiatives to further improve access to healthcare. This included being part of a consortium of charities contracted to ensure the voices of local people informed the design and delivery of health and social care in the borough. As part of this, they hosted focus groups with different people to capture their experiences and inform how GP services were delivered in future.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the partnership wanted to build skills in the community to support residents process trauma and grief, through services and tools more reflective of diverse cultures.
They allocated Big Local funding for residents to work alongside clinicians facilitating groups where people could explore their trauma, helping to build connection and resilience. They opted for an approach based on the Tree of Life methodology, designed to be non-stigmatising and focused on a person’s strengths and coming together as a community. The partnership worked with local partners to develop the project, with the first round of training delivered in 2024.
The partnership hoped these skills would become embedded within the community and persist into the future, with participants ultimately becoming the next facilitators.
In 2021, the partnership revived the W12 Festival, bringing together diverse residents from across the area to celebrate the community and build relationships. The festival provided the partnership an opportunity to introduce themselves to the community and engage them in their plans.
Following positive community feedback and engagement, the festival – which included food stalls, entertainment, activities, information stalls, and art exhibits – became an annual event, with an estimated 3,500 people attending. The partnership worked closely with community groups to bring in residents, and volunteers to organise it. For example, in 2024 and 2025, the festivals – themed around health and wellbeing – included collaboration with Queens Park Rangers Community Trust, Imperial College, and WEST Youth Zone.
The partnership identified the importance of youth provision and decided to allocate small grants to build young people’s skills and confidence.
Grants enabled parents, families, and young people to access affordable activities – such as homework clubs, creative workshops, photojournalism, kickboxing and boxing for girls, drone flying and programming – socialise, and support their mental health. Big Local funding also supported Key4Life, a crime prevention charity supporting young men with therapy and workshops.
Another funded project was Switch Sport’s Holiday Activity Programme, which provided free daily activities, trips, and mentoring. The partnership felt this programme helped reduce social isolation and keep young people active, which was particularly important during the pandemic.
Following the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, the partnership commissioned a project for young people to express themselves through film. W12Together collaborated with an award-winning playwright and a production company, to work with young people to explore their feelings, experiences of racism, and interactions with police.
Through a weeklong programme of workshops and conversations, the group created “We Exist”. Partnership members felt that the project helped to open conversations about racism and discrimination within the community.
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the newly formed W12Together partnership quickly adapted, forming a working group to create a community support plan.
The partnership’s response focussed on commissioning organisations to support residents in vulnerable situations (like those that were isolating or experiencing financial challenges). For example, Big Local funding was used to translate and distribute health information, helping ensure that public health messages were accessible to residents whose first language was not English.
Big Local funding was also used to support initiatives providing food, medication, and emotional support to residents who might not have otherwise received this. These included a food bank; community organisations cooking and delivering meals to local Eritrean, Sudanese, Somalian, and Caribbean communities, among others; and On Hand who facilitated local volunteers to support isolating residents. The partnership collaborated with Citizens Advice and Midaye Somali Development Network to provide financial advice to residents. The project took referrals from Citizens Advice and GP link workers, and due to demand expanded from one to three days a week.
As a new partnership, W12Together learned they could respond and make decisions quickly when needed, and their response helped them build important relationships with voluntary and health organisations.
The partnership wanted to support residents in vulnerable situations, who had been most excluded, in a way that was respectful, non-stigmatising, and trusting.
Recognising the winter holiday period can be particularly challenging, the partnership provided wellbeing boxes, containing toiletries and mindfulness colouring books. These were collected in-person from W12 Big Local’s base, or people could request a voucher, on a no-questions-asked basis.
Big Local funding was allocated to West London Welcome – a community centre, run for and by refugees, migrants, and people seeking asylum – for their weekly foodbank. The RENA Initiative used a grant from the W12Together partnership to deliver an 8‑week ‘Women of White City’ project. Through this work, 58 carers and people with experience of domestic violence were encouraged to share their stories and cultures through art workshops and befriending calls. The partnership felt it generated enjoyment, connection and empowerment, and the organisation attracted additional funding to support more women.
The partnership’s focus on residents in vulnerable situations continued throughout the Big Local programme. In 2025, they worked with volunteers and local organisations to host their second Care Leavers’ Christmas Dinner. The free event was for young people that had left children’s social care and who might otherwise have spent the day alone. As well as food, activities, and personalised hampers, the partnership felt the event provided warmth and community for the young people attending.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the new W12Together partnership created a printed multi-page newsletter to introduce themselves, and keep residents informed and connected. The newsletter celebrated local history and people; signposted to local services, support, activities and community grants; and provided information about prominent local topics, like building developments. The community created most of the content, with young residents sending in stories and ideas in return for vouchers.
The partnership commissioned an editor, and a graphic designer to set up a template. They also used a distribution company to ensure the newsletter was posted to every household. The first edition was published in 2021, with following issues produced every few months.
Although the partnership saw the newsletter as a success, they acknowledged some residents were unable to read it due to poor literacy or not having English as a first language. However, they felt it was a helpful tool for introducing W12Together, with particular value during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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 W12Together Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2024a) ‘Children in low income families: local area statistics’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2023/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-financial-year-ending-2023 (Accessed 28 January 2025)
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2024b) ‘Pension credit claimants (% of all pensioners)’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-8-august-2024 (Accessed 28 January 2025)
Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) (2019) ‘English indices of deprivation 2019: Health deprivation and disability domain’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019 (Accessed 28 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 28 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Age structure of the population: Population aged under 16’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 28 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023) ‘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 20 February 2025)
