The Pride of Place Partnership

Residents and Partners Working Together for Change

Content

• Overview of area

• Overview of the POP Partnership aims and objectives

• The Quality Mark – how was it for us?

• Our Neighbourhood Action Plan

• Empowering residents – what works for us

• Co-production

•Originally built in 1926 under ‘Homes for Heroes’

scheme but estate fell into decline in the 1980s

•Completely redeveloped between 2002 to 2008

•450 properties managed by BCHF plus a further 500

new private homes

•Key corridor on the northern edge of the city

•BCHF established in 2002 to oversee the

redevelopment and manage the stock

•BCHF embarked on a Community Development

scheme in 2008

Background to Upper Horfield and BCHF

Origins of the POP partnership

• A partnership approach between tenants, BCHF, the

city council (various departments) and the Police

• Instigated by tenants who wanted their new estate to

remain well looked after

• Started as a Walkabout but grew into a litter pick with

partnership meetings to report issues

• Street Rep scheme developed to support the project

and give tenants a higher profile role to take greater

leadership for their own streets and the project

• Chaired and serviced by BCHF but format of meetings

is about tenants being in control, able to challenge all

areas of service confidently and face-to-face

Partnership in Action

Mission: to make Upper Horfield among the

Cleanest, Safest and Greenest neighbourhoods in

Bristol and the first area in the South West to

achieve a Quality Mark award

Aims of the Pride of Place (POP) partnership:

•Clean and well-maintained streets providing a safe

environment for children and adults alike

•Strong relationships between residents and neighbourhood

service providers working together to resolve clean, safe and

green issues swiftly

•Attractive and well-managed green spaces providing amenity

value for local residents

•High quality, well equipped and maintained parks and play

spaces for children and young people

•A well designed local environment contributing to a sense of

safety for all residents

To achieve these aims we work together to:

• Carry out monthly litter picks and walkabouts

• Hold monthly meetings between residents and partners

• Visit households where recycling is low to advise

• Feed stubborn issues to Neighbourhood Partnership

• Ensure Street Reps are provided with information on how to report issues and advise neighbours

• Identify issues and develop action plans together to get them solved

• Carry out visits to other areas to learn about good practice

• Support new projects e.g. community garden

• Expand the partnership into our other neigbourhoods

How the Quality Mark has benefited this work

• Quality Mark has provided the area and partners involved with a lot of positive media coverage

• Achieving a Quality Mark has helped to increase residents’ confidence and helped the partnership to gain influence locally

• Working together on the Quality Mark process helped to forge strong relationships between partners and residents

• Quality mark was a useful hook to encourage other partners to become involved in local action e.g. the local high school

POP and the NAP provides a focus for

everyone to engage in CSG projects

Graffiti project in ABC Park and

logo for 20mph Welcome

Signs into estate

The Neighbourhood Action Plan (NAP)

• The NAP ensures all agencies/residents input and

agree CSG priorities for the neighbourhood

• Neighbourhood Action Plan helps to identify

stubborn areas where additional work is needed

and has helped to secure funding for projects

• A number of spin-off youth projects have been

funded such as a Graffiti project and a film about

community safety: www.youtube.com/horfield200

• POP now maintains a NAP as part of its core

work and refreshes it each year with partners

What our NAP revealed

Clean

• Extensive dog fouling at certain locations

• Increase rates of recycling of plastic

• General litter and low rates of recycling in certain

streets

• Improve the standard of black box emptying so non-

recyclable contents are not emptied onto street.

• Bins left out on street around the area

• Increase number of volunteers participating in POP

• Promote success of the POP initiative to local residents

and other communities

• General litter accumulation on area’s streets.

Safe

• Encourage Street Reps to attend Neighbourhood

Forum meetings in their beat area.

• Promote Neighbourhood Watch to Street Reps.

• Ensure road safety is monitored and issues resolved.

• Carry out major improvements to Poets Park to ensure

a safe and enjoyable space for everyone.

• Publicise the Hate Crime reporting service at BCHF.

• Lighting in Emerson Square park reported to be

insufficient.

• Hazel Grove/ Montreal Avenue – insufficient street

lighting

• Ensure residents are aware of their local Police beat

team and how to contact them.

Poets Park

• Poets Park is an area that has suffered long-standing

issues of Anti-Social Behaviour including drinking

• BCHF and Police worked together to apply for the area

to be a Dispersal Zone

• Reduction in ASB from Dispersal Zone and other

physical changes helped us to identify what long-term

changes should be made

• Permanent No-Drinking Zone applied for by Police with

support from POP group (residents and agencies)

• Summer Play Activity delivered in 2009 and 2010 to re-

engage local people and children in the space

• Park now ready for a major makeover this year

(starting on April 1st) launch date in July

Green

• Maintenance and upkeep of the planted verges.

• Weeds growing on streets/pavements.

• Tidiness of front gardens.

• Improve access to space for growing vegetables and

learning about gardening.

• Community Gardening project set up to grow and

plants and veg at ground behind community centre.

• 30 raised beds all tenanted including 6 with crops

grown for sale in community shop

• Polytunnel for rearing of seedlings and plug plants

sold in community shop

• www.uhcgc.wordpress.com

Estate Design

Two larger projects were identified in the Quality Mark

process:

• Bronte Walk residents wanted to get more greenery

and a safe place for small children to play

• Green Close residents wanted the conflict between

cars and young people sorted out

Door-to-door visits were conducted and whole street

consultation events were developed to ensure all

residents could have their say and give their ideas.

Summary of POP’s achievements to date

• New plastic bottle recycling bank in the neighbourhood

• Street Reps trained as Waste Doctors by BCC

• Six new street litter bins installed

• Three partnership Days of Action on CSG delivered

• Redevelopment of Poets Park now secured

• 38 Street Reps recruited in Upper Horfield

• Walkabouts/Litter Picks held every month since Oct 08

• Front garden and sunflower competition held each year

• Gardening project created and sustained

• In 2011 our scheme was expanded into two other neighbourhoods: Southmead and Broad Quay (Block)

• Links developed with the local Neighbourhood Partnership to escalate stubborn issues

Being Clean, Safe and Green (and yellow)!

Three days of CSG Action

Involving Residents: what works for us?

• The Monthly POP meetings remain popular – key service

providers attend and respond/update on issues raised

• Making sure meetings are not dominated by service

providers and residents feel comfortable to challenge

• Bigger organised events such as Big Tidy Ups – done in

partnership with Police, Waste Services and Safer Bristol

• Highly visible Walkabouts with Housing Officers and Waste

Office ensures individual household issues are dealt with

e.g. tenancy conditions and Fixed Penalty Notices

• Work hard to maintain regular contact with all Street Reps

with monthly bulletins and opportunities to participate

• Keep residents at the centre of the process:

Nothing about them without them!

A co-production project?

Co-production is a new vision for public services which

offers a better way to respond to the challenges we

face - based on recognising the resources that citizens

already have, and delivering services with rather than

for service users, their families and their neighbours.

Early evidence suggests that this is an effective way to

deliver better outcomes, often for less money.

When you involve the experts i.e. those who experience

the service, and build relationships with them, you

increase your service’s reach and ability to deliver.

This is what the POP partnership has done.

And not forgetting – the Quality Mark Award!

Awarded to Upper Horfield in March 2010 at Performer level by

Keep Britain Tidy and John Healey MP (Housing Minister)

To get in touch, contact:

Scott Jacobs-Lange

Neighbourhood and Communities Manager

Tel: 0117 9319776 email: prideofplace@bchf.co.uk

Website: www.bchf.co.uk

Facebook: www.tinyurl.com/prideofplace

400 Filton Avenue

Horfield

BRISTOL

BS7 0LJ

Useful Links

Co-production:

www.neweconomics.org/sites/newecon

omics.org/files/Co-production_1.pdf

http://coproductionnetwork.com

www.nesta.org.uk/areas_of_work/public

_services_lab/coproduction