HOW WE WILL USE FUNDING FROM
LOCAL TRUST TO CHANGE THE AREA
IN WHICH WE LIVE
2014 – 2015

The William Morris Big Local plan sets out what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve it over the next two years. This document includes:
1: Our Vision
– What we want to achieve
2: William Morris Big Local – What William Morris Big Local is and what we have done since it launched
3: The William Morris Ward
– What the ward is like and the issues it faces in our priority areas
4: Priorities for 2014-2016 – Our aims for the ward for the first 18 months
5: The William Morris Ward Plan 2014-2016
– A description of what we will do for the first 18 months
6: Action plan – Actions, responsibilities, timings and costings for the William Morris
Big Local programme over the next two years
7. Outcomes and measurements
– What will change and how we will measure change.
8. Making William Morris Big Local at success – What risks and challenges we need to address to be successful
Annex A : List of Stakeholders – Who we will work with in each priority area
Annex B : The William Morris Partnership Framework – How the partnership will work
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William Morris Big Local exists to put local people in charge of changing their community in the way they want to change it. The vision describes how we want to work over the next 10 years.
William Morris Big Local was chosen for a Big Local award because of the relative deprivation of the ward and also because our area had not benefited from other major regeneration projects. Our main aim is to tackle deprivation and its effects in our ward.
The William Morris Big Local vision is about achieving real change to benefit
William Morris Ward residents. We will continue to focus on involving people so that the Big Local reflects the local community and enhances community cohesion . .
Over the next 10 years, we see the Big Local's potential to create:
 Community ‘hubs’ appeal to and provide activities for a wide variety of local people;

Opportunities for different generations of local people to work together to improve their skills and relationships ;

Beautiful and useful open and green spaces in the ward.

A local economy which allows greater wealth to stick to the area and improves the look and feel of the ward.
We also recognise that improving communications in the ward underpins all change.
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The William Morris Big Local plan represents the views and ambitions of a crosssection of the community. It is an expression of the contributions of as many local people as possible over many months.
What did we do?

We established a group of Big Local champions recruited through meetings, talking to different community groups and in different community places, leafleting and posting on social network sites. They talked to as wide a range of people as possible about Big Local and started a Big Local conversation about how people wanted to improve their community. Champions organised their own events to let people know about Big Local and ensure that local people had their say. We used Big Idea sheets and audio recording devices to record what people said they loved, hated and wanted to change about the ward.

We leafleted each household in the ward giving details of Big Local meetings and providing ballot papers for the Big Ideas Poll. We also ensured that leaflets and posters were placed in all community venues.

We held Big Local meetings each month to discuss progress of the conversation, vision and plan. We leafleted and ensured we put information in all community venues to maximise the number of people who could attend.
We also held meetings at many places around the ward to encourage participation.
How did we develop our vision and plan?
In autumn 2012 we started building our Local Vision . We held a Big Local Ideas workshop where champions sorted and analysed all the ideas which emerged from the Big Conversation. This allowed us to identify themes. All the ideas collected in the Big Local conversation can be found in the Big Local Book of Ideas.
The themes which emerged strongly from the Big Conversation were then developed, presented and pitched by groups of champions at the Big Ideas Pitch .
The ideas proposed at the Big Ideas Pitch were the starting point for our Big Local plan.
Once priority areas were clear we organised a Big Local Ideas Poll where each person living in the ward was asked to vote for the Big Idea they most wanted to see happen. Ballot boxes were placed at 11 community spaces around the ward for a week and people were also able to respond by text and email. The results from this poll underpin our Big Local vision.
In February 2013, working groups were formed from people on the mailing list who developed proposals in each priority area. These proposals were discussed at our March and April meeting and any comments taken into account. The Big Local
Plan that was drawn up as a result was then presented to a Big Local Forum
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meeting in October, and people were again invited to comment. That information was used to complete the plan in November 2013. In March 2013 the William Morris
Big Local meeting elected the partnership who will be the decision-making body for William Morris Big Local.
How do we reflect the community?
We are always striving to increase the range of people involved in Big Local. We have done this in a range of ways – by developing our social media networks and creating our own website and blog . We have put info in as many community places as possible, leafleted homes and conducted most of our business face to face at meetings, individually and at community events . We will have to keep renewing interest and involvement in the project. One of the most important things is to keep going doing lots of different things. It is crucial to ensure that the Big Local partnership also reflects the local community through an open invitation to all residents . At a recent meeting we also recognised the importance of rotating the days on which regular Big Local meetings are held so that they can be held in even more places across the ward and include even more people.
However there have been some parts of the community which are more difficult to reach, for example people living in Priory Court, the Eastern European community , residents living in the private rented sector and young people.
It is clear we need to do different things to involve these local people.
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This section describes briefly what the William Morris ward is like and discusses the main problems facing the ward. These are the issues which we feel most need to be addressed in the ward and are the rationale for our priorities and our plan.
The William Morris ward is a small electoral ward in Walthamstow, North East
London. The ward has a population of around 13,000 people in around 6000 households. The ward is slightly more ethnically diverse than the borough average with 59% Black or Asian Minority Ethnic residents – the most significant minority groups are Pakistani, Polish Lithuanian and Tamil. The area has a slightly higher proportion of families and children than the national average.
The Local Economy
One of the greatest challenges facing our community is poverty
– both in terms of a lack of employment and child poverty. Several neighbourhoods in the William Morris Ward are among the most deprived in England . The Priory Court Housing Estate in the top
10 per cent of most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. This was one of the reasons we were chosen to be a Big Local area.
Children in the ward are more likely to live in poverty than the national average. The
Campaign to End Child Poverty reported that 39% of children in the William Morris ward are living in poverty.
The population claiming Job Seekers Allowance is 9% compared to 6% nationally.
The employment rate is 68.3% compared to a national rate of 70.2%.
There are significant economic divisions in the community expressed in housing terms. A large proportion of the housing in the area is owner-occupied.
However there are also a relatively high proportion of social tenants, particularly in Priory
Court Housing Estate and a growing number of residents living in (often short-term) privately rented houses.
Most businesses are small and many are family run. The ward has many small grocery shops, internet cafes, barbers and hairdressers and take-away food outlets. Many businesses appear to have a small turnover and do not appear to be growing. There is also a strong perception that most businesses in the ward are unattractive and do not encourage people to come to the area.
Many businesses in the area are potentially offering things that people want to buy, but there is a perception that they are not exploiting opportunities for growth and innovation.
The ward does contain a handful of businesses which are thriving and popular . The newly re-opened William Morris Gallery – the only world class cultural asset in
Walthamstow -- has the potential to encourage people to come to the ward and might have a wider effect on local businesses if they can capitalise on the extra footfall to the ward.
Other significant businesseses include Le Delice Café on Hoe Street, the newly opened park Café in the Aveling Centre and Tommy’s Tuck Inn Café on Forest Road.
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The Salvation Army Thrift shop is very popular for local people looking for bargains and there are two other second-hand shops – Lot One Ten and Ruby Stables. Many of these are also important community spaces and are discussed in that section below.
There are the beginnings of a night-time economy – two thriving pubs, the Bell and the Rose and Crown are attracting evening visitors. The E17 Pop-Up Kitchen project has become a very popular monthly event in the area. Some residents have petitioned the council about the closed Standard pub, opposite Blackhorse Road Station.
There is a perception that William Morris has become a dormitory ward , with a council which is over-focused on providing housing and not on business. Waltham Forest
Council has announced that it will be undertaking a comprehensive regeneration of the
Blackhorse Lane area, including new parks, new roads, schools and community facilities.
As well as improving Blackhorse Road Station to attract new businesses, the area will offer improved retail and leisure facilities. It will create a 21 st century business area offering a high-quality business environment to attract and retain local firms. The council is also now engaged in a programme costing
£1 million to improve Hoe Street. The money, part of the council’s Better High Streets Programme is being used to help businesses improve their shop fronts and retail skills and improve shop signage and lighting features.
Close to where the shops are being revamped, a second new development is currently under construction. It will include a new cinema, and although it's strictly-speaking outside the ward, it has the potential to bring more of a night time economy to the area.
Community Spaces
Priory Court Community Centre is run by Circle 33 on behalf of residents and the wider community. The Community Centre needs physical redevelopment. The
Community Centre offers a range of activities, but struggles to widen the number of people who use the centre, both on the estate and in wider area. There is a sense that people who live in the ward do not use Priory Court Community Centre and that people in Priory Court feel cut off from the rest of the ward .
The William Morris Community Centre is the other important community centre in the area. However the centre is badly in need of physical redevelopment and struggles to involve the surrounding community. It is dependent on user groups’ renting space for income and tends to focus on events/activities by specific user groups.
There are several other important community spaces in the ward. Le Delice café is an important meeting place, used particularly by parents and young children, but also a place for business meetings. The newly refurbished William Morris Gallery and Aveling Centre café, community room and gallery are fast becoming important community spaces. The Salvation Army runs a significant number of activities for and with the community such as parenting classes, a pop-up Community Kitchen and a community cafe. 38 Hoe Street, a former shop currently being used by the architects delivering the improvements to Hoe Street, has a dual function as a community space, and could potentially be given over to that purpose exclusively
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once the improvements are completed.
There is a marked lack of community space in the Blackhorse Lane end of the ward which is perceived by some to be a ‘dormitory’. In this sense there is a division between the Lloyd Park and Blackhorse Lane ends of the ward. The council redevelopment plans will include a small community space.
Different generations
There is existing provision for older local people . Priory Court Community Centre offers a lunch club for older people, run by volunteers. In addition the gardening and sewing clubs are well- attended by older people. There are two popular bowling clubs in the park. The area has two care homes for people with dementia on Forest
Road which seem quite separate from the wider community . The area has a multi-cultural day centre on the corner of Melville Road and Erskine Road for older residents that provides care, support and recreational activities.
Young people have various resources open to them in the area. Priory Court
Community Centre runs weekly Youth Clubs for 10-16 year olds. Circle 33 (which operates the Priory Court Centre) have a community programme there whose aim is to increase youth and community involvement and cut crime. They have involved many young people in sports, music and media projects as peer workers and volunteers.
Lloyd Park Young Champions ( aged 16-24) meet regularly to develop activities in the park. They recently ran a DJ workshop for other young people. The Salvation
Army run Brownies and Guides weekly. The YMCA on Forest Road (just outside the ward) has recently begun work to improve its premises and services to young people, both who live on the site and in the local community. The park includes a new and popular skate park. – This is well-used by young people on skateboards,
BMX bikes and rollerblades. There is also a basketball court for young people to use.
However there is a perception, reflected in the Big Local Conversation, that the failure to replace the graffiti space in the old skate park takes away an important community space for young people.
Despite this provision, the concern has been voiced that both younger and older people are not well served in the ward . There are activities for young people, but there is a perception that many younger people are disengaged, without much to do.
Conversely there is also the view that older people in the area do not receive a proportionate amount of resources. When we talked to people as part of the Big
Local Conversation, they expressed a desire to work together and for service providers to stop seeing older and younger people as two completely separate groups . It was felt that the practice of splitting services into different generational groups – services for younger, and older people and then those with children – reinforces the sense of difference in our community.
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Green spaces
Lloyd and Aveling Park has been at the heart of the community ever since its creation in 1900. It has just been completely redeveloped, using funds from Waltham
Forest Council and the National Lottery, via the Heritage and Big Lottery Funds
Parks for People programme. The park has key programmes to deliver as part of its
National Lottery funding which involve working with the local community. The Friends of Lloyd Park, a users group for the park exists to encourage local people to enjoy the park.
Notwithstanding the park space, the ward fares badly in terms of access to green space . Only 5.3% of the ward consists of green space, compared to 31% of the borough overall – this means that people in the ward have less space than other local people. There is also a perception that some front gardens and streets in the area are shabby and uncared for.
People in the ward have access to nearby allotments, just outside the ward. The
Higham Common Allotment site is situated on the north east border of the ward, next to Priory Court. It is a large allotment site and many allotment holders live in the ward. Some of the plots are accessible and run for the benefit of the community.
There is also a sizeable common ground with a pond and wildlife area. In recent years internal politics between the council and in the Allotment Tenants’ Association have led to the decline of the site – with many plots uncultivated and a many plots un-let (despite very long waiting lists). This has just started to be tackled and plots have begun to be let again .
Historically residents of Priory Court Estate were offered an allotment at the site and many residents do still enjoy their allotments, but there is no community access to the allotments for residents , even though the tower blocks overlook the site. There used to be workshop space below the blocks, but this has now been redeveloped into more housing. There are several green spaces on the estate with play equipment and a football cage, which is perceived to need improvement.
William Morris Big Local’s aim is to address the main problems facing the ward, as identified during the Big Local conversation (described above). Our agreed priorities for the William Morris ward for the next 18 months are:
Improving community spaces
1 To support Priory Court Community Centre and William Morris Community
Centre to become effective ‘hubs’ , run by and for the community, with higher levels of community use and involvement.
2 To help begin the physical transformation of Priory Court Community
Centre and William Morris Community Centre.
3 To encourage local grassroots activities and events at community spaces
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across the ward.
Improving inter-generational working
1 To address the lack of provision for youth and under 11s in the ward.
This is recognised as an urgent priority.
2 To get more people from the younger and older generations involved in
Big Local and the community.
3 To bring people from across the generations and across the ward together to share skills and build relationships.
Improving the environment and green spaces
1 To increase pride in the William Morris neighbourhood.
2 To promote well-being by improving the environment and changing habits and perceptions.
3 To increase use of green space and provide the means to do it in a sustainable, low-cost way.
The Local Economy
Whilst everyone agrees the local economy should be a focus for the plan, not everyone agrees on how this should be done. So this section of the plan is still under review.
Communications
We will build an effective communications strategy that lets people in the area know what is happening, and invites them to participate in Big Local.
The below plan describes how we will achieve our aims in each priority area.
However, firstly we need to build the William Morris Big Local infrastructure to ensure that we can deliver our chosen actions.
Infrastructure
A part-time community development worker is helping to get people involved, coordinate work on each priority area, manage volunteer involvement and communicate what we are doing. The worker is managed by the WM Big Local partnership , which directs work and sets their performance objectives. A laptop and printer were purchased for the worker to use in September 2013, using some of the pathway funding provided by Local Trust.
Regular, larger Big Local meetings will continue to be held around the ward – this is an ongoing expense.
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The following describes how it’s expected that money will be allocated to our priority areas – the Partnership will devise a fair procedure for deciding which organisations/individual projects will receive funding once our Plan is approved by Local Trust.
Improving community spaces
WM Big Local will offer funding worth £5,000 to community centres in our ward to help them build their own capacity to redevelop. So the funding could, for example, pay for staff training in fund-raising, or drawing up a business plan. Each application for funding for capacity building will be considered on a case by case basis, using the procedure above.
WM Big Local will create a Community Chest to fund small-scale community projects in all community spaces across the ward. Local residents will be able to apply for up to £500 to run community events or activities. For example, WM Big
Local has recently funded Play Streets to be established so that people from the neighbourhood could play together and reclaim the streets for half a day each month. This small amount of money has enabled local organisers to buy play equipment and pay for insurance . This kind of small scale activity can make a real difference to the local community. WM Big Local will provide support with marketing and planning events and activities.
WM Big Local will promote the activity of all other local community spaces and provide advice and support to ensure local people are using them and that local people’s needs are considered. In particular William Morris Big Local will liaise with
Waltham Forest Council on the redevelopment of the Blackhorse Road industrial estate to help ensure appropriate community facilities are provided in an area of the ward where there are few community spaces.
WM Big Local will ensure it supports community spaces by involving stakeholders in its network. We will continue to use the whole range of our community spaces to hold meetings, events and activities and the Community Chest will increase the number of events and activities in all these spaces.
Improving inter-generational working
We recognise the need to provide activities for youth and under 11s. We will allocate
£15,000 for youth provision, and will work on putting the money to use as a matter of urgency
– within the first few months of the plan becoming operative. We will provide a further £15,000 for projects relating to 11s over the first 18 months of operation. We will use the procedure described above to distribute the money.
We will encourage and support local festivals, particularly those that engage people from across the generations and the community. Our aim is to involve younger and older people working together to facilitate the events.
To support the process we could run workshops where local people from different
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generations could exchange local skills and talents.
We will aim to hold a small event in 2014, as a pilot for how future festivals might work.
To ensure that we truly engage older and younger people in WM Big Local we are considering appointing two Big Local champions
– one older and one younger person - to link local people into their networks. Their work would involve going to places, talking to people and engaging them with what Big Local is doing. The posts would be paid in order to provide an incentive for getting involved. It is in recognition of how tough it has been to involve these two groups and of the commitment and time that this work can take. We estimate that each champion would need to be paid for up to 16 hours a month (4 hours a week).
Improving the environment and green spaces
Working on our green spaces together will produce a range of benefits for our community. We will allocate £10,000 to this element of our plan, to be spent over the first 18 months, to be allocated using the procedure described above.
It’s envisioned this will improve people’s connection with place – 150 years ago
Walthamstow farms supplied London with fruit and veg. We will also be growing the community’s sense of pride and achievement in where they live and changing cultural perceptions of gardening and cultivating food.
We will establish a network of volunteers who want to work together to cultivate unused patches of land . We will organise small-scale events and workshops where people can transform their shared green spaces and share skills and knowledge. We will make a small pot of money available so that local people can be supported and funded to transform the green spaces on their streets (front gardens, hedges etc). We will create a hub from which people can share tools, produce, labour, skills and seeds . As well as tapping into William Morris Big
Local’s communication resource, we will establish a green spaces notice-board to promote Big Local and wider green spaces activities in a way that the community will find easy to access.
The Local Economy
We will allocate £5,000 to this purpose. The Local Economy Working Group we put together said it was a good idea to build a network of local entrepreneurs who could advise on how to expand the Local Economy. However, that was about all anybody could agree on -- so we're back to the drawing board. We're planning to put together a new Local Economy working group to draw up new plans. We would like the budget of £5,000 to be released six months after the rest of the money, to allow us to get the working group in place.
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Communications
We recognise the importance of a good communications strategy . Over the next ten years it will be important that we make every effort to ensure that information about WM Big Local and other local activities is accessible to people , including those who are hard to reach. We also want to motivate more local people to get involved in Big Local.
To begin with we will audit existing local communications channels . Once we have this information we will agree a clear communications strategy and establish a multi-channel communications network to disseminate messages and exchange information. We also want to support and train local people to become effective communicators for their Big Local events and activities.
The Community Development Worker will be responsible for working with the
Communications Working Group and delivering this Communications Strategy, ensuring it meets the needs of the priority areas. We will also establish a network of ‘Neighbourhood Communicators’ – local people who will work with Big Local and interact with sectors of the community (e.g. street, mosque, social circle).
Investing our money
Before the first 18 months is out, we must begin to draw up plans of ways we can invest our million pounds
– for example, match funding and loans to social enterprises
– so that it grows and brings in more money to the area.
The William Morris Big Local Partnership and William Morris Big Local Forum
The WM Big Local partnership was first created in March 2013. It is made up of eight to twelve local people who live in the ward. The partnership will be the final decision- making body of WM Big Local. It will meet regularly to oversee the Big Local programme, resources and personnel . Members of the partnership are elected by the WM Big Local Forum. The partnership will ensure that it considers the views expressed at the Big Local Forum before it makes key decisions. The partnership will ensure that it regularly updates the forum about key decisions which have been made and the progress of the Big Local Programme.
The WM Big Local Forum takes over from the Big Local Meetings which have run monthly in the Getting People Involved phase of Big Local. It is a monthly meeting open to people who live or work in the ward. The purpose of the forum is to share ideas, views and concerns about WM Big Local.
As well as the Partnership and the Forum priority areas will have networks which will be loose groups of people who want to plan and do stuff in the key areas. It is expected that the seed of each network will be the existing working groups. They will open up to include any local people who want to be involved in these areas. At least one member of the partnership will also be a member of each network so that necessary two-way communication of plans will be facilitated.
A full description of the way the partnership and the forum work is in Annex B.
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Administrative costs including :
Worker salary, laptop, phone, stationery and office space; forum and partnership meeting space, printing costs and refreshments; miscellaneous volunteer expenses
Subtotal
Meetings, training, marketing and publicity to make sure everybody knows what’s happening in Big Local and the area.
Subtotal
Provide support to increase community involvement and fund capacity building at community centres. Establish community chest.
Subtotal
Funding activities for children and young people including £15,000 for youth provision and £15,000 for activities for under 11s.
£5,000 provision to develop, organise, promote and launch festivals. Employing younger and older big local champions. Establish skills exchange workshops to support festivals and other projects.
Subtotal
Cost of allotment rental, expert advice where necessary, publicity, creation of a tool bank, buying equipment and materials including plants, putting on events.
Subtotal
Develop business network
Subtotal
Total First 18 months’ Cost
£30,000
£4,000
£16,000
£40,000
£10,000
£5,000
105,000
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The table below describes what will change if we address our priorities through our proposed approach (outcomes) and how we will know these changes have happened
(measurement). William Morris Big Local will regularly review the progress of our programme - by including progress updates at Partnership and Forum meetings. We will also ensure that all activities funded by WM Big Local are evaluated
– both by those organising or leading activities and by WM Big Local itself. We will publish evaluation reports and research results on our website.
Outcomes Measurement Priority aims
Improving Community
Spaces
To support Priory Court
Community Centre and
William Morris Community
Centre to become effective
‘hubs’, run by and for the community, with higher levels of community use and involvement.
To begin the physical transformation of Priory
Court Community Centre and William Morris
Community Centre.
To encourage local grassroots activities and events at community spaces across the ward.
Staff more proficient at finding and successfully applying for funding.
More local people on the Committees of both centres.
More local people volunteering in both centres.
More local people attending activities and events.
Clear plans for each centre on how to transform both centres.
Fundraising objectives set and progress made.
More events and activities taking place across the ward.
Wide range of people taking part in events/ activities.
Events/ activities wellattended by the community.
We will work in partnership with both community centres to analyse data on funding income, committee membership, volunteering and activities.
Plans will be available for both centres and there will be a record of fundraising progress.
We will record the number of events/ activities taking place. We will ask those funded by Big Local to evaluate how events/ activities, including recording opportunities data. equal
Encouraging generational working inter-
To encourage people from the younger and older generations to get involved in
Big Local and the community.
More younger people (16
– 24 year olds) and older people (65+) involved in activities, events and meetings.
It may be possible to ask people to record their age at meetings and at some events/ activities. If this is not possible, it may be possible to ask organisers to
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To bring people from across the generations and across the ward together to share skills and build relationships.
Improving the environment and green spaces
To increase pride in the
William Morris ward neighbourhood
To improve the environment and change habits and perceptions.
To increase use of green space and provide the means to do it in a sustainable, lowcost way.
Evaluating Big
Programme Overall
Local
More people feel they have learned skills from each other.
More people feel they have build relationships with a wider range of people in the community.
More local people feel proud to live in the neighbourhood.
The environment looks and feels better.
More people feel better about their local environment.
More people report positive habits (e.g. spending time outside, growing, gardening).
More people use green space in the ward record their impressions of the age range of participants.
Event organisers will ask participants to complete evaluation forms to understand the extent to which skill sharing and building relationships are happening. If people are involved in organising an annual event, it may be possible to follow-up with people to see how skills/ relationships developed. have
It may be possible to establish baseline data on number/ range of relationships and skills before we start the intergenerational project.
Before, after and during photographs of areas where action is taken to improve green spaces.
Communities will be better able to identify local needs and take action in response to them.
People will have increased skills and confidence, so that they continue to identify and respond to needs in the future.
The community will make a difference to the needs it
Community research will operationalise these Big
Local outcomes to measure these overarching aims.
It will be necessary to conduct research with the
Big Local forum and partnership to understand their perceptions of Big
Local’s ability to identify and respond to local needs and
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prioritises.
People will feel that their area is an even better place to live. on whether capacity-building
(of skills and confidence) has happened. To do this it might be necessary to conduct baseline research at the start of the period.
To understand whether WM
Big Local has made a difference and whether people feel the area is a better place to live smallscale research with the community will be necessary, as well as evaluation of hard measures
(on local wealth, community spaces use/ involvement, relationships between generations and participation on green spaces projects).
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As we set out our plan for the next 18 months there are a number of risks and challenges which we need to anticipate or address. Some of these have become evident in the Getting People Involved phase of WM Big Local and some of these are new. This section sets out how we will address our greatest risks and challenges.
Improving the Local Economy
We need to take this issue forward, not ignore it. Everyone recognises that it’s vital to develop the local economy, but there’s little agreement on how that should be done – and there’s even a divergence of opinion on what local economy means. This is a challenge which needs to be overcome.
Involving People
This plan is the result of a year and more of Getting People Involved. We have made great efforts to involve a large range of local people in how they want to change our local community and spend our Big Local award – this has included regular leafleting, talking to the community all over the ward and even a polling day where each household received a ballot paper to ensure that they could vote for what they wanted to happen.
We have also had extensive discussions about our Vision and Plan at our Big Local meetings, which were open to all local people involved in the ward. However we will have to keep working to increase involvement from across the whole community
– there are only hundreds of local people involved in WM Big Local and there need to be thousands.
We can address this challenge by ensuring that we regularly publicise Big Local meetings and events using in many different ways (leafleting, website, talking to people at events and notice-boards in key places), increasing the opportunities for people to get involved in something funded by Big Local e.g. play streets, or community chest funded activities. We should use opportunities where Big Local is ‘doing stuff’ e.g. community/ green/ inter-generational activities to invite people to get involved in Big Local more generally and by making sure that being involved is fun and rewarding, for example by setting up Network groups to be active groups who plan, share and do stuff together.
Ownership of William Morris Big Local
The last year and more has been about supporting local people to work together to come up with their vision or plan, rather than come up with something in a small group which is then consulted upon. People need to actually be part of the change – the Big
Local award belongs to them. However when there are many people involved in making decisions, it is necessary to have a clear, accountable and effective decision-making process.
We need to continue efforts to involve as many local people in decisions about the Big
Local plan and programme as possible. We can do this by continuing to publicise and hold regular William Morris Big Local Forum meetings where key decisions can be discussed and key information shared, by ensuring that the WM BL Partnership operates in a clear and accountable way (with elections by local people for local people), a published partnership framework (see Appendix B).
Part of the challenge of ensuring that many local people ‘own’ WM Big Local is to ensure that many Big Local people benefit from it. We can achieve this by establishing a Big
Local programme which distributes resources across the ward, for example proposals for the Community Chest. Efforts should be made to make the William Morris Festival big enough to reach many different people. We need to develop active Networks in each
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of our priority areas which seek to bring together the plans, ideas and concerns of local people, and provide a basis for action.
Reflecting our Community
We have been aware in the Getting People Involved phase how hard it is to involve people from each ethnic group, age group and street in our ward. This is important because we live in a diverse ward where many people can be cut off from the rest of the community.
The WM Big Local partnership is committed to reflecting the community. We will ensure that we discuss how well the partnership and programme is reflecting our community and take action to address it. We will encourage parts of the community which seem harder to reach to get involved. If necessary we can take positive action
– by employing younger and older champions to talk to others in their cohort about Big Local or by running events which encourage involvement in specific parts of the community, for example in the Getting People Involved phase we have funded workshops to involve
Somalian women in what is going on in the ward. The Community Chest will allow local people to target and include specific groups and the programme will encourage different people to work together – e.g. the Enterprise network, Play Streets, the Green Spaces street projects and planning a William Morris Festival.
Bridging divisions in the ward
One of the greatest challenges we face is bridging the gap between Priory Court
Housing Estate and the rest of the ward.
We need to address this challenge by being honest about the real divisions that exist in our ward. Not all parts of our ward our equal. We can ensure funding is spent on Priory
Court – through helping to redevelop the Community Centre, publicising the Community
Chest and ensuring that the Enterprise Network includes businesses and people from the estate. There are other divisions we need to address. We need to put particular effort into scrutinising Waltham Forest Council plans for a community space in the
Blackhorse Road end of the ward and engaging people from this end of the ward in the
Enterprise Network.
However, we also need to recognise that there’s nowhere in the ward that would not benefit from investment – the entire area is relatively deprived, everywhere needs improvement. To that end, the resources provided by Big Local must be shared equitably.
In general the best way we can bridge divisions in the ward is by doing stuff together – this means making activities and events accessible for all, but also publicising them in the right places and making sure they appeal to a range of people. The William Morris
Festival and the Community Chest will be important elements of this.
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Communicating change
One of the greatest challenges we have faced in the Getting People Involved phase has been trying to explain Big Local a – new type of project to people and making sure they know what is going on. In some ways we have been making this up as we go along, trying to ensure what we need to say about Big Local is available in a range of places, in a range of ways. Now we need to a clear, effective community strategy, with clear messages and clear ways of getting the messages out there. Part of the issue has been that it has been difficult for the Volunteer Coordinator to do enough. We need to agree key responsibilities for each part of the communication strategy to ensure it gets done and keeps getting done. Equally importantly we need to recognise that the most important way of communicating has been local people talking to local people and we must continue to do this.
Delivering real change
Our biggest risk is that we fail to change the ward over the next 18 years and the next ten years. Making sure the ward becomes a better place to live depends on having the staff resources, funding and facilities available to make this happen. But we also need to regularly review change at Partnership and Forum meetings so that we can continue to improve how things are done. Our detailed plans for monitoring and evaluating change will help us ensure we are doing what we set out to achieve, but as the change will be about how local people feel about living here, everything will depend on the quality and amount of involvement of people who live in the ward. Change needs to be done with people, rather than to people. Our plans set out clearly how local people will shape the projects in each priority area.
Growing and sustaining change
We need to continue to ask the two questions: How can we ‘expand’ our million by investing in local people? How can we work in partnership with others to ‘stretch’ our million?
ANNEX A: LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS IN THE WILLIAM MORRIS WARD
Stakeholder Local
Economy
Community
Spaces
Intergeneration al working
Green
Spaces
Waltham Forest Council
Waltham Forest College
Priory Court Community Centre
Greenleaf Lunch Club
Priory Court Youth Club
Jobcentre Plus Walthamstow
Circle 33
Ascham Homes
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Priory Court Tenants Residents
Association
William Morris Community
Centre
William Morris Gallery
Community Learning and Skills
Service (CLASS)
Friends of Lloyd Park (FOLP)
Lloyd Park - Green Spaces
Services (WFC)
Lloyd Park Children’s Centre
Priory Court Nursery
Sunbeam Nursery
Salvation Army
Quaker Meeting House
YMCA, Forest Road
Winns Primary School
Greenleaf Primary School
Hillyfields Primary School
Roger Ascham Primary School
Willowfield School
Walthamstow Foragers
Hornbeam Cafe
Eat or Heat
E17 Designers
E17 Art Trail
Significant Seams
The Mill
Your Life
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Elevate
E17 Pop Up Kitchen
Walthamstow Film Lounge
Sri Karpaga Vinayagar Temple,
Bedford Road
Sri Marupuram Maha Pathrakali
Amman Kovil, Forest Road
Greenleaf Baptist Church
Islamic Relief
Rose and Crown Theatre Pub
The Bell Pub
The
Pub
Palmerston
Safer Neighbourhood Team
Higham Hill Library
Residents’ Associations
Aveling Park Centre/ Cafe
Le Delice Cafe
Ruby Stables
Blackhorse Action Group
KNI Foundation
Businesses
Unltd
Capacity Global
Waltham Forest Credit Union
Higham Hill Allotment Tenants
Association
William Morris Multicultural Day
Care Centre
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Walthamstow Bowls Club
Aveling Park Bowling Club
Bees Knees Sewing Club
The Conservation Volunteers
Groundwork
Voluntary Action Waltham
Forest
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ANNEX B: THE WILLIAM MORRIS BIG LOCAL PARTNERSHIP FRAMEWORK
The Partnership
• The William Morris Big Local partnership will oversee the WM Big Local plan and programme of action.
• The partnership will contain 8 – 12 members.
• Membership of the partnership will be by election by the William Morris
Big Local Forum (which is open to all people who live and work in the
WM ward).
• All members of the partnership will be people who live in the William
Morris ward (see figure 1).
• In addition the partnership will co-opt non-voting advisers who work in the ward (for example, workers in the Housing Associations, Council) who can help achieve the aims of WM Big Local.
• Members of the partnership will be expected to attend monthly partnership meetings and to some Big Local forum meetings.
• Members will be committed to an active role in the partnership - giving their time, skills and knowledge.
• A record of attendance will be kept and a three monthly review of attendance will be conducted to ensure that members are attending meetings (3 strikes and you’re out for absences not notified in advance).
• The partnership will seek to find full agreement on decisions from its members by consensus, following full discussion where all contributions will be listened to and considered. Where the partnership cannot come to a consensus decision, we will vote (with a 60% majority needed to agree a decision) and with the chair holding the casting vote.
• The partnership will be considered quorate when 60% of members are in attendance.
• This partnership framework will be reviewed annually and discussed at the WM Big Local forum.
• To oversee the WM Big Local plan and the delivery of the WM Big
Local programme.
• To oversee programme resources (employees, budget)
• To seek input from local people/ to listen to and consider the views of local people before making any key decision on the programme.
• To ensure that the programme and partnership is reviewed and evaluated regularly.
• To actively encourage people from the William Morris ward to get involved in WM Big Local.
• To communicate key messages about WM Big Local clearly and through various media.
• The partnership will elect members to carry out particular described below duties for a period of a year:
• Overseeing each priority area; improving the local economy, working across generations, transforming community spaces, improving green spaces, as well as finances, communications, evaluation and strategy.
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• Chair: the role of the chair is to:
O Chair partnership meetings - anchoring the discussion, ensuring that members are encouraged to share their ideas and that the partnership is able to reach agreement on decisions in an effective way in line with
WM Big Local priorities and aims.
O Take part in resolving governance or conflict issues in line with relevant agreements.
O Retain the right to call for a vote (in the event that a decision cannot be made by consensus) and have the casting vote at meetings in the event of a vote being tied.
O Maintain an overview of Big Local, ensuring progress is made according to the Big Local plan and ensure WM Big Local remains ob track.
O Liaise with the Big Local worker, Big Local rep and other partnership members to oversee progress of the programme, including setting the performance objectives for the Big Local worker.
O be committed to equal opportunities and inclusion
• Secretary: who will be responsible for minute taking, agenda-setting (in discussion with the chair and BL rep, members will be asked to agree items to go on the agenda) and deciding meeting dates/ arrangements.
• Members can adopt more than one role (e.g. oversee a priority area and be secretary), though we will aim to spread to workload.
• The role of co-opted non-voting non-residents will be to provide relevant advice, knowledge and expertise to Big Local. They will also actively review and be an advocate for Big Local with a view to gaining additional impact from the activities of their parent organisation or other bodies. They will report progress from their organisation which illustrates evidence of changing practice and policy that will contribute to the WM Big Local programme.
Relationship with other Big Local groups
• The William Morris Big Local Forum is open to all people who live and work in the William Morris ward. It will take place monthly (rotating between Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings in the last week of the month). The purpose of the meeting is to share information, views and ideas about WM Big Local. It is the main way that the partnership will seek the views and ideas of local people to input into the WM Big Local programme.
• Regular agenda items will include Big Local activities/ events, reviewing progress on the plan/ programme, new ideas for each of the priority area, a budget update.
• The WM partnership will also ensure that information on any key decisions will be available for comment through the WM Big Local mailing list and the website and if appropriate through targeted mail outs across the ward or talking to people at events/ activities. Where necessary hard copies of key documents can be produced when requested.
• The partnership will meeting each month following the BL forum. It will be responsible for making decisions about the William Morris Big Local programme.
• It will report decisions that have been made on a regular and timely basis to the William Morris Big Local Forum.
Relationship with workers/ contractors
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• The partnership is responsible for setting the work objectives and monitoring the performance of any workers or contractors.
• This will be done by the partnership regularly setting work objectives at partnership meetings and by meetings between the BL worker, BL rep
(who will have an advisory role) and the chair (or nominated member) of the partnership.
• Any tender documents and employment contracts will be agreed and signed off by the partnership.
• The partnership will regularly review progress and performance of any workers/ contractors who are carrying out work for the WM Big Local programme.
• HR functions for the BL worker will be carried out by the Locally
Trusted Organisation. The Big Local rep will be responsible for the pastoral support of the BL worker.
Reflecting the community
• The WM Big Local partnership is committed to taking every step to reflect our local community.
• When there is a vacancy on the partnership we will advertise in a range of ways (mailing list, website, talking to local community members) to ensure that the partnership reflects our community as far as is possible.
• We will ensure that at each meeting (as a standard agenda item) we review how well we reflect our community and how we can take further action.
As a member of the partnership I agree to abide by our area’s Big Local
Vision. Additionally, I agree that:
• Everything the partnership does will be able to stand the test of scrutiny by the public, charity regulators, community members, stakeholders, funders and the courts.
• Integrity, respect and honesty will be the hallmarks of all conduct when dealing with others within the partnership and equally when dealing with individuals and institutions outside it.
• The partnership will strive to maintain an atmosphere of openness throughout the community to promote confidence of local people, stakeholders, Local Trust, the Big Lottery Fund, charity regulators and government.
• In particular:
O I will not break the law, go against charity regulations or act in disregard of partnership policies.
O I will abide by our local Big Local procedures.
O I will always strive to act in the best interests of Big Local.
O I will declare any conflict of interest or of loyalty, or any circumstance that might be viewed by others as such, as soon as it arises.
O When I am speaking as a member of the partnership, my comments will reflect the work of the partnership even when these do not agree with my personal views. When speaking as a private individual I will strive to uphold the reputation of the partnership and those who work in it.
O I will not personally gain materially or financially from my role as a member, nor will I permit others to do so as a result of my actions or negligence.
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O I will strive to read all documents and attend all meetings, giving apologies ahead of time to the chair if unable to attend.
O I will engage in debate and voting in meetings according to procedure, maintaining a respectful attitude toward the opinions of others while making my voice heard. I will accept a majority committee vote on an issue as decisive and final.
O I will maintain confidentiality (where this has been agreed in the part nership’s guidance on confidentiality) about what goes on in the meeting unless authorised by the chair or committee to speak of it.
O I will participate in induction, training and development activities for members.
O I understand that substantial breach of any part of this code may result in my removal as a member.
O Should I resign as a member I will inform the chair in writing, stating my reasons for resigning. Additionally, I will participate in an exit interview.
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