| Community Project Manager: | Ally Harvey |
| Community Training Facilitator: | Declan Riddell |
| Community Training Administrator: | Tara Burndred |
| Community Team Co-ordinator: | Marie Powell |
| Trainee Community Involvement Worker: | Ben Moss |
The Community Team engage with, and build the capacity, of the local community of all ages. The team arranges consultations and gives targeted support and guidance; ultimately helping the community to work towards a stronger and more cohesive neighbourhood network.
For any additional information on any of the projects included on this page or in the Community section of the project reports, e-mail our Community Project Manager, Ally Harvey.
The community of Townsend, principally members of the Townsend Residents Association, approached us with the aim to produce a Development Plan for the area. A variety of issues and potential projects were discussed and prioritised and from this it was decided that we would tackle the main problem within the estate regarding the traffic issues; namely a lack of parking spaces, with residents often resorting to parking on the pavement, and the speed at which people were driving making the area unsafe.
Groundwork put together a traffic management scheme to ease these problems, including the installation of dropped kerbs to encourage residents to invest in off road driveways; and speed cushions in strategic points to minimise speeding, particularly around the High School, and to aid the access of emergency services through the estate.
Funding of over £200,000 was secured from the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB6) and a match fund contribution from the European Social Fund of £34,000. The work was undertaken by Groundwork’s ILM team - a programme using and training local labour, therefore encouraging the local people to gain new skills and contribute to the regeneration of their area.
“The problems on the estates roads are fairly typical of many across Stoke-on-Trent. What has been different here has been the determination of the local community to arrive at a solution for the benefit of everyone. This has been a community led project and we were delighted that Groundwork could provide us with a route to secure funding and deliver the works.” - Karen Bowen, Chair of Townsend Residents Association
Healthy eating awareness and 'grow your own' Community Garden
The project began as a £20 000 community environmental
improvement project but based on the local peoples ideas and led by
the Sutton Trust Community Group it has grown into a £300,000
project to transform a neglected area, formerly a block of flats,
into a valuable community resource: Abbey Community Garden.
The area has now been prepared, a perimeter fence erected and the
front of the site has been railed with a gate for both pedestrian
and vehicular access. A management agreement has now been
undertaken by the Sutton Trust Community Group from the William
Sutton Housing Association to continue with its development and
manage the project long term.
The exciting vision for the Community Garden will include a healthy eating classroom, home grown produce shop, patio and entertainments space surrounded by a sensory garden, little orchard, raised beds, traditional beds and wildlife area.
Dividy Road, a road almost a mile long runs through a large housing
estate to the east of the City. It contained large
uninspiring grassed verges which were unloved by its residents, and
during winter the grass got very muddy making crossing extremely
difficult. There was no community meeting place for discussions
regarding the work, so Groundwork overcame this by hiring a large
van and taking the “consultation to the people”. Over
200 households were leafleted with the dates and times when the van
would visit. The consultations were crucial; the initial designs
were radically changed to suit the wishes of the residents.
Discussions decided the shape of the plant beds, the height the
plants and suggested new features including footpaths to improve
access.
Over 12 months a total of 1,200 trees and 15,000 bulbs were planted
along Dividy road. The final tree was planted by a pupil from the
local Woodhouse Primary School and the Lord Mayor and was
celebrated by residents and local school children with a wildlife
theme fancy dress contest.
Groundwork bid into the national scheme
supported by the Home Office called Operation Gate
It. Our project in Heron Cross was the only flagship
scheme in the West Midlands to be supported and generated
£40,000 to match the City Council’s £80,000
contribution. The scheme is to provide gates to three
alleyways in Heron Cross and to landscape a patch of open space
into a community garden to be maintained by local residents.
Consultations with local residents are due to begin in August and
an exchange visit with Groundwork Manchester, to look at their
highly successful programme, is planned for early September.
Groundwork’s Community Team was contacted by Haregate
Community Centre after being recommended by the Countryside Agency
to offer practical support and advice to their Doorstep Green
project. Haregate is an estate in Leek who had begun the process of
transforming a small piece of open space into a community facility
and turning it into a Doorstep Green. Initial consultations
with the local community had been undertaken but the group needed
help and support in the project management and fundraising for the
scheme
Groundwork’s Landscape Team created a
plan and costs for the transformation and the Community Team wrote
the funding applications and searched for match funding. To
date £70,000 has been secured with a further £50,000
applied for. This funding will allow the implementation of the
scheme along with a break away scheme to look at the heritage of a
war memorial at the entrance to the site. The heritage aspect of
the project hopes to engage local school children and young people
to research the history of the estate and talk to some remaining
residents and their families who lived through the war. It is
also hoped to refurbish the war memorial during this process with a
specialist stone mason.
Members of the community are working with Groundwork Stoke-on-Trent
on a project to regenerate the mill pond area of Blurton and
transform it into an attractive local amenity. With funding already
assured from the Barclays Site Savers scheme, Groundwork is
now in consultation with Blurton Farm Residents Association to plan
the project in detail. The work, which is expected to involve
landscaping, the improvement of pathways, and a clean-up of the
pond itself, will be carried out by the residents with help
and guidance from Groundwork and path work by ILM operatives.
As part of this exciting initiative to improve the environment of
the area, Groundwork provided the support and necessary tools for a
Petal for Pensioners Day when teams of volunteers from the
community planted up and tidied the gardens of elderly residents
whose home front the mill pond. The day was organised by
Blurton Farm Residents Association. Chris Pratt, Chair of Blurton
Farm Residents Association, said: "The best thing to come from the
day was how much the young people and the pensioners enjoyed each
others company. A group of pensioners said how lovely it was
to hear the youngsters laughing and having so much fun while they
were working."
Groundwork Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire has been working with
the community to build capacity, enabling residents to care for
their local environment and implement low key planting, thereby
adding value to a proposed play area. Consultation sessions took
place with local residents and local young people getting actively
involved. The site was completed in June this year.
Groundwork Enterprise Centre
Albany Works
Moorland Road
Burslem
Stoke on Trent ST6 1EB
T : 01782 829900
F : 01782
829901
E : stokeontrent@
groundwork.org.uk
