The Welsh House Farm Big Local area was in south-west Birmingham, four miles from the city centre. The area included the Welsh House Farm estate, which was built in the 1960s on rural farmland. There was a range of community facilities and services, including a primary school, Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), the Haven Community Centre, and the Keystone Children’s Centre. Wellington Court offered daycare and accommodation for older people, and a centre run by social services supported disabled residents.
Primarily a residential area, in 2021 it had a population of 4,309 (ONS, 2022). It was more ethnically diverse than the wider West Midlands, with 24 per cent of residents identifying as Black (compared to 5 per cent) and 41 per cent identifying as White British (compared to 71 per cent) (ONS, 2023a; 2023b). Fewer residents were born in the UK, with 69 per cent compared to 84 per cent regionally (ONS, 2023c). 44 per cent of residents were receiving Universal Credit, and 51 per cent of households lived in socially rented housing, both higher than the regional averages (DWP, 2025; ONS, 2023d).
To create their first plan, the Welsh House Farm Big Local partnership held informal discussions with residents and commissioned Groundwork to do surveys, events, and activities in the community.
The partnership also hosted a Big Local Visioning Day where artists (More Than Minutes) created a vision board based on the community’s priorities, which was later displayed at the Keystone Centre. The board was an ongoing commitment to the partnership’s goals: improving the area’s appearance; building cohesion and pride; creating opportunities for young people; empowering and connecting residents; and increasing the number of activities for residents.
The partnership set up subgroups for specific areas of work, like scrutinising spending or distributing small grants. A consistent core group of partnership members used their local knowledge to build relationships, ensuring that residents trusted them and they had a wide network of stakeholders, including schools, charities, and providers.
The partnership saw their role as building connections to strengthen existing provision, rather than only creating new activities. For example, they supported a local provider to expand their youth activities and provided grants of up to £1,000 to local groups to bring people together.
As part of their focus on building connections, the partnership worked with a team of volunteers, who were crucial to delivery. A dedicated awards event (in 2019) celebrated the contribution of those volunteers.
The partnership also engaged the local authority on housing and public health, and collaborated with organisations outside their area. This included the neighbouring Birchfield Big Local, which they worked with on creative activities through a Creative Civic Change grant.
The partnership was committed to the employment and professional development of the community. One resident, initially employed as a trainee, was supported to progress to full-time Community Development Worker with Big Local.
Delivery was not without challenges for the partnership, including changes in their Locally Trusted Organisation (LTO) and political boundaries. Following changes in 2018, the area moved from the Quinton ward into the Harborne electoral ward. New LTOs and wards resulted in changes in available support and a need to build new relationships. This put pressure on the partnership, but throughout these difficulties, they felt they showed resilience and a willingness to adapt. Partnership members reflected that they learned collaboration and negotiation skills, and to accept that disagreements can be part of the process.
As the partnership approached the end of the programme, More Than Minutes facilitated a visioning exercise with them. Ten years on from the first visioning day, the exercise shaped legacy priorities to support a thriving community beyond Big Local. A bid writer worked with the partnership over this time to help raise funds. Legacy plans included the continued involvement of some members and the establishment of three Community Interest Companies: Green Grafters United, Diaspora Women Arts and Community, and WHF Cycling.
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.
A locally trusted organisation (LTO) was the organisation chosen by people in a Big Local area or the partnership to administer and account for funding, and/or deliver activities or services on behalf of a partnership. Areas might have worked with more than one locally trusted organisation depending on the plan and the skills and resources required.
Alongside Big Local, between 2018–2022 Local Trust also ran the Creative Civic Change programme, an experimental funding programme that supported 15 communities across England to shape, lead and commission arts and creative interventions to make positive social change where they lived. Some Big Local areas were involved, alongside other areas.
The Green Grafters emerged from an environmental subgroup of the Welsh House Farm Big Local partnership, aiming to improve the area’s appearance and community wellbeing through gardening and green spaces.
Big Local funding was used for tools for ‘dig-it days’, gardening workshops, and cultivating unused urban spaces, encouraging residents to volunteer. Mid-way through the programme, the Green Grafters transformed disused land in Rutley Grove, helping to discourage anti-social behaviour by clearing, landscaping, and fencing the site, and removing litter. They were supported by Roots to Fruits (a community enterprise) and Birmingham City Council.
The partnership hired a Green Grafters volunteer to lead a community consultation on how the land could be used. As a result, a community garden with raised beds was created and the first growing season started two years after they began transforming the land, in 2020.
Over time, various additions were made to the garden, including a summer house (funded by Severn Trent’s Community Investment Fund), equipment storage, and mosaic decorations. The space became a focal point for residents, with creative activities and events, like pumpkin carving, pizza and lantern making, and bringing residents together with an artist to create, and later use, a community earth oven.
Alongside the garden at Rutley Grove, the Green Grafters planted several areas around Welsh House Farm and developed local allotments. Towards the end of Big Local, they created a business plan to continue delivering their work under their newly established Community Interest Company (CIC) – Green Grafters United. The plan set out ambitions to continue involving residents in gardening and environmental activities to beautify spaces and uplift the community.
Responding to a gap identified by the Welsh House Farm community, the partnership set up a social group for women and, later, for men. The groups hosted events, picked up litter, supported Big Local projects, and prompted other initiatives (like trips away and a weekly community café at The Haven Community Centre).
While all women were welcome at the women’s group, the partnership identified a need for a group for women of migratory origin. They set up the Diaspora Women’s Group as a space to share experiences and build friendships. Members described each other as a family, benefiting from a supportive shared space to combat loneliness and cultural disconnection.
Members of the Diaspora Women’s Group organised English classes for residents who spoke English as an additional language, and provided support to each other, such as advice on local schools. The group celebrated holidays (including Diwali, Eid, and Christmas), and, in 2023, took part in a creative project with a local museum, aiming to make the space more welcoming to a wider range of residents, by exhibiting artwork by group members.
Food was an important feature of all three resident groups, offering ways to connect across cultures through shared recipes. This was reflected in a cookbook, Milk and Honey, launched by the partnership with food stories and recipes from residents.
Towards the end of the programme, Diaspora Women Arts and Community Group was established as a Community Interest Company (CIC), to continue beyond Big Local.
One of the community events that the Welsh House Farm Big Local partnership developed was the Energise Festival. From its launch in 2017, the festival offered a chance for residents of all ages and cultures to come together through creative activities.
Taking place over two weeks in summer, the festival included street games, music and dance workshops, drama activities, hip hop rap poetry, arts and craft workshops, carnival workshops, and a treasure hunt. Local stakeholders that received Big Local funding also delivered activities such as gardening, cycling, a bouncy castle, and facepainting. Food was provided through a street barbecue or packed lunch.
The festival attracted over 200 residents in 2022. Much of the two-week period was spent in anticipation of the carnival, which was at the end of each festival. Carnival day was a chance for residents to celebrate together and showcase the crafts and skills they had learnt over the festival.
The Big Local partnership recognised that much of the Welsh House Farm community faced challenges with the cost of living, which limited opportunities to build connections across a diverse and culturally rich population. So, they developed a year-round programme of affordable activities.
Reduced costs trips (including to a zoo, farm, local heritage sites, and the seaside) were the highlight of the events programme for many residents. The trips were in high demand with many being over-subscribed.
The Welsh House Farm Senior Citizens Group (a group of older residents organised by the partnership) helped to plan various activities. These included a Christmas party delivered with Wellington Court (sheltered accommodation run by Age UK), a Christmas trip to Worcester, and a tour of Birmingham’s canals.
The Big Local partnership formed the Welsh House Farm Cycling Group, which worked with national and regional stakeholders to deliver initiatives like Ride Active (offering practice sessions for residents of all ages).
The partnership collaborated with local stakeholders, including the council’s Health and Wellbeing service and Big Birmingham Bikes (a charity-based scheme). Sessions were delivered at the local primary school and Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), with over 35 residents attending the first session.
Building on this success, the partnership secured a £2000 grant from the Active Citizens Fund and a donation of 20 bicycles from Birmingham City Council. The grant facilitated a new storage unit on Rutley Grove (next to the community garden) which became known as the cycling hub, as residents could access the bicycles.
The cycling hub was also the base for free monthly Bikeability sessions, which provided guided rides and Dr Bike (a bicycle safety and maintenance checking service), helping improve cycling and repair skills. Over 500 residents learned bicycle skills and took part in guided cycles supported by local volunteers. Six residents took on the role of lead cyclist after Big Local funding provided them cycling first aid training.
These successful initiatives and collaborations were an important part of the partnership’s legacy, and they established WHF Cycling as a Community Interest Company (CIC) to continue delivery beyond the end of Big Local.
The Welsh House Farm Big Local partnership recognised the value of bringing arts opportunities to the community. By developing relationships to enable this, they were able to secure a £200,000 grant from the Creative Civic Change programme in collaboration with the nearby Birchfield Big Local.
The grant facilitated a range of creative activities across the two communities, and a working group was formed (Hard Times Require Furious Dancing) with members from both Big Local partnerships.
The group felt that the Covid-19 pandemic meant opportunities for connection and creativity were needed. So, they organised doorstep music concerts, created online creative resource packs, and organised a WhatsApp photography project with local photographer, Vanley Burke, through which residents documented life in lockdown.
An existing relationship with Birmingham Repertory Theatre continued, with the theatre giving 600 tickets for five shows to residents across the two Big Local areas. In 2022, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing and the theatre collaborated to deliver workshops with an artist-in-residence and backstage theatre tours for 24 families. Residents and partnership members reflected that the workshops reignited a passion for art and creativity, and provided a therapeutic experience.
At the end of the three-year grant, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing allocated funds to a review and redevelopment of their website, creating a portfolio and archive of the work to facilitate future funding for local creative opportunities.
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 Welsh House Farm Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2025) ‘Universal credit’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/dwp-benefits-statistics-february-2025 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘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 5 December 2025)
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 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023c) ‘UK Census 2021: Country of Birth: Europe: United Kingdom’, Available at: ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS004/editions/2021/versions/3 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023d) ‘UK Census 2021: Social rented housing’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/bulletins/housingenglandandwales/census2021 (Accessed 5 December 2025)
