Community Pride Podcast Episode 3 - Why do green spaces help to develop community pride?

Kayla Jones 00:04

I do not possess a green thumb. I don’t seem to have that magic touch that keeps plants and flowers growing and flourishing into bountiful produce and beautiful gardens. My assumption, like many people, has been that it’s just not my gift. The inaccessibility of living in an urban area or in a flat can mean there’s not many places to access gardens or green spaces to learn how to grow anything. So why try? That is, until I learned about Brinnington Big Local, a community outside of Stockport in the Greater Manchester area, whose urban landscape hasn’t hindered residents from utilising public spaces as places to access recreational activities for health and wellbeing, boost environmental benefits such as gardening and urban farming, and as an outdoor community hub for group events and festivals. With their Big Local funding, Brinnington decided to think outside the box when it came to green spaces, by establishing projects which helped residents learn how to garden, cook, and recycle food waste right in their own community. Local Trust research into green spaces in urban communities has found that many people don’t have access to a garden and have to walk for an average of 10 minutes to access green spaces. Environmentally, green spaces projects can lower carbon emissions, improve air quality, protect wildlife, or encourage biodiversity. For communities, investing in green spaces can improve the local environment and create a more welcoming, clean, and visually pleasing place for locals and visitors to enjoy the area. 

Through this Big Local journey, I’ve learned about so many Big Local communities who chose to invest in green space projects as a part of their funding. Communities across England went outdoors to create or improve spaces to play sports, go for a walk, have a picnic, or visit a local memorial. As communities come together with creative ideas on how to use their Big Local funding in ways that can improve the local environment, often a sense of pride is grown from working together to maintain and nurture shared spaces for all to enjoy. 

Brinnington’s story has inspired me to rethink how we see green spaces and how many people can get involved to help keep green spaces accessible to urban and rural residents across England. As a more built-up area on the outskirts of a major city, it would have been easy for Brinnington locals to accept the inaccessibility of green spaces. Instead, this community has become an example of how innovative and creative planning through adversity can blossom into lasting projects. 

I’m your host, Kayla Jones. Join me as we explore pride in green spaces of Big Local communities on the Community Pride Podcast.

Kayla Jones 03:15

In this episode, I’m speaking with Nina, the Community Manager for Brinnington, whose optimistic energy was palpable during our chat.

Nina 03:24

Wow. Where do I begin? I personally always had a passion for working with people and working with communities, and my personal journey working with the Big Local has been quite astounding. Brinnington was really formed in the industrial era. People from the manufacturing industry bought mansions and houses within Brinnington so they could, because it’s on a hill, they could overlook their factories, and then manufacturing factories overnight, and it kind of derived from then. And would you know that we used to have a ski slope in Brinnington? But in terms of the demographic, it’s the second most disadvantaged area with high levels of depression, we have a lot of disabled people within, and high levels of unemployment. So, looking at the demographics, it’s hit with everything.

Kayla Jones 04:12

Brinnington’s focus on green projects first began with a desire for many locals to have a garden to potter around in, as they say.

Nina 04:22

And in terms of Brinnington, it started, I think it was 2016, and the difference that it’s made, I’ve got so many comments and feedback from people, and it can be something really simple. ​“It got me out of the house”. And I suppose as well, I have to mention the flexibility, because that’s also important. Because this isn’t something that you know a big corporate’s doing. This is about encouraging and engaging and enthusing those people to lead it themselves and to be a true model of community-led work and the impacts that that can make.

Kayla Jones 04:57

The Green Thumbs community garden was a way for residents to experience key steps in the gardening process, from growing plants from seedlings, nurturing and maintaining soil beds, cooking the vegetables that were grown, and limiting waste by sharing food within the community. Through weekly activities in the garden for adults and children, the ex-industrial area was looking for ways to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of local residents.

Nina 05:25

Wellbeing and mental health is, I would say, one of the priorities for the area, because if we don’t get the wellbeing and we don’t lay the foundations for people’s health, that obviously impacts everything else. It impacts the finances, impacts job opportunities, it can bring people closer to the labour market for those who want to work and encourage those people to work. And for the older people, the Big Local has enabled and mobilised many services and activities where older people are involved and included.

Kayla Jones 05:57

To improve wellbeing in Brinnington, both for residents and the local landscape, Brinnington Big Local partnered with environmental charity Groundwork. They set in motion green projects that supported local communities and businesses in developing unique ways to make areas greener and healthier, bringing together residents of all ages and backgrounds. With Groundwork’s input, Brinnington established an accessible garden, put on community cooking classes, and grew a green community hub with indoor warming spaces. 

Nina 06:27

We worked with them to build the community garden and to make sure that that was used for a wider range. They offer things like Natural in Nature, which is something that we kind of created for people to just go in there, they might not be gardeners, but just to sit in that nature, absorb, take the weight off, relax, chat. Have a brew. Have a natter. So I think that comes from having the support of Local Trust behind us at every step of the way and making sure that we’re kind of on the right trajectory.

Kayla Jones 06:59

Local Trust’s former Chief Executive Matt Leach found that partnering up with local authorities and specialised organisations can be a powerful way to provide services to locals for many communities.

Matt Leach 07:13

You go across to look at food projects and the community cinema in Brinnington in Stockport. Just down the road from that, you’ve got Ridge Hill Big Local, which helped establish a social enterprise that’s taken on boating lakes and fishing lakes and turned them into a remarkable community-owned resource. There’s just so much — you can’t generalise. What you can see, though, in all of those areas is what happens when you’re willing to patiently support, invest in, enable, you know, remarkable, often quite remarkable people.

Kayla Jones 07:48

Nina told me that involving specialist partnerships in Brinnington Big Local allowed for them to use their funding in a way that was unique to the 8,000 residents.

Nina 07:58

We couldn’t have done what we’ve done without our specialist partners, but the specialist partners couldn’t have done what they’ve achieved without our committee and without our volunteers within the community. So I think that kind of cohesive approach and collaborating, that you know, in that way, can only benefit the community and the people that live there, surely.

Kayla Jones 08:16

One of Binnington’s biggest projects has been the Green Thumbs community garden, which has since won awards for the best community garden and star volunteer. The garden is truly a community effort, with volunteers pitching in to keep the garden healthy whilst also growing their own food and herbs like sage, strawberries, potatoes, and lettuce.

Nina 08:37

They want to get more involved, and that’s how we’ve grown the community gardens. That’s how we’ve grown the green aspect of our work as well. The Chair of Green Thumb, Julie, always said, ​“There’s something about the soil”, and never a truer saying, just, you know, especially young people, being able to just get messy, you know, and put their hands in the soil. And the benefits that that has, because it does have things in there that do make people feel better. And I think understanding the people within a community is so important as well, because these people that are not able to go there every day, and these people that are not able to lift great big sacks of compost, so you find solutions, you make raised beds, you make sure you build in a place that is so inclusive everybody can access it. That’s what you do, and that’s the benefits. Yeah.

Kayla Jones 09:27

Operating out of a green community hub, Brinnington was able to provide a space for residents to meet, learn, and create together.

Nina 09:35

So we built a hub, as you do! So we recognise again, that within the area, this — it’s called Berwick Parade, and it’s where most of the shops are now. So you know that’s where most people congregate, where they access food, a variety of shops there. And five years ago, we had this, I suppose you can call it a vision! We helped to create a SEND group within Brinnington as well, because there was no provision, and it has the highest percentage of SEND young children across the whole of Stockport. And they are flourishing and thriving now, the group. They run it themselves, everything themselves, and they’re real activists, which is a joy to see. So from there, that’s how we decided to bring the services so that as many services operate from the hub. I mean, we have cancer awareness. We’ve now got Groundwork’s energy advice team in there. We have Scope for disabled people. We do cooking outside for the hub to fit in with our Grow, Cook, and Eat model. The list is absolutely endless, but it’s important to know that this is all community-led.

Kayla Jones 10:44

In 2021, Local Trust conducted a study on 26 Big Local communities and their use of community hubs during the COVID-19 crisis. They found that the variety of community hubs and flexibility of use allowed for them to be converted quickly into response centres that could provide necessary supplies or meals for residents in need. Binnington’s Green Thumbs community hub was an example in the study because they put together a series of ​“Meet, Grow, Eat” wellbeing sessions for those who were isolated during the pandemic. It allowed for residents to spend time outside, grow and eat homegrown food, and socialise at a safe distance. Community hubs provide a network for which residents can operate out of; whether that be tea and chat mornings in a physical building, a digital space online for people to connect in, or as an extension of the local area to share information on local events. Local Trust research has found that community hubs are one of the central focal points to many Big Local communities. Senior Researcher Laura Fisher tells me:

Laura Fisher 11:52

I can think of a few Big Local areas where they’ve brought community centres that maybe were only open one or two days a week, back into five, even seven days a week use by funding redevelopment, funding staff to be based there, funding activity to happen there. And it definitely feels like a snowball effect, where once you get more and more things happening and more people going, all of a sudden, you know, the classes are oversubscribed, or there’s people fighting to book the community hall or whatever. So that reinvigoration of community spaces, or, as I said, building them from scratch, I guess it shows a community – it’s a really visible way of showing community that they’re worth investing in. Because it’s not just that initial investment of however much money the partnership have paid of their Big Local funding to create that space. It’s all of the, you know, other organisations or individuals or activities that come into a community to do stuff there. It’s, it’s, I think that, yeah, I think that it provides a lot of community worth and value.

Kayla Jones 12:55

For Brinnington today, their green community hub continues to evolve to meet the needs of the local area, like by providing a space for a young person’s gardening club and a volunteer programme where residents deliver portable vegetable plots for people to grow salads at home. Nina said it’s been a very rewarding experience to watch so many people involved in Brinnington Big Local now using the knowledge and skills learned from the community hub to educate others on green projects, too. Their green community hub continues to evolve to meet the needs of the local area. Through my chats with Big Local communities, what I’ve found is that a lot of big ideas all start from a simple want within the community. Somewhere for teens to play football together, a site to memorialise local fallen soldiers, or, in the case of Brinnington, a garden and some planters to brighten up the area. After a multitude of ideas are put forward, all of a sudden, residents are coming to realise that a simple want has turned into something much bigger than they had intended.

Nina 14:04

And it starts – sometimes it starts off with them just wanting it to look aesthetically better. They want it to look better, and they want a bit of green. But then when they start to get involved and realise that, yes, it’s making it green, but the impacts on your health and wellbeing, and others’ health and wellbeing, and also the practical side of installing, for instance, which is what we’re doing in Brinnington at nature based solutions, and we’re building a rain garden, and all the fantastic things that that can offer. And there’s a lot of people in Brinnington that have been long-time residents, but they’ve also had new houses built and new developments built, which has brought in new people. We’ve also brought an influx of people from different cultures and different communities who, no matter who I’ve spoken to, the first words out of their mouth have been Brinnington is so welcoming, and they are now proud of where they live, too. And it is that sense of belonging you have to have, the sense of belonging in the communities that have pride in it. It’s about that pride in their community, that pride in their neighbourhood.

Kayla Jones 15:07

For so many Big Local communities, green spaces have helped residents take part in projects they can be proud of and be in a local area they’re proud of living in.

Matt Leach 15:18

What you can see, though, in all of those areas is what happens when you’re willing to support, invest in, and enable, often quite remarkable people to do amazing things aimed at improving their areas. And I think critically, and this is very important, in doing so, to repopulate their areas, not just with great stuff, you know, the wind farms or the boating lakes or the community centres. But I think critically, recreating and building community-based institutions, the stuff, the places to go, the organisations that bring people together, that create identity, connection, make people feel much more part of their area.

Kayla Jones 16:01

Through my exploration of community pride, I’ve found that residents don’t feel pride in where they live because everything has gone smoothly, or because no one disagrees, or the community is always thriving. For many communities, what has helped them grow their sense of pride in the place that they live is through connection and working together to make an area better for the whole community, even when there are differences, it’s the people refusing to quit, much like the stout plants in many of our homes and gardens determined to grow no matter the season or the rough conditions they’re planted in, that can make a difference.

Nina 16:39

And obviously, you get fractions in communities. Of course, you do, but it’s about bringing those fractions together and how you do it that makes all the difference to people. People take pride in themselves, and by taking pride in themselves, that feeds into taking pride in their community and where they live. They want to make the community better, but sometimes they’re not sure how, why, where, how. We can understand their aspirations and where they want to go, and we can bring their ambitions to life. And I feel that that’s our role as well in that community, and community pride I feel, is when someone, not just one person, regularly comes to Brinnington and says, you know, if you could bottle that community spirit, you’d make a fortune. That’s about pride.

Kayla Jones 17:32

The story of Brinnington’s Big Thumbs garden through their Big Local journey has taught me that by coming together and nurturing the areas that we live in, we also nurture one another as a community. The outdoors is an important place for us as community members to maintain and improve. Trees help us breathe, soil helps us grow, and grass lets us play. Brinnington is great proof that there are unique ways any community can access and improve green spaces, bringing benefits to the environment and residents, no matter how urban or rural. There’s a lot that can be learned from the multiplicity of uses that have come out of Brinnington’s green projects, helping make homes more efficient, rewilding former industrial landscapes, and teaching residents of all ages how to grow, nurture, and use their own local produce, skills that can be passed down generationally and shared amongst the community. One of the things that struck me from my conversation with Matt was when he talked about the assumption that appealing green spaces can often only be associated with affluent areas and not necessarily with lower-income urban ones. Brinnington and so many other Big Local areas have shown that with community collaboration, simple green projects such as planter boxes and baskets, community gardens, and walking trails have all helped areas across the UK to improve their communal outdoor spaces and cultivate a sense of pride in the places that we live. By challenging the perception that outdoor beauty and greenery are exclusive to only some areas, communities like Brinnington can demonstrate that thoughtful, collaborative efforts can transform any space into one of vibrancy, efficiency, and connection. These initiatives not only enhance the physical environment but also foster a deep sense of belonging and ownership amongst residents. Investing in shared spaces is an investment in its spirit, showing that pride and progress can grow wherever people come together and cultivate it with purpose and vision.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Community Pride podcast. For more information and resources on green spaces and community hubs, or to learn more about Big Local as a programme, go to learningfrombiglocal.org.uk