Listed from left to right, top to bottom:

Sam NealRichard CoskieMay Ling NuttmanMariacarla NorallKatie LivermoreJordan Taylor-MooreRufus NugentTom LythAdam Shah

Contents

Introduction 2 - 3

Transformative Community Development 4 - 5

Lostock Community Partnership 6

Site Analysis 7 - 9

Key Actors 10 - 11

The Development of Lostock Community Partnership 12 - 17

What Worked and Why? 18 - 21

What Didn’t Work 22 - 27

The 5-year plan 28 - 30

Conclusion 31

Appendix- Transcript of interviews with LCP members 34-50

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IntroductionThe importance of cohesive and sustainable community relationships to the fi eld of architecture is often overlooked; indeed, the combination of sociological theory and the physical practice of architecture is in many cases diffi cult to reconcile, leading to the idea that these two cannot be combined in the fi eld of architectural research.

However, the eff ects of architecture on communities and the general public are well understood and established, meaning that the architect in practice often has the ability to improve the lives of everyday people and make positive change through architecture. Likewise, the reverse can, all too often, occur through a poor consideration of a communities needs in architecture. The example of high-rise council-housing blocks built in the UK post-WWII, serves as a reminder of the dangers of architecture and local authority planning that does not take into account the conditions of communities in the construction of the built environment. The importance of the users, residents, and communities of architecture is therfore as critical as concerns over form/function/material/structure and sustainability.

MSAp have attempted to understand the methods of building successful and sustainable communities through the methods of Transformative Community Development, to understand the ways in which the architect may be able to participate in the creation of working, cohesive communities to increase the success and positive eff ect of architecture on those communities. In this report we will examine the process of ‘Transformative Community Development’ (TCD) through an exploration of the Lostock Community Partnership (LCP). The general concept of transformative community development is to urge residents and service providers to work together for mutual gain to form a self-sustaining, resident-led operational partnership. The overall ambition is to improve neighbourhoods and community cohesion to make each place a more desirable environment

to work and live, therefore improving the well being of its inhabitants.

Well-being is improved by giving residents control, contact and confi dence. Residents feel a sense of control when they are given an opportunity to participate in the decision making process of new potential projects. Regular contact with neighbours and social networking opportunities provide the residents with an opportunity to share their concerns and experiences, therefore improving a sense of connection within community. Confi dence is strengthened within residents as they are given a platform to voice their opinions and a chance to control what happens within their own environment.

Complexity theory explains that top-down, mechanistic, hierarchical systems do not work with issues such as community. As an alternative, a bottom up approach is much more eff ective as residents are the experts of their own community and they have the lived experience. A bottom up approach allows complex adaptive systems to emerge in place of deliberate strategies, at the same time empowering residents and giving them a sense of ownership of their neighbourhood.

The transformative community development process can be broken down into seven stages seen on the following page. These outline the development of community, the operational community and the sustainability of a community.

Step 0: People gathering exercisesMeet residents of chosen neighbourhood and provide a platform for them to converse with each other. Identify key residents.

Step 1: Create a community panelEstablish a partnership of key residents, local service providers and others who share common interest in bringing about change and improvement within a specifi c neighbourhood.

Step 2: Connecting workshopsConsolidate relationships and plan a ‘community listening event’, hosted by the panel.

Step 3: Community listening eventsIdentify and prioritise neighbourhood issues and give prompt feedback to attendee residents.

Step 4: CommunicationConstitute partnership and pass on fi ndings to wider community. Create connections with other community groups and interface with strategic organisations.

Step 5: Regular panel and public meetingsGive continuous updates and feedback to the residents. Celebrate prog-ress to improve community confi dence and increase momentum towards change.

Step 6: Evidence of community strengtheningAccelerate responses in service delivery from partnership agencies leading to increased community trust, co-operation and reciprocal uptake.

Step 7: Evidence of transformationPartnership and panel is fi rmly established with key residents employed and funded to co-ordinate activities. Measurable outcomes and visible transformational change is evident, eg. new play spaces, improved gar-dens, reduction in crime.

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Transformative community development (TCD) fi rst emerged as a result of the development of the Beacon estate in Falmouth in the early 1990s. This was an especially problematic estate due to poor quality housing and antisocial behaviour. Residents pulled together to redevelop the estate and formed a partnership working in collaboration with local authorities. With the aid of funding, the partnership was able to drastically improve the quality of housing and life for the community.

Transformative Community DevelopmentThe Beacon Estate was a dysfunctional housing development, plagued by drug gangs and violence, with little or no police presence. Unemployment levels in the area were 30% above the national average and the estate had the highest percentage of children in the UK living in households with no wage earners. Lack of maintenance meant that 50% of the 1500 homes did not have central heating, leading to rates of ill health 18% higher than the national average. There was often overcrowding in main rooms of the house to overcome the issue of lack of heating. The poor quality housing eff ected the ambience of the place and resulted in services and agencies to withdraw from the area. This negatively aff ected residents’ mental health and well-being, leaving them in a compromised position to continue to live on the estate despite the previously mentioned issues.

Redeveloped houses on the Beacon Estate, Falmouth.

Following the closure of the Family Services Centre in 1994, the last service provision from outside the estate disappeared. 2 health visitors decided that the residents might have to act in order to bring about change to solve the problems. A group was established to raise awareness of the increasing issues on the estate: 20 residents, 5 of whom were self-selected formed a Tenants and Residents Association. The association managed to rally the entire community of 6000 through a hands-on approach of door knocking and conversation. 120 residents then met with the police, housing association and job centre to voice their opinions and talk about issues. Urged on by one another’s support, the community formed a partnership through the Tenants and Residents Association. The Beacon Regeneration Community Partnership (BCRP) worked with the Carrick Housing team to apply for a £1.2m grant to help regenerate their estate.

The application was successful and the group also received a further £1m from the local council. Over the next 4 years the residents were able to self organise and manage the spending of the money, with the support of the housing team, to transform the community and the Beacon Hill estate.

Over a 4 year period they transformed the housing, the community and the lives of the residents. This had a drastic eff ect on crime rates (50% reduction), unemployment (71% reduction), educational attainment (100% increase), child protection rates (42% reduction) and post natal depression rates (70% reduction), which implies that there was an improvement of the neighbourhood.

The Beacon project was a multi-award winning success sparking national interest. The lessons learnt throughout the process have been formalised and transformed into the TCD report, and the idea of transformative community development has been adapted and reused for many other communities since. Communities in Redruth have utilised the TCD approach to curb issues of anti-social behaviour in younger generations through consultation between younger and older residents in local communties; health inequalities and anti-social behaviour have also been addressed by residents in Camborne, Cornwall, utilising the TCD method to form communications between residents and local police.

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This report will focus on a transformative community development case study based in Lostock, Traff ord, Southwest Manchester. This case study presents how these Lostock residents transformed and developed as a community and tried to work in equal partnership with local services in order to solve issues they were unhappy about. Through the development of the Lostock Community Partnership (LCP), they transformed from passive recipients to becoming active participants, with the intention to create an improved neighbourhood using the methods of TCD (discussed previously).

Lostock Community Partnership (LCP)

Lostock College Library and Community Library.

Site Analysis

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Historical Maps of Lostock

1900 1920 1930

Historical analysis of the development of the Lostock area.

1950 1970 1990

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Key Actors

Maureen Reily Chair

Alison Glasgow Vice-Chair

Jennifer Ryan Treasurer

Lostock Community Partnership

Dawn Weller Committee Member

Councillor David Acton Committee Member

Heather Henry Community Builder (formally health administrator for Traff ord)

70 Members 50-60 Associate Members eg. fi remen, police etc.

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The Development of the LCP

This section will look at how the Lostock Community Partnership (LCP) has developed over the course of the last decade.

Delamere Centre and History of Health in Lostock

The development of the Lostock Community Partnership begins with the story of the former Lostock Clinic on Barton Road (built around World War II) and the National Health Service’s (NHS) restructuring of medical care in the local area about 11 years ago.

The community of Lostock was one of the more deprived local areas in Traff ord, Greater Manchester in 2002. Levels of health and well-being were comparatively low; local residents reported they felt undervalued by services and administrations whilst youth nuisance was a particular issue, making standard of living particularly challenging for the older residents and vulnerable people in the area.

This situation was not helped by the poor healthcare facilities being provided by the local NHS service. Whilst the Barton Road clinic did contain services for community provision (a chiropody, a baby clinic and consultative midwifery services), it was lacking a GP surgery. Structural defi ciencies in the old building were also becoming an increasing concern to the public. This led to the local NHS Primary Care Group acquiring a site for the relocation of services from the Barton Road clinic, along with the implementation of new services at a new facility. The closure of this centrally located and accessible healthcare provision meant that the only available healthcare services were now located at the periphery of the neighbourhood at the new Delamere Centre and were less accessible to many (please refer to map on facing page).

The Delamere Centre, Delamere Road, Stretford, Manchester

The Delamere Centre contains a GP surgery and commercial pharmacy and is situated on the corner of Delamere Road, a narrow residential street about a mile and a half away from the Lostock district boundary. The centre was formed as a result of 3 local GP surgeries merging and forming a larger health practice using more modern equipment with the aim of providing better provision for patients and an opportunity to deliver a higher quality of healthcare.

The Delamere Centre was the only GP surgery in the area for the Lostock residents. Accessibility became an issue as the distance to travel had been drastically increased. It is highly likely that this aff ected the older residents and vulnerable residents in the area as further distances were harder to achieve. Consequently, the number of residents attending the new centre slowly decreased over time. Also, the poor provision of public transport serving the centre did not overcome accessibility issues (the buses did not travel past the clinic due the narrowness of the road). Residents would therefore be required to travel a minimum of one and a half miles to access basic health services through other means of transport. Ease of access was also another issue as it was situated in close proximity to a school where, at certain times of the day, the number of vehicles were multiplied, making it more challenging to cross roads safely.

Outside the former GP Surgery on Mitford Road Map demonstrating the distance between the former Lostock Clinic and the Delamere centre

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Consequently, the issues generated by the provision of the new Delemere Centre encouraged people who cared strongly about their area to come together to form an unoffi cial group with the intentionsof positively changing their community to benefi t all residents. Initial meetings provided an opportunity for residents to commune together and discuss assets and weaknesses within the community, whilst identifying key residents who were dedicated and determined to achieve a more pleasant neighbourhood.

9 key residents nurtured into a partnership, chaired by Maureen Reilly (see Key Actors section). During the fi rst year of the partnership, they were able to secure £409,000 (provided by the Fair Share Lottery scheme). This was spent accordingly on projects within a 10 year period.

In 2003, the partnership set up a subsidiary group: Friends of Lostock Park. This sub-group transformed the park into a vibrant and active community hub from a once underused and neglected space (secured through £353,375 of additional funding). An important feature of this project was the new skate park requested by and designed in conjunction with local youths. The LCP encouraged the youths to submit their own designs for the skate park, which were eventually incorporated into the fi nal proposal. This process created a successful and important space for local youths, providing facilities they actually wanted. Lostock Park presently hosts the annual Community Fun Day: an event that attracts over 1000 people every year and involves a wide range of agencies and groups.

In 2005, the abandoned and derelict former community library on the Barton Road was in need of renovation and repair. Members of the LCP and

the local Scout group approached Traff ord Council in an attempt to secure funding to redevelop the building for their use as well as a new community space. The existing building was in desperate need of attention; Traff ord Council granted a 25 year lease to the Scout group and provided £60,000 towards the renovation. The LCP also donated £71,925 of the Fair Share fund towards the project. The funds were used to renovate the library and transform the building into a new ‘Quest’ headquarters building. This building opened for community use in March 2007 and is frequently used for LCP meetings and community gatherings.

In the same year, the LCP decided to improve communication with the public through a quarterly community newsletter, discussing

Lostock Park redevelpment

projects and events within the local area and encouraging as many people as possible to voice their opinions. In December 2005, initial talks began with youth groups in the local area. This led to the development of the Lostock Youth Force Forum, which became a major driver for various Lostock intergenerational projects. This scheme was set up to change the perception of the Lostock youths from an older residents’ perspective. As part of the intergenerational project, younger local members of the community held a quiz evening for older members, which broke down many social barriers.

Consequently, the current Youth Centre was developed. The original building was no more than a prefabricated shed in severe disrepair, similar to the state of the former Scout building. The local authority was in favour of removing the building due to its condition, as well as reducing the provision of specifi c services as council funding cuts were taking place. The LCP campaigned endlessly to keep the youth club and secure a new space for them. Eventually, the LCP developed a relationship with the school and secured the use of spare classrooms that would operate as a separate entity to the school with its own access and opening hours.

This solution to the problem of developing a new building enabled the partnership to secure additional funding for the redevelopment of these buildings with the new Youth Centre opening in 2012. The younger members of the community played a major role in the design of the space (including colours, layout and required equipment), which generated a sense of ownership over the centre.

The Youth Centre as part of Lostcok College

The Youth Centre as part of Lostcok College

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In 2007, as part of securing the LCP’s position in the community, the partnership members set up a Stakeholder’s Forum to encourage relationships between their partnership and service providers in Lostock. In 2008, the LCP approached businesses in the community, resulting in separate spells of support from these businesses, providing experience and knowledge for LCP members to grow and develop from. With thriving businesses, Lostock became a more attractive area to live in and support from these businesses enabled the longevity of existing and future projects of the partnership.

The Circle Dental Practice and team. The Circle Dental Practice on North Barton Road

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What Worked and Why?The presence of the Lostock Community Partnership has resulted in many successful outcomes that not only benefi ted the Lostock community but also had positive impacts on their mental health and well-being. These successes include:

Community Confi dence and Cooperation

Through the process of transformation of their environment, Lostock residents developed stronger, longer-term and personal relationships with one another within their community. Forming new relationships allowed individuals to cooperate in an eff ective manner with a more developed knowledge of other people’s strengths and assets using strength-based approaches to achieve targets with a positive outcome. Consequently, this increased the community’s confi dence as they had a concrete support network of other residents within the community.

Support from the City Council

Support from city council members suggested a strong relationship between the community and local councils and therefore increased the confi dence of the community as a whole. This connection and shared ambition brought both parties together; they are both able to contribute to the improvement of Lostock, its community and satisfying residents’ needs.

Passion and Tenacity

With the appetite to make constant improvements, individuals who had such characteristics made the impossible possible by persevering and fi ghting for their community; they are ‘in it to win it’ and are not content until they have succeeded what they set out to achieve.

Lostock Community Partnership (LCP): Strong Key Residents

The partnership is made up of strong key residents who are dedicated to furthering the cause of the LCP; individuals with the vision and time to seek improvement, are well connected and with a positive outlook on their area and their community. By adopting a strength-based approach, individuals are appointed specifi c positions within the partnership according to their skills and assets. These residents diff er from other members of the community as they often listen to the other community members, valuing their opinions and assessing whether a solution can be provided and whether this is a high priority for the wider community.

Children: Involvement in LCP meetings

Starting early, children and young members of the community are encouraged to become involved with meetings and decision making as they are an integral part of the community and represent the future of Lostock. Including younger members of the community opened up the younger generations’ awareness to current projects and provided them with the comfort and knowledge that they are valued within the community, despite their age.

Skate Park and Bowl

Involving local youths in the process of design and construction of the skate park was one of the successes of the partnership’s work. Giving the voices and opinions of the youth members an outlet provided them with new found control and responsibility for their facility. This trust and freedom allowed them to feel valued and as a result, encouraged the youth to become concerned with the upkeep of the skate park. Through this deep involvement a strong sense of ownership over their skate park emerged and it is now cared for and self-policed. The skate park and bowl provides a place for youths to go and prevent them from hanging around the streets.

Breakdown of Negative Perception Creation of New Intergenerational Relationships

The completion of the skate park proved that the younger residents had similar characteristics of passion, commitment, purpose and ambition as other older community members. Negative perceptions of the youths slowly broke down as it was evident that they were also working in the interests of the community. The project had other positive eff ects on the older members of the community as there were less youths hanging around on the streets. Subsequently, the older population felt more comfortable with the younger members of the community. Young volunteers managed intergenerational activities, such as a monthly quiz, which reinforced this new mentality and brought the two parties closer together.

The skatepark in use in Lostock Park

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Seasonal Timing of Events (Organised around School Term-time)

The LCP take advantage of existing assets by organising activities, fundraisers and other events at local venues such as the school, college, library, youth club and the Quest Scout building. The partnership collaborate with the school and college to advertise events for residents and plan them according to term-times, to exercise the event’s potential and ensure people are available to attend.

Feedback To The Community

Events and actions are fed back to the community to reinforce their roles in Lostock’s progression and development. This means the residents are aware of their actions and outcomes through diff erent means of communication (online versions, paper versions and vocally), allowing for information to be accessible to all ages of the community. The LCP are also extremely aware of the importance of the level of detail to be communicated. They made arrangements to produce an initial condensed report for residents, whilst ensuring a more detailed report was available to the council and any other interested parties (10 year refl ection report).

Lostock Community Events and newsletters for community events and feedback

Entrepreneurial Spirit Solving Community Needs and Desires

Situated on the main thoroughfare of the neighbourhood, the new Lostock Centre and pharmacy was the culmination of a collaboration between a local pharmacist and GP surgery, initiated by the persuasion of local residents. The residents were keen to reintroduce health services back into the heart of Lostock, making it more accessible for the vulnerable members and older people of the community. The fruition of these 2 businesses proved to bring positive change for the whole community and the LCP. The collaboration between the local pharmacist and GP surgery was not only to improve business but also satisfi ed the residents’ needs and desires for the provision of better local services and healthcare.

The new Lostock Medical Centre on Barton Road

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What Didn’t Work?Since the start of the Lostock Community Partnership (LCP), the local community have felt they have a opportunity to speak up against local issues that aff ect their day-to-day lives. The LCP has had to face issues where local authorities have proposed or even built facilities for the community without the views or opinions of the local residents. The following examples demonstrate where a higher power, such as a local council, have implemented changes that have been unsuccessful and the ways in which the LCP attempted to voice their opinions have been repeatedly ignored.

The Delamere Centre

The Delamere Centre is a GP surgery and pharmacy situated on the corner of Delamere Road, roughly a mile and a half from the Lostock district boundary. The centre was formed as a result of 3 local GP surgeries merging and forming a larger health practice in 2005. The centre is an example of local authority action that did not listen to the needs and concerns of the local community. An action which alienated the residents of Lostcock, isolating their access to healthcare and undermining the residents ability to eff ect positive change in their local environment.

When the former Lostock Clinic on the Barton road closed in early 2003-2004, the Delamere Centre was proposed as a replacement health centre for the local community. However, accessibility issues arose as a result of a lack of public transport serving Delamere Road due to its narrow roads. The centre is within close proximity to a school, which makes it harder to cross roads safely or to be dropped off close to the centre.

The LCP, with the help of Heather Henry (then a local nurse, please see Key Actors section) attended a public NHS board meeting explaining that the decisions the board made regarding the health centres had a negative aff ect on the community, leaving residents feeling isolated and troubled as they were challenged to travel large distances to access basic healthcare.The Delamere Centre, Delamere Road, Stretford, Manchester

2 years later, a new clinic was opened on the main high street for Lostock (Barton Road). The Lostock Community Partnership had developed connections with the local independent pharmacist and a nearby GP surgery on Mitford Road. The local pharmacist wanted a better link to a surgery in order to maintain an independent business. As relationships grew, the LCP persuaded the Director of NHS Commissioning to put a site on Barton Road on the sale market. This was later bought for the clinic through private funding from both the surgery and the pharmacy.

An adequate local health service was essential for this community. Previous services were often unsatisfactory or too far away for the Lostock residents, particularly for older and more vulnerable residents or those without private transport. Had the local NHS considered a more bottom-up approach to the issues, they might have followed the 3 crucial factors of control, contact and confi dence as part of the TCD.

Giving Lostock the control to infl uence decisions through a democratic approach, as opposed to a consultation approach, might possibly have allowed the Delamere Centre to be situated in a more convenient and accessible location to accommodate a greater number of residents requiring heath services. Contact between residents and service providers might have built natural social relationships, which would thus help facilitate the confi dence and trust the community had in the local authority. This approach could have also enabled the community to develop confi dence in their own abilities to contribute towards changing undesired circumstances.

The New Lostock Medical Centre, Barton Road

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Traff ord Housing Trust Over 55’s Housing Block and Children’s Play Area

The Traff ord Housing Trust was built on Ripon Road, a residential street adjacent to Lostock College. The road had fallen into a state of disrepair and local shops fell out of business. They soon began moving premises, leaving shop fronts boarded up and contributing towards an unattractive streetscape. An increased need for housing and general council improvements led to the development of 80 new housing units in the last 5 years in Lostock. The housing contains a mix of privately owned housing, shared housing, social housing and apartments for over 55’s. One of the units designed for the over 55’s is situated next to some of the existing 1940s semi-detached housing and the land between the apartments and houses has been used for a small children’s play area.

Without consultation, the local housing authority secured funding and drew up plans for the construction of the play area, a proposal of which many did not support. The local community were extremely upset with the council for doing this. Before the play area had been constructed, the LCP repeatedly informed the authority that the proposed site for the play area would not to suitable due to issues of noise as it was adjacent to the over 55’s residence units.

Traff ord Housing Development, Ripon Road

The Boundry of the development and adjacent housing estate

Regardless of the LCP’s attempt to challenge the decisions of the authority, the play area was built. Older residents complained about the noise created by children using the play area. The community reported their concerns that the play area is presently being used at night by undesirables for recreational drinking and drug use (syringes have been found within the boundary fences of the play area).

The play area has been deemed as unsuccessful by the local residents due to the lack of communication between the local authority and the local community. Although the authority might have had good intentions in the fi rst instance, they should have approached the community to seek opinions on the new play area. A compromise might have been met. Allowing a more self organising strategy to emerge, the location and arrangement of the play area would have formed naturally, resulting in greater satisfaction from the neighbourhood.

The playground adjacent to the assisted living block of the Traff ord Housing Development

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Lostock College

The LCP have been established for 10 years. They have built up a good relationship with local services such as Traff ord Council and Traff ord Housing Trust, which enabled the partnership to seek funding for other facilities the area required. Due to the threat of closure of Lostock College because of a low number of attending students, the LCP worked with the council and housing trust to improve the community’s perception of the school. Funding enabled part of the school to be opened up to the public as a library. The LCP also negotiated the use of part of the school as a local youth club to transform single use buildings into multi-purpose buildings to solve the issue of lack of space for other non-school related activites and groups. Throughout these negotiations, the LCP attempted to establish a connection with the school, as they felt intergenerational events and facilities would benefi t the community. Working with the school enabled events to be hosted on the college ground for summer fetes and other fund raising events. Despite LCP attempts to collaborate with the school, the school appeared to have used this opportunity to most importantly gain rent.

As all profi ts earned from these events were fed back into the causes the LCP pro-vide and run for the community, they have since been reluctant to work with the school. They claim that whilst they were disproportionally doing all the work, the school gained from their eff orts and were reluctant to help with the running and organising of events as this required additional voluntary time and eff ort.

Lostock College

Man-shed To add further insult to injury, an agreed space to build a man-shed for the local community was recently withdrawn by Lostock College’s headteacher. It was originally agreed that a vacant space in the school would be used to build a shed for local residents, which would be used as a space to exchange skills and knowledge. Many local residents had an abundance of skills, but because of the lack of jobs, they were unable to utilise them to their full eff ect. The man-shed would have been a space where people could use their skills to benefi t the wider community. This would improve the lives of others as well as their own well-being and satisfaction. Both situations involving the Lostock college have indicated an emphasis on what the school would directly gain from working with the LCP. In both cases, this appears to be focused around fi nancial profi t. If the headteacher had adopted an asset-based approach whilst working with the partnership, the school might have realised that there were far greater benefi ts than fi nancial gain. The school would be welcoming the wider community into their grounds if they off ered the their facilities and space for free. As a result, there is a high probability that the perception of the school would be improved within the local community and attract a larger amount of students to show a desire to attend the college. In addition, greater publicity (and funding) might have sparked further interest to improve the reputation and useability of the school’s premises.

Local communities often fi ght back or disapprove of facilities that aff ect them. Although the change brought on by the authority might have intended to benefi t residents, without consulting with residents in order to understand specifi c resident requirements and views, the local authority or other higher-powers proved to be unsuccessful in pursuing what they set out to achieve by providing facilities and improving the lives of residents.

Through resident ownership of their area and shared power of funds and decision-making, the LCP have successfully provided services urgently needed by the community. Their expertise of the area and connections made ensured residents received what they needed, instead of what other external professionals believed they needed. Local residents trust the LCP and believe that through the partnership, they are able to voice their opinions to improve their neighbourhood.

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The 5-year plan

How the LCP plan to Tackle Stages 6-7 of the TCD Approach

Over the next 5 years the LCP aspire to build upon their successes to reinforce the successful community spirit they have fostered ‘creating a neighbourhood in which people feel they have ownership and a sense of pride’.

This planning highlights the maturity of the group, recognising the successes and methods developed so far and indicates that they are able to operate within the TCD scheme independently with minimal assistance. The partnership is in the fi nal stages of the TCD process and is able to self-manage and propagate amongst the community.

This is refl ected in their 5 year plan, which aims to:

- Further develop the Lostock Community Partnership and run it eff ectively and effi ciently

- Develop a sustainability plan for continued investment in Lostock

- Increase community involvement and develop the skills of the community to maximise the success of projects

- Begin to see a more positive community attitude towards learning

- Build on the successes of the regeneration of the community environment

- Continue to develop the Lostock Community Partnership and maintain positive relationships with local schools, authorities, agencies, businesses and faith groups

- Coordinate the regeneration of the neighbourhood’s urban and natural environment

- Organise and hold events to collaborate with other partnerships

- Improve essential service provision in Lostock

Awareness of Long-Term Funding

The 5 year plan takes into account funding in the long term. Funding is gained through bids and assessments. The constant fl ow of funding for the community is therefore not guaranteed.

To combat this, the LCP aims to seek alternative methods of funding in the future from sponsorships by companies and businesses, through fund raisers and by developing a ‘sustainability plan’ for continued investment beyond initial Lottery donations. The constant search for new funding indicates the partnership’s awareness and ability to prepare for future funds in advance, rather than await funding or appeal to the council at last minute. They are determined to seek funding and make considered confi dent requests (as per the TCD approach).

Evidence of Long-term Sustainability and Eff ective Management

This 5 year plan aims to sustain the partnership and community, providing a constant number of committed involvement of residents. The plan suggests methods such as ‘open days and local events’ to ‘increase the number of local people’ taking up voluntary roles. This increases the number of key-residents employed in the scheme, which will secure a future for the LCP in the long-term as new members of the partnership adopt key roles for the future. Placing community members at the heart of the partnership gives them responsibility for their environments, generates a sense of self-worth and confi dence (a key aspect of TCD approaches) and community building.

Another element of long-term sustainability is evident through the encouragement of a positive mindset. This practice enables the partnership to sustain itself through encouraging the community to learn the partnership’s approaches and successes, strengthening and reinforcing the LCP as well as their community, educating residents and encouraging them to become involved with the partnership.

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Strength through Recognition and Development of Successes

The value placed on the partnership’s success is expressed by a desire to ‘build on the successes of the regeneration of the built environment’. This is indicative of the successful management of the partnership. The TCD programme highlights the importance of ‘Measurable outcomes and evidence of visible transformational change’ being made to the community, allowing them to be proud of what they have achieved and empowering residents to develop their skills and successes further.

However, rather than simply resting upon their laurels, the development of the LCP is ensured by constantly changing their goals looking for ‘gaps in facilities and activities’ and working ‘in the community to meet these needs’ and learning from present successes (altering, adapting and re-applying them). By valuing their successes, whilst continuing to pursue new goals, the partnership demonstrates an understanding of the later stages of the TCD approach and by seeking to strive beyond these 7 steps demonstrates their eff ectiveness and determination as a partnership to improve their neighbourhood.

Focusing on Collaborations outside the Community

The partnership aims to continue promoting existing services as much as possible ‘signposting the community to relevant groups’ both within and outside Lostock.

This provides both a continued focus for the partnership and the community by establishing a purpose for the community to rally around and helps to galvanise existing support from other support groups and partners.

Focusing on collaboration with groups and partnerships involved in the built environment allows the LCP to ride the wave of optimism involved with the success in this area, which should foster a more positive atmosphere and environment for collaboration. The partnership is committed to collaborate as much as possible with other groups and professionals in the built environment for their future plans.

Championing their success whilst continuing to develop presents an attractive example to other groups, whom might benefi t from being involved with the LCP and might be able to learn from challenges the LCP have encountered. Collaborative sessions involving people taking walks through the neighbourhood with LCP members as well as informal gatherings might teach others of the LCP’s knowledge and experience (step 2 of the TCD approach). In typical TCD approaches these are usually initiated by a facilitator or collaborator. However, it is seen here that the level of development in the partnership (their self-initiation and self-organisation of collaboration) indicates a great understanding of the importance of participation in order to sustain a satisfactory, working and happy community.

Conclusion

The desire to break down barriers between professionals and community members highlights one of the critical issues for successful community building and illustrates the partnership’s growth beyond transformative community development principles. When discussing their initial struggles and successes, residents emphasised their need to be attentive and tenacious with offi cials and professionals to ensure their voices were heard and their persistence prevented their opinions from being ignored. This created confl ict between groups (a case of ‘us against them’) and an aggressive mentality gave the community a strong focus and drive to continue to fi ght for their rights to change.

However, this approach is not guaranteed constant success. By recognising that continued combative approaches may not be sustainable for the community’s development, the partnership has demonstrated the success of achieved outcomes driven from their own experiences. This bridges the gap between professionals and the community to prevent further problems.

We should be able to learn from this type of approach. By working to reduce barriers between communities and professionals, it is possible to build successful partnerships in many areas of construction and design, through either the TCD approach or similar methods. As shown by this case study, it is possible for architecture to become a powerful tool for communities to express their strengths and their ability to aff ect change; the creation of architecture can inspire and encourage community participation and potentially fomulate community partnerships. As architects, we can utilise our skills in designing the built environment to coincide with the eff orts of communities working in collaboration through participation in the TCD process. Provided that architects are prepared to work alongside communities as facilitators of their needs and desires, it is possible to ‘build’ a community through architecture, not in material terms, but through strong partnerships, support and cross-participation.

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview conducted by Tom Lyth

Conversation with Dawn Weller outside Scout centre.

This is the Scouts HQ, which was originally the library. My recalation was the old scouts hut with the dodgy roof was leased to Stretford Scouts and at one time it was empty and looking sad. This is refurbished and re-let about 6 years ago. By the end of it the roof came in on itself. It had fencing to keep youths off . When they went in to demolish it they found that the little ones had made their way in there and started making little fi res and dens. It amazing that people can get into places like that but that’s what happens when you leave places for such a long time unfortunately.

What did the residents say and feel when they heard about that?They were disappointed. It was an eye sore and everybody wanted something done about it. If there could be something done, they wanted it done. Then there’s the doctors. We desperately needed a doctors surgery. Canterbury Road, which goes all the way to Urmston, has their surgery all the way on the other side of Urmston.

So if you’re a young mum or elderly, you had to get on two buses to get to the doctors, which is unacceptable. If done it a couple of times. Once this opened it’s been brilliant and I’ve never seen it empty. It’s been open for well over a year now.

I think the residents were very grateful to those GP’s for moving weren’t they?Yes. Well, their other building was falling down. The Bennett street Surgery.

Are there any other activities going on in the Scout HQ other than the Scouts?There’s Beavers, Cubs, Scouts. We’ve got a disabled unit and a couple other clubs. There was a Tai Chi club. We use it for meetings too. It does get used.

How many doctors are in there now?Defi antly four, maybe fi ve doctors. There’s a district nurse. There’s an outpatients surgery and they can do small ops too. The pharmacist is fantastic and the run a delivery service too. That’s great, especially when it’s snowing.

So he’s very well connected?Very much so. He’s a fab bloke. He goes above and beyond the role of the pharmacist. He’s given out prizes and comes with bubble bath for the tombola’s. It’s great now the pharmacy’s in the same place too, it used to be about a mile away.

Walking towards the CollegeThe library’s attached to the college. So if the children need any quiet time they can sit in a library room and have a bit of one on one with a teacher. It’s good, especially if they’re upset of anything. They’re 11-16 here. My daughter goes here.

Is this the front?It’s a little weird. This is the older part of it. We’ll walk around but in the last couple years the built a gym on the back which has two great big halls. One’s for basketball and netball, the other parts for indoor football. The other part is a music department and art studio which is phenomenal. They did Aladdin this year, that was very good. They’ve got their own music studios. They can burn their own music and that’s brilliant. This is the front that has new railings. This is the new Youth Centre. The old one was falling down.

This school has special arts status right?Yes. My eldest daughter loves it. The arts theatre phenomenal. I got to see the recording studio. These ones are fantastic.

Holly - There is an emphasis on the performing arts in general. I came to this school and we had to choose between dance, music or drama. Every student had to do that. The performances and showcases were a massive thing.When I fi rst came to work here, this school was in special measures.It was in special measures for three and a half years. Some of the buildings have been demolished since then.

In the Youth CentreThe junior club is 8 and upward but it’s usually 11 to 19 year olds. They do a lot of quizzes. They love to play footie or have a barbeque. It’ll be a year in april.

Is it a mix of kids from the college and the local area?It’s a very varied mix. There are a lot of kids with disabilities too. Half of them will come back and help after their teenage years.

Who runs the facility?It’s not the staff ; it’s the children who’ll tell you off if you mistreat anything. It’s theirs. It belongs to them. It teaches them to value and care for things. either the TCD approach or similar methods.

Outside Traff ord Housing DevelopmentThis was a second phase build. There were two phases. The fi rst was the houses around there and the second were these here. These used to be shops. They used to have fl ats above them and they were not very nice.Old people and young people don’t go that well together…Listen to people. When people of a community tell you not to build something somewhere. Something like a play area next to housing for people over 55, you know there’s going to be a lot of noise and when the elderly want to have some peace on their balcony, they can’t.

They litter too. Some 80 year old woman doesn’t want to be cleaning coke bottles from here garden. She doesn’t need that.We had rubbish fi nes going on. There was rubbish everywhere. They (the designers) didn’t think of that. We told them ‘We need a bin.’ And they just said, ‘Oh yeah, we didn’t think of that.’

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview conducted by Tom Lyth

Maureen -on youth in the Lostock areaThey got their skate bowl. They’ve taken ownership of it. We’ve ask the police for feed back and they’ve told us Lostock’s not on the radar. They don’t have any problems, certainly not with the bowl. Well, at one time the young people feared the police, and they feared them for a reason. It’s perception. How they are seen with hoods on. It’s cold outside, what do you tell your grandson? ‘Put your hood up!’ So why is your grandson OK, and other youths are not? It’s people’s perception, and what they read in the press and everything else. That’s just life isn’t it?

Traff ord Housing DevelopmentThis is shelter housing for elderly people and that’s all through Traff ord Housing Trust. I think there are about forty fl ats in there. They’re involved in the community network. We invite them to all the quiz evenings. So they come and meet the young people. The young people have said if they don’t want to come out in the cold winter, we’ll take the quizzes out to

them. Ten years ago they’d lock their gates and get the police and say, ‘No, you’re not coming in…’

So there are seem in a more positive light this way?Yes, there are. You know, now if they walk down the road and they see them they’ll stop and say, ‘Hi. How are you kids?’ Where before they’d have crossed he road just to avoid them.

How old are the kids that run the quiz night?From 11 to 18 or 19. They’re volunteers. One of the most interesting things to me is 70% of our volunteers are boys. I don’t know why. There are lots of girls in the youth club.

If the younger generation are writing the quizzes, is there a diffi culty in getting relevant questions for the older generations?They’ll do pub questions and they’ll get a group who’ll go ‘Oh do you remember that in the 60’s…’ and they’ll go off on this trip down memory lane. From a health point of view it’s fabulous. It lifts all that depression and loneliness. Being listened to them and appreciate what they’ve said. Many of our volunteers don’t have grandparents either. This all used to have a lot of youth nuisance problems, along these shops. All that’s gone. The people who run the bargain booze shop said to me, ‘That skate bowl’s the best thing you’ve done.’ I said, ‘Why’s that?’ They said, ‘They buys their crisps, a drink and a sandwich and they go. We don’t mind if the use their skateboards on the ramp while they’re waiting because they just come and go.’

So before they had problems with them buying something and then just not going anywhere?They had lot’s of problems with the skateboards. It just creates a nuisance.

In Lostock Park, We have a football association [as well]. These fi elds, every weekend, are just full. That in itself is a brilliant thing for the community. Boys and girls of all ages.We don’t have meetings. People don’t come to meetings. We get people to meet up for a cup of tea and before you know it you’ve got one. That’s how we’ve learned to do it. This is the second largest park in all of Traff ord. And it was probably the most neglected. There were fi ghts from youngsters from other areas. But it has changed a lot.

How many people live in the Lostock area?About 2200 homes so around 6000 people.

Are you looking to get more people involved in the partnership?All the time. We’ve had a lot of people who’ve asked for something done and they’ll come down so hand out tea or arrange a tombola but they don’t all want to do any more than that. About 5 years ago we did a lot of work with Red Rose Forest, and with the community we planted 200 trees there, about 100 at the back there and over near the cages there’s 9 fruit trees. None of that has been vandalised.

Children’s Play Area- [Conversation with Dawn Weller]

We were in a meeting and the guy said ‘We’ll make a children’s play area and we will tell them what’s going in it.’ Heather said, ‘Why don’t you ask them what they might like? Have you considered speaking to them?’ So I spoke to them by just hanging around the park. They did know what they want, and now they want more.

Skate BowlThe only problem I have is getting my door knocked for a brush. It doesn’t bother the residents. Their only gripe is the litter that gets left behind but that’s up to the people who come here. To get the kids to a meeting we put up posters asking them to come tell us what they think at the bowling rink. The poster said, ‘we will provided food and drink.’ That worked. We thought we’d get 2 or 3 kids. 16 kids came. At the meeting with the kids to get their input on the design one kid said, ‘This is rubbish.’ When we asked him what was wrong he said, ‘I could do a better design on my computer.’ So we told him, if he did that and gave it to us, we’d include it in the proposal. He didn’t seem to believe us but he did it, and we did, and it made a diff erence. It was taken into account and that’s what gives them more ownership. I’ve seen him since and I’ve heard him say, ‘This is my bowl.’ We’ve had people from Leeds and Bolton. It’s the only bowl in the North West. People come from far and wise to use it. We had some guys driving around in the estate and they asked me if I knew where the skate bowl was. I directed them and out of curiosity asked them where they were from. They were three lads, 25,27 and 28 all the way from Bury. I asked why they came all this way and they told me, ‘We’ve heard your skate bowl’s bloody awesome!’ Word gets around. The bowl cost 80,000. Fair Share funding of 50,000 and 30,000 from the 106 funding.

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview Conducted by Tom Lyth

Back at the Scout HQIt about when residents have the opportunity to speak face to face about the services that serve them. That’s why we went on a walk about, which is a very common tool for community development. When you see and hear for yourself, I think you get a much better understanding of what the issues are. My concern is that we spend to much time in offi ces and we don’t always know what it’s like on the front line, even if they tell us so. Not many residents have the strength to do what Maureen did. It’s a strength of will, because the residents know what’s best to help them. I have a passion for involving students as they are the workforce of the future.

What is the key thing?Involvement. It is fab listening to people and asking them what they want. But it’s not really about what people want. It’s about being listened too. I’ve been to meetings where they’ve got the money, permission, plans and they won’t take in anymore input.

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview Conducted by Richard Coskie

Conversation with David Acton outside Scout centre and health clinic.On the Refurbished Scount Hut: It used to be the library, and the library was moved into the school, so [became] the school community library, and then we developed this into a scout stroke community centre, which we got funding by the council and some from a community fund, which was from the big lottery, and that enabled us to develop this centre.

What did you spend the money on?Refurbishing it all- it was a mess! And also there was an old scout hut, which was a lot worse than this building, literally falling down, it was an old shed, which had been converted into a scout hut. So the money basically paid for the refurbishment work, about one hundred grand in total, and the scouts use it now, and the old scout building is knocked down, demolished.

Where’s that?Behind here, and they were seeking somewhere else anyway, and they came to me as a councillor, to see whether they could get some council funding, which we did agree to that, on the condition that it was not only a scout building but a community centre.

Wwhich kind of groups use it?There have been a lot of sort of toddler groups, and we use it as a community group as well.

Is this where you have your meetings and things?Sometimes we have them here, we have them in diff erent places. I have to say that to make it work, they charge, the scouts kind of over see the building, and to make it work, they have to charge fees for usage, I think that sometimes the fees are slightly higher than we think they should be, that’s a bit of a battle that were having with them, but the building itself was getting into really bad disrepair and it was looking, it was boarded up and everything, along with another building which was there, which was an old clinic, s there were two buildings which were next to each other, which was really pulling the neighbourhood down. They were both closed, both boarded up, they’d been getting vandalised, the community had had enough of it, because this is kind of the centre of Lostock, along with the shops at the other end, down there there’s a row of shops, so this and the shops is the kind of centre, and for this to be all boarded up was dragging the whole area down, and all the residents would say to us as councillors, was we want something doing about it.

And then this (health clinic) was done last year?Yes, this was done last year, opened last year, but that used to be an old clinic, which was closed down, round about, I would say 15 years ago.

Was that the same as the building by the library?Yeah it’s a similar type of building.

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview Conducted by Richard Coskie

And that was the one that was derelict?Yeah so they kind of moved over there (points west) and the practice moved into that Delemere centre, but there’s still a need here, for services so we worked with the NHS commissioners in the area, and with the doctors, so all the community, the doctors, the NHS commissioners got together, and we developed that. I must say there was a particular chemist who had a chemist down the road, and he was a driving force for funding etc to bring that together, but you’ve got to have an end use, the doctors surgeries to generate the money to keep it going, and to pay for all the renovations, but it has kind of transformed this kind of heart of this area, which was something the community were really striving for, so were pleased with that.

So you were not a councillor at the time, you’re a councillor now? No I was actually leader of the council, because they came to me, as leader of the council, about these buildings, but it’s the strength of the community group, which was a catalyst really for getting the energy, the drive to actually get something sorted out.

Because there are similar situations all around Manchester that don’t get resolved.That is true, as Iv always said, you can have individuals shouting in the wilderness, bring them together, and you’ve got a real strong voice, that is something that I say to everybody, get together in a group and your voice will be heard, its harder to ignore a community group, who are very active and very vocal, and ignore an individual who is just saying oh I’d like that to be done, it doesn’t get the attention, I’m not saying it shouldn’t get the attention, it should get the attention, but a group coming together is a much stronger voice.

It’s a reasonable voice as well because then you know it’s a voice of more than one person as well. Exactly, that’s very true, if its just one person they could be brushed off , its just an opinion if its just one person. I don’t know if Maureen has any before ad after photographs because that would tell a story on its own.

The building is quite plain, did you have a say in the design of the building? Well you do have a say in terms of planning, but it is plain, but it is to do with money and practicalities of how the building works, but I can tell you its looks a lot better than before, and in the summer, with the plants, it will be quite nice I think, were happy with it.

Plain and simple can be good, because quite a lot of money has been spent on the Derbyshire lane one, which isn’t a particularly attractive building.It isn’t no, we’ve had a lot of trouble with parking too, which has caused some of the residents to complain, so you’ve got to get those things right, its no use putting a facility in, then it has a knock on problem like parking and stuff which you often get, so the planning is important, so you’re right.

So what were the main issues here, when the clinic here was closed? Because initially you’d think there would be a lot more facilities so it would be a lot better, centralised.There is, particularly for older people, they thought it was quite a long way to go if you’re down the other end, towards the block of fl ats there, circle court, they thought it was a long way to get to there when they were used to coming here, and families with young children, found it diffi cult as well, so there were some issues around that, which they never properly addressed, they said they’d put transport and all sorts, and that never really happened.

Is the bus service ok?Yeah the bus service is not bad, but this is brilliant this (points back at health clinic) its purpose built and everything, I don’t know where were going now, what have you got on your list?

… Walking along the road east.We have a youth centre, which is on the grounds of this school (Points left) and again it was an old hut, which was built man many years ago on a temporary basis, and quite frankly it was falling down, and the young people came to us, a few years ago, and said that they needed a new youth centre, council didn’t really have any money, this was the beginning of the recession and all sorts, austere times, so we looked at maybe utilising some spare capacity within the school building, and that’s where were going now, I’ll just show you.

So you managed to integrate it within the school?Yeah, I mean its not ideal, you’d rather not have it in the school

if you have a stand alone building, because children, young people, like to get away from the school if you know what I mean, but in the diffi cult fi nancial times, we wouldn’t be able to aff ord it.

And you say when the young people came to you, how did they come together?Yeah, they did, they kind of joined the Lostock community partnership, I think through Maureen’s encouragement again, they came along to some of our meetings, they put the case to the adults, who form the Lostock partnership, and we were all impressed and we said well we need to put that to the council, which I helped them to do that, and we brought the executive member responsible and the director of the service, and they did a presentation to them, which was excellent, and from there, plans were developed further, and eventually, the youth centre space was produced out of it.

…In the youth centre.They did a presentation, to councillors and senior council offi cials.

How old are these children?Probably about between 12 and 16, or maybe a little bit older.

So what’s the councils involvement with running it or is it purely the community partnership who do it?The youth centre do run it, but with the cuts and everything the council are asking for more and more volunteers to come forwards, I mean there are some volunteers, but the youth service actually oversees it all, it is detached from the school, but obviously we wouldn’t mind it if they used it to some capacity, because they’ve allowed us to come into their spaces?

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview Conducted by Richard Coskie

When does it get used?Maureen can answer that better than I can, Maureen?

Maureen Reily:Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and Wednesday we’ve now got through to February, and the young people themselves do a quiz night for older people in the community, which, you know, we’ve got a really got intergenerational project, but they designed this, so they love it, once we got over that initial hiccup of where it would be, they were involved with all discussions about colours, designs, everything, so its theirs.We’ve tried to get some outside space too (gets ushered to window to see new space) ah yes, I love it, Seventeen thousand its costing, its been turned into a sports enclosure.

Which used to be park of the school car park? Seventeen thousand is a lot [of funding].Yeah, afraid it is, but its want you have to pay these days, just the fencing alone is a fortune, but you’re battling for funds all the time, nothings cheap, and everything has to be done to a high spec as well, you know, there’s a lot of

health and safety issues, and making sure that the young people are safe and so on, so you have to put the money in to make a really good job of it.

And is it for anyone? Are there requirements? Its mainly for the youth, the young people who come to the youth centre, you know, obviously the school, if they want to use it, there would be no problem with that, it is there land basically.

How do the youth service feel about it as a resource, do they want to do the same thing elsewhere?Well most schools don’t have the capacity, this school was originally down for closure, the residents and parents fought against that, and they were successful, so the school was kept open but the number of pupils had dropped quite signifi cantly, so there was spare capacity in the school, there aren’t many schools that have that kind of capacity to do what they’ve been able to do here, so I’m sure they would do if they had schools that did have.

Did you say how much it was to do this place? In here, one hundred and twenty thousand, because they had to knock walls down and do all the plastering, all the fl oorings been done and everything’s just been renewed, new doors, front door, so that you don’t have to come through the school, because that was a big issue about having to walk through the school and stuff , so that seems a lot, but its all costly these days, but it is to a high spec.

Maureen talking about the school and the youth centre.

So, initially, the people providing the services didn’t see you as helpful? Well, no, because they wanted to close it, they needed to save money, but what they didn’t realise was the power of the people, we don’t want it closed, we need it, our young people deserve to have a youth centre.

So did something else close, did it? Prioritisation? Probably.

That saving of the money, was the money found from somewhere? I don’t know, and I dare not ask; what for, for this?

If there was a shortage of money, I assume there was a fi nite amount?The money has to be spread across the whole borough doesn’t it, and we understand that, but we agreed we cant have a brand new building, we appreciate that, there is not enough money to give us a brand new building, provide youth staff etc, this is an opportunity to do it, save you a lot of money, it would have cost somewhere in the region of half a million, and that was a hard, hard journey for those young people, to sit in those meetings and realise they couldn’t have the dream they wanted, this is twelve thousand of fair share money.

Was it because you came up with a creative solution?Yeah, which was aff ordable, they did have caps on resources, but they didn’t have money to build a brand new, and that’s the

lesson young people had to learn, because that’s the reality of life, we had to sit there an pick up the pieces, but fi nd a solution, and this is what we found, but they’re very resilient young people, take what comes at you and you have to deal with that, and they did, and this is fabulous.

Conversation with Maureen, walking towards the Traff ord residential Development.

So we’re approaching the new builds are we?This is where the new build is, this row that you can see here (points to the right) was a row of shops, two years ago, and Dawn, lives in it and lived through it, There’s eighty fi ve hosing units here, in this space that your walking into, and the homes that were here before were old homes, run down, in need of modernisation and repair, and Traff ord housing trust who are the social housing providers here, they had a plan to put money in and renovate the area, and I think they’ve done a lovely job of it.

Are they all lived in?Yeah, every one was taken in the fi rst year, there were some to buy, some to part own, part buy and some to rent, but yeah, they’ve done a nice job of them, and there’s two bed, three bed and fours, so every one that you might need, but if there is any issue about the work done here, and it is great, is this play area.

And why is that?Well its part of a package for people only over fi fty-fi ve could apply to live in that block, but old people and young people don’t go that well together.

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview Conducted by Mariacarla Norall

Conversation with Julia [Traff ord Area Services] outside Scout centre and health clinic.

My role is called a stronger communities offi cer and I cover the Stretford area and the team that I work in we do neighborhood management and community engagement so we do a lot of the councils consultations with community groups in the area. We help the groups set up and help them to be more self sustainable so we can then work with other groups. We’ve done so much in the last ten years since we’ve had the “Fair Share” money we’ve done work in the park and we’ve just got another £70,000 funding to do an under fi ves play area. I mean you’ve been to see all the health facilities that were miles away and now they’ve got this lovely building. You’ve got Pharmacists, dentists doctors here now which the lobbied for many years so a lot of what has gone on was because of the people just getting together

So where did people go before because this was the old library wasn’t it?Probably best to ask Maureen. But every year they have a fantastic fun day in September, last year in July it was the summer of the well being so we worked with the NHS and had a big event, a mini Olympics, where people tried diff erent sports and they’ve organized all this and they

get so much in council sponsorship.

They get sponsorship?From local companies or they approach big ones like the Traff ord centre or B&Q who have programs to help people Asda also do and also the local shops Maureen was getting kind gifts and things to help them. They just work really hard and they’ve done so much. And now there is a challenge with what will happen in the future with all this austerity so I am working with Community First in this area which is a government initiative run through the community development foundation. Some of our role is helping their running costs go forward.

What was here before all this happened?Nothing really. Like a lot of areas health and unemployment are an issue. We have a situation in Traff ord I don’t know if you’ve seen the statistic anywhere, we’ve got two complete extremes and it represents the country really. You got millions of pounds of houses by footballers and you come down to particularly old Traff ord area and there is a lot more deprivation and they say that generally there is an eleven year life expectancy diff erence in a man from Hale to Old Traff ord which is huge isn’t it? For women its about six years, they seem to be a bit more resilient. So this area obviously has more deprivation but then its not a bad area.

Is the partnership now trying to think of employment in the area?Yeah going forward like I say they’ll be diff erent objectives but they’ve done some amazing things not just with the money but throughout the year they have events, coff ee mornings. So is the partnership like a voluntary center for people? Do they get a lot of people coming in to try and help?I think people dip in and out of things don’t they. People like the events and people like the parks group. Another colleague is helping write the fare share report so

even though she has retired from work its something she cares about anyway.

Do people know about the partnership in the community?I think people know it, like I say they do a newsletter so they would recognize it especially coming in the library. Within the library this is where they have lots of space so generally we have meetings there, its only a room for today’s purposes. I work with other group and I’d say this is one of the most developed and advanced partnerships that I work with.

What other groups do you work with?Along the A56 there’s a couple of partnerships there. The meadows is one area that’s near the canal on the opposite side form Stretford mall and then there’s a group called the Trees Tenants and Residents and like I say the Town Centre partnership.

We were reading that there is another partnership in Lostock as well?Lostock Residents. Yes I work with them as well and go to their meetings.

Do the two partnerships work together at all?We’ve talked about them joining up and bringing them together but they seem to both… this road is a bit of a barrier (Barton road). But this group is very self suffi cient its very good. SO this is the school and it nearly closed a couple of years ago because they were going to make Streford High School into an academy. Here in the summer this is where we had the mini Olympics which

were very good.

So do people know they can come in here?Yeah what they try and do is the funding, not just for the entertainment and activities is to try and make most things free because if people haven’t got a lot of money there’s no point having activities that are going to be really expensive

Do they do adult evening classes here?They do lots of stuff here and they’ve got a big arts theater type studio. This is the new youth facility and its only just been done as you can see.

How often is it open?[Holly, another Traff ord Area Services worker & former resident of Lostock]Tuesday and Thursday evenings for 11 to 19 year olds and Wednesdays that sometimes have a junior club for 8 upwards. They do quizzes and bingo nights where the junior leaders help out running things for older people in the community. The smart centre used to be here for people that needed extra help learning and that was moved somewhere else to put the youth centre here.Theres a lot of emphasis on the performing arts so the school has gradually moved back a lot of the buildings – there was a building that was here which was just classrooms which has been demolished and the dance studio has been built and recording studios.

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview Conducted by Mariacarla Norall

Do you get any new people coming along to partnership meetings or is it through word of mouth?I think I fi nd with a lot of partnerships a lot of the time old people are prepared to do things because sometimes they have more time to do it.

Can anybody turn up?They welcome it that’s why when the newsletter goes out they actively ask for people to get involved because you can never have enough helpers.

(approaching the new blocks of fl ats)There used to be convenience stores here. That whole unit had been here quite a while and it wasn’t in the best state either.

Have they put in any new shops then?[David Acton]Yeah they have it was part of the scheme. It seems a bit quieter now. One of the diffi culties was there was always a park here and one of the worries we all had was if you build fl ats very close to the park you’re going to have a confl ict and that’s exactly what happened. We spoke to the planner about it we spoke to Traff ord housing but nobody really seemed to take that on board. These people complain constantly about the noise. Its pretty well

managed during the day but at night time you get young people congregating, drinking, they say drug taking.

Is there anywhere else for the young people to go then?Well we’ve got the youth center but its only on Tuesdays and Thursday. We’ve had a community approach to problem solving but the trouble is that some people that’s all they want to do anyway and that is a diffi culty. Think the noise magnifi es it later on at night and people getting older can’t take the noise.

Before it was built who did you try talking to?The Traff ord Housing trust who were going to build we said this could be a problem and we need to design it in a diff erent way and they seemed to think it would be alright. They needed to get the number of accommodations that would make it work fi nancially to help obviously with the housing waiting lists as well so theres all these kind o dilemmas and confl icts that you have between making it work fi nancially and make it work socially and make sure it integrates within the community. Personally I don’t think they’ve done a good job.

Have they commented on it since its been built?Well there’s been a number of things that have happened – parking has been an issue, gate on the fl ats entering into it have been a problem with the electric gate. Lighting has been a problem from the fl ats shining light which glares into other fl ats. They aren’t big issue but thay are problems that you should really foresee. To be fair to Traff ord Housing they have been quite quick on responding when we have complained. Sometimes you can get families that can be antisocial and disrupt everybody else and you’ve got to deal with that as well. Nothing is ever simple.

Do the two partnerships keep quite separate as to which area they deal with?

It just happens. If you live in one area you won’t think about what happens elsewhere but we go to both lots of meetings and help both sides.We noticed the railway running right through the bottom half of LostockThat’s a kind of barrier really. Major roads can be a big barrier. Although Lostock does go beyond the railway they don’t recognize it as much on that side as Lostock. Think they recognize themselves more to Stretford. They don’t come into this area much. This area here really has improved, they were built two years ago its very recent.

Have you seen a change in peoples reactions to the area since all of this has happened so since the clinic has moved and the old library has been used for quest?I think people have got diff erent reactions to the area. The whole area was looking very tired and it needed refreshing and renewing and things were closing down like the quest building and the health centre – and those were boarded up previously. And that was like the centre of Lostock and the old fl at were looking more like slums. The school was down for closure and we fought that battle and won that battle. We put brand new play equipment in the park, the skate boarding park and all of that has changed the environment and I think changed peoples perceptions of Lostock but you’re never going to get people shouting from the roof tops.

How did you manage to keep the school open?We went through a big public enquiry where an inspector had to

decide on the outcome but basically the school parents fought very hard and we as a council fought very hard and Lostock partnership was central as well in the fi ght. We were seeing everything closing down. We put a very convincing case, the school was regarded as a very good school inn the off sted reports too but the numbers had fallen quite a lot and that’s why they wanted to close it down. But this meant that chidren from this area would have had to travel a hell of a long way and we put up a very convincing argument to the inspector who was independent of the authorities and he sided with us so we won it.

Where are the closest schools if this had shut down?Near where Manchester United football stadium is which is quite far away or in Flixton which is three miles away and there are a lot of busy roads if you are walking.

Did you have any people from the community involved in building the skate park?We involeved the young people again with what they are called, Screeming Wheels, who are a group in Traff ord mainly in Partington and they are the experts because they’ve got skatepark in Partington but they were the ones saying what would be needed in Traff ord that would attract people from all around, not just in Lostock. They helped very much to design it.So do people from all around come and visit?Yeah they do. They have competitions. Its quite big its like a big bowl. Then we added to it so you’ve got this big bowl and also this up and down stuff going on, I don’t get it.

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts

Transcript from Lostock Trip. Interview Conducted by Mariacarla Norall

Is this the circle?Yeah it used to be council owned fl ats and then we passed it on as a council to Traff ord housing which is a housing association. When I fi rst became a councilor for this area one of the fi rst jobs I had was trying to sort out this because there were so many anti social behavior families in there they had no control over people going in, drugs were being taken, people were scared, they didn’t know who was staying in the fl ats, people were sleeping in the corridors. Everything was happening but there was a lot of good people in there and they were complaining but nobody was listening to them so they set up a group on their own, nothing to do with Lostock partnership and they invited me along and I hired all this talk and I couldn’t believe what was going on.

What about the police?Well we got them involved and THT are the people who were running and we eventually with a lot of hard work got rid of about three or four antisocial behavior families who were completely disruptive to everything that was going on.

Was that a bit dangerous for you to work on?Yeah. Well the police had to do it. The dangers were the housing offi cers really and I think that was the problem that they were frightened and nobody was taking them seriously until they got together, those who were good residents, they came together and individuals complaining on their own just get picked on so if you join together you’ve got a much stronger voice and that’s what community partnership can give you is a much stronger voice. They make people listening to what they are talking about. They can easily be ignored if its just a few people complaining in the wilderness. We did get it sorted out, door locks changed, a temporary security guard on so people could be counted in and counted out and got decent people in again.

How long ago was that?About seven years ago. The new people that came in were off a waiting list. What happens is that people who are antisocial get passed around and councils have a duty to take them and it is a dilemma what you do where do you put them. You have to go through court orders and everything to get somebody out, it’s quite a long process.

What did you do in the park?We did all the equipment, that’s all new. Mainly for older children not the tiny ones.

How did you fund it?We were successful in grants and applications for the lottery funding which we utilized to match funds from the council. Really it’s the councils responsibility to look after the park, its their park! But with the diffi cult fi nancial times it was hard to get money out of them but jointly we’ve been able to do quite a bit.

[Maureen Reily, by the Skatepark]Its never empty. At quarter to eight when I leave the house there are kids here before they go to school. On a Sunday that lad there knocks on my doors asking can we have the brushes to sweep the bowl out. They sweep it out so they’ve got the ownership of it, its theirs. They do police it, the older ones that went right through the process of planning it, when they said they wanted it we set up a meeting and put notices saying if you want to be involved in designing it come to the meeting. We thought two people might come but 16 of this age group turned up. Sat there with two guy who do skateboarding and asked what about this design and one lad said I’m not sitting here with a piece of paper drawing pictures I can do better on the computer. I said that’s brilliant go home and do it and then send me the drawings so I can send it in when I put the grant in, I thought I would never get in but he did. That’s what gives them the ownership: we’ve actually listened and done it.

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Appendix - Interview Transcripts