Worle
Key points
- The Big Worle Hub was established, bringing services and activities into the local area and creating a welcoming community space.
- Big Worle created opportunities for local volunteers, including running the new hub and taking part in community research training.
- The partnership improved local open spaces, providing places to meet and socialise and to be outdoors in the community.
About the Big Local area
The Worle Big Local area encompassed a distinct, largely residential area on the edge of the old village of Worle in North Somerset. Historically, Worle was larger than nearby Weston (now Weston-super-Mare), but railway infrastructure brought visitors, leisure, and growth to the seaside resort, and Worle was absorbed into Weston-super-Mare in 1933. With the M5 motorway close by and Bristol approximately 20 miles away, Worle lay within a commuter belt – which some long-term residents considered to have a negative impact on the vitality of the local community.
In 2021, the Big Local area had a population of 3,661 people (ONS, 2022). Most of its population were white British, and it was one of the 30 per cent most deprived areas in England in 2019 (ONS, 2023a; MHCLG, 2019). The area was served by Worle railway station, two secondary schools, and several primary schools, and had some pockets of green space and one larger park to the north of the area. North Worle Shopping Centre, in the eastern end of the area, included a supermarket, pharmacy, post office and pub, while the nearest high street and other amenities were outside the Big Local boundary.
How the Big Local area approached delivery
Worle Big Local, known locally as Big Worle, began the programme with a two-year community consultation process. Eight residents completed a six-week community research training course, and gathered insights from 114 residents, before presenting their findings to the Big Worle partnership. Five key areas were identified as priorities: improving open spaces and the environment; events and activities to bring the community together; young people; community safety; and health and wellbeing.
The partnership originally focused on people who ‘Live, Work, and Play’ in the Big Worle Big Local area. Upon reflection, they decided this was too broad to reflect resident needs, and refined it to ‘People, Community, Environment’. The partnership continued to engage the community through workshops and community fun days throughout the programme. They set up comment boxes and ‘Plant Your Idea’ stands at local events, where residents could suggest ideas by literally planting them in flowerpots. ‘Check and Change’ events also allowed the community to review and shape their priorities and planned activities.
Big Worle delivered its programme in the context of several shifts within the partnership, due to interpersonal challenges relating to power dynamics and differing views on accountability to the community. During the Big Local programme there was a high turnover of partnership members at Big Worle, which saw three complete changes of the partnership. Across all three iterations, consultation clearly showed that the needs of the community were unchanging, so similar work to address them continued throughout.
Due to the high turnover in membership, Big Worle tried many approaches to ensure decision-making was resident-led, while also encouraging wider stakeholder engagement. Mid-way through the programme, two groups were established – one led by residents with voting rights, and the other for advisory stakeholders. The resident group adopted a system of decision-making by majority voting, which they reflected encouraged quieter voices in the group to be involved in key decisions.
Resident volunteers were also a key part of Big Worle’s delivery approach, and the partnership eventually created a ‘Friends of the Partnership’ group for regular volunteers who did not want to sit on the partnership itself. At the same time, they adopted a ‘working group’ approach for specific projects, aiming to encourage wider participation outside the partnership. Partnership members reflected that they felt integrated and well known in the community, which helped to promote their Big Local work.
Big Worle established a community hub during Big Local and, a few years into the programme, the partnership created a Community Interest Organisation (CIO) to lease the hub from the area’s Locally Trusted Organisation (LTO). Big Worle CIO was intended to act as a legacy organisation, taking on the responsibility of employing staff long-term, and bringing the space into community ownership. It was planned that the Big Worle CIO would become the area’s new LTO. Partnership members reflected that this was an ambitious undertaking, and too much too soon for the team involved. After some governance challenges and a lack of volunteer capacity, the Big Worle CIO dissolved, and the lease returned to the LTO. The hub continued to be an important space utilised by the community and local groups. Towards the end of the programme, the partnership established the Big Worle Legacy Group which aimed to oversee the hub’s day-to-day activities into the future.
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 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.
Many Big Local partnerships funded workers to support the delivery of Big Local. They were paid individuals, as opposed to those who volunteered their time. They were different from Big Local reps and advisors, who were appointed and paid by Local Trust.
What the Big Local area did
Community assets and spaces
Establishing a community hub
At the outset of the programme, the Big Worle partnership wanted to improve local community meeting spaces. Their aim was to bring residents together, strengthen community spirit, and create a welcoming space that was easily accessible by public transport. They identified a former greengrocers, which had been repurposed as the Preanes Green Resource Centre and closed down shortly before the Big Local programme began, as a suitable existing hub to take over.
Early on, Big Worle took over the lease for the greengrocers building, and reopened it as the Big Worle Hub. The hub housed the Big Worle offices and hosted a wide range of events, workshops and services, such as coffee mornings, parent and baby groups, YMCA drop-ins, creative writing and art classes, and financial support services.
Initially the hub was run by a mixed team of workers and volunteers but by the end of the programme the hub was run mostly by volunteers. The partnership explored ways to secure the long-term future of the hub, however they were unable to move towards a more sustainable model without relying on volunteers. The Big Local Legacy Group continued to allocate funding and host a range of services at the hub until the programme ended.
Improving local open spaces
Throughout the programme, consultation with residents emphasised the need for improved open spaces locally, to support the environment and local wildlife and help create a ‘Green Worle’. Over the years, the partnership used Big Local funding to enhance open spaces, establishing a gardening club (which won a Weston in Bloom award), installing planters, organising litter picks, and clearing pathways. The partnership planted donated trees to create a fruit tree trail around the Big Worle area, and negotiated an agreement with the town council to take on long-term responsibility for them.
The partnership also collaborated with other organisations to improve the provision and quality of parks and green spaces in the area. The council identified the need for a park suitable for all ages and abilities near the Castle Batch Children’s Centre, noting that children with additional needs often faced reduced access to outdoor play. In partnership with others, towards the end of Big Local, Big Worle funding was used to support the creation of the Castle Batch Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Park. This became an inclusive and well-used play space all year round.
A few years earlier, Big Local funding was allocated towards refurbishing Dartmouth Close play area, with Weston-super-Mare Town Council agreeing to take over future maintenance of the park. The partnership also created a working group to lead the development of a community garden at Beckett School. By the end of the Big Local programme, vegetables were being grown at the school garden, and plans were being developed to employ a gardener and open the garden to residents.
Responding to urgent need and crisis
Offering community support and signposting
In 2022, close to a quarter of households in Worle did not have access to a car – a higher proportion than the regional average (ONS, 2023b). Residents reported that local public transport was lacking, meaning that local availability of vital services was an especially important consideration for Big Local. Alongside the activities provided at Big Worle Hub when it opened, the new space cultivated a safe and welcoming space for local people to receive help and support without having to leave the area.
The hub hosted services aiming to address gaps in the community for residents with complex needs related to vulnerability, disability, poor physical and mental health, benefits provision, cost-of-living pressures, crime, and isolation. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the hub also provided food aid support, including a ‘holiday hunger’ programme in collaboration with a local school, and collected food donations. Due to an ongoing need for this support, towards the end of Big Local, the Big Worle partnership established a food bank at the hub. Citizens Advice offered support at the hub, and by the end of Big Local, they were based there every Thursday, signposting to financial products and services to benefit local people until the programme ended.
Health and wellbeing
Supporting residents to improve their wellbeing
Improving wellbeing and reducing social isolation was a key thread throughout the Big Worle partnership’s work. Over the years, they organised health walks and ran various activity groups for gardening, movement to music, running, and arts. Once the new Big Worle Hub opened, workshops to tackle Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) were facilitated in the space, helping people to feel less isolated and to learn new coping strategies. Attendees described these workshops as “therapeutic” and “relaxing”, and the hub itself as a “warm and welcoming environment”. The partnership regarded the sessions as successful in bringing people together, albeit for only a small number of people.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a partnership member created and shared walking tours of the area on YouTube; these prompted responses from the community on social media, with viewers sharing memories of the area and arranging to follow the walking tours, with the walks then promoted on Big Worle’s Facebook page. Late in the programme, the partnership also allocated funding towards installing wellbeing benches in the area to encourage people to sit together and chat. As part of their Big Local legacy, the partnership installed a ‘green gym’ in a local park to encourage fitness and wellbeing, which they celebrated with an opening event in 2026.
Place-based pride and connection
Providing fun activities and events
Bringing the local community together and fostering connection and pride were key priorities for the partnership, and they worked to do this by both funding and organising community events and activities. Midway through the programme a local resident used a grant from Big Worle to launch the Big Worle Showbiz Choir, which amassed over 100 members in just six months. A few years later, the Teeny Tiny Festival Goes Large welcomed over 200 residents for live music, theatre and learning about Big Local. Big Worle also hosted popular Halloween, Christmas and summer events, and organised day trips for residents to the zoo and local museums, all organised and delivered by Big Worle volunteers.
Investing in young people
Supporting youth activities and clubs
The Big Worle partnership supported young people by funding after-school clubs, activities in schools, and by hosting family-friendly events like summer play schemes and discos at the Big Worle hub.
Over the course of a long-term collaboration with the local YMCA, the partnership supported a YMCA-run youth club at the hub. Due to its popularity, the YMCA expanded its provision to the Castle Batch Community Centre, where they delivered both a weekly youth club and youth work drop-in sessions, which were attended by up to 35 young people and included activities such as nature walks.
Establishing a youth arts project
Building on their work with the YMCA, the partnership set out to engage young people in the area, with secondary school students participating in activities at the hub. This engagement highlighted a lack of opportunities for local young people, and prompted conversations with them to understand their needs and build rapport. In response, the partnership formed a working group to bring young people together with local secondary schools, councils, the police, and the YMCA to co-design a new youth project. The aim was to develop a creative project to support young people’s wellbeing and foster a sense of ownership in the local environment.
The working group agreed on two projects: installing benches at local secondary schools as dedicated spaces to talk, listen, and foster connections; and creating an artistic outdoor space co-designed with young people. In the final years of the Big Local programme, Big Worle and Super Culture, with support from Local Trust, Weston-super-Mare Town Council and local schools, commissioned a local artist to facilitate workshops and art site visits for young people. The Big Wall art project engaged a group of around 10 local teenagers to form a panel of ‘art activists’ who would create a legacy public artwork. The teenagers involved took part in regular meetups, workshops with guest artists, and trips to art sites in Bristol and London, learning the process and skills needed to create public art.
They created a final piece which was unveiled in the summer of 2025, alongside a screening of their ‘Big Wall Project Documentary’ – a film co-created with young people. The partnership felt that The Big Wall would form part of their lasting Big Local legacy in the area.
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 Worle 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’. Available at: gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019 (Accessed 8 October 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationandhouseholdestimatesenglandandwalescensus2021 (Accessed 8 October2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘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 8 October 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: No cars or vans in household’. Available at: ons.gov.uk/datasets/TS045/editions/2021/versions/4 (Accessed 8 October 2025)