St Peter's Community Partnership

Case Study

Summary

Part of Ashton-under-Lyne was declared a regeneration area in 1996. The Ashton Renewal Project (later to be renamed Ashton Regeneration) was set up at that time - although community development work didn't really get underway until 1998.

Five Residents Associations were set up across the area in 1998/9 to tackle the main issues of concern for residents in each of the five different communities and to start the process of building a series of community networks and a community infrastructure that would eventually be self sufficient and self-sustaining.

The Residents Associations began to tackle a wide range of issues, with the most common being:

• community safety
• housing
• litter and fly tipping
• anti social behaviour

In 1999 the chair of each of the 5 Residents Associations met up, with a local ward councillor, to share experiences and to learn from each other and to get a better grip of the priorities that needed tackling in the area.

This group started to meet on a monthly basis and gradually more and more members of the different Associations joined in. Eventually over 25 local residents were meeting on a regular basis and keeping each other up to date with activities, 'campaigns' and community events.

This was the start of what eventually was to be called St Peter's Community Partnership.

The purpose of the organisation

The idea behind the partnership has been to bring different groups together so that they are not working in isolation and to encourage joint planning and joint community ventures.

The aims of the organisation have been to act as an umbrella group and help promote a range of community initiatives that tackle some of the underlying and long-term difficulties of the area. The trustees are keen to ensure that St Peter's ward is a safe place for people to live in, that residents have the appropriate access to skills for life and for employment, that residents have the opportunity to influence key decisions that affect them and that residents feel the area is a healthy and happy place to live in.

From the early days it was clear that the Partnership should be a community led organisation with local people in the driving seat. It was also clear that if the Partnership was to have any authority in the area it needed to have a strong network of links throughout the community, feeding information backwards and forwards.

The Partnership recognised that the organisation would need to be self sustaining and self reliant in the long run and that it would need to set up some 'not for profit' trading activities in order to generate an income for the organisation.

The Partnership was also keen to set up a small grants fund for community groups active in the area, so that these groups could be helped in their work and in turn strengthen the community networks that would be the bedrock for the Partnership.

The Partnership has also recognised that it has an important role in trying out new solutions to old problems, piloting new schemes and sharing the leaning with partner agencies.

Present Position

The Partnership has grown rapidly and changed in many different ways since those early days in 1999. As a model of community development it has grown out of a community agenda. It has grown organically, and has therefore developed in unexpected and unplanned ways , responding to local demands.

The organisation was originally formalised into a Community Association and registered as a charity on that basis. two years later it changed its legal status to become a company limited by shares with a trading arm, but still operating as a registered charity.

The organisation is community led with all decisions being made by a Board of Trustees of seven local people, with decision-making powers, and advisors.

The Partnership operates as an umbrella organisation (or a community anchor) linking closely with the Tameside voluntary sector, but gaining its authority through its direct links to the large community infrastructure and networks that have been developed in the St Peter's ward.

For example, at street level there are 46 Street Reps who help distribute newsletters and leaflets on a monthly basis and who act as part of a two-way communication system. Also at street level there are over 70 Home watch co-ordinators and 250 trained first aiders. At the area level there are the five Residents Associations that continue to meet monthly. All the trustees of St Peter's Partnership have come through this community network.

The organisation currently employs 19 people, many of who live in the St Peter's ward area. The Partnership operates a business called Greenscape that carries out environmental work in the area and gift aids surplus funds at the end of each year to the charity. In its first year of trading Greenscape gift aided £59,000 to the charity and in the second year, £93,000.

In line with its social welfare objectives the charity operates a number of different community activities in the area, and these include:

• A One Stop Shop designed to reduce the barriers to employment and taking part in training
• A social employment scheme that gives valuable work experience to local residents
• A Home watch scheme that promotes community safety throughout the area and supports a large network of active volunteers
• A Community Fund that distributes grants (up to £5000) to local community groups
• An IT project that operates two IT training centres
• A community initiatives project, entitled 'Community Routes' employing a Community Development worker and assistant that encourages volunteering and supports and maintains the existing community infrastructure.

Clearly a lot of work has gone in to securing funds to allow these different projects to grow and flourish. This will continue to be an important priority for the future as well as making sure that the organisation is flexible and adaptable to changing fortunes and new priorities.

With the strong community infrastructure and networks in place one of the immediate challenges for the trustees could be to organise a Community Planning Day that would give a lot of local people the opportunity to prioritise their concerns and issues, and at the same time give the organisation the authority to develop an annual Community Action Plan.

The Future

There are still many hurdles to overcome to ensure the overall aim of long term sustainability - but the way in which the organisation has grown and matured over the last six years promises a lot for the future. St Peter's Community Partnership will continue to work closely with the Ashton Regeneration Project in the area. It is likely that as the work of the Regeneration team reduces over the next few years more and more of the social and community activities will transfer across to St Peter's Partnership. It is also envisaged that over the next two to three years the Board of Trustees and the Regeneration Partnership Board will work much more closely together to ensure that the experience and expertise gained through the regeneration programme is not lost to the community.