The next 50 areas announced and launch of Local Trust (29th March 2012)

Fifty communities across England are today each taking charge of £1million to spend on making their areas better places to live through Big Local. The funding is part of Big Local, which will give local people a key role in deciding how to improve their areas and tackle local problems.

Fifty new areas are being allocated the £1m funding today, bringing the number of communities who are so far benefiting from the scheme to 100. A further 50 communities will be awarded funding through the scheme by the end of 2012. Each of these areas will receive at least £1m to spend over 10 years – along with support, training, and networking opportunities – to make their areas better places to live.

News stories from the announcement:

www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/million-ways-lift-St-Matthew-s/story-15351494-detail/story.html

www.nuneaton-news.co.uk/News/1m-windfall-29022012.htm

http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2012/02/birchwood-bags-1m-community-funds/

http://www.karlmccartney.co.uk/2012/02/karl-heralds-big-local-investment-in-city-of-lincoln-constituency/

Launch of Local Trust website

What is Big Local

Big Local is a ten-year programme that will achieve lasting change in 150 areas in England. It will provide a mixture of funding, finance and support. This will enable local people to build on local talents and aspirations and identify and act on their own needs to make their areas better places to live, now and in the future. Local communities will drive Big Local in their area. The programme will support, challenge, train and encourage people to develop and take ownership of Big Local in their local area. There will be a unique programme of activity in each area based on local needs but sharing the Big Local programme outcomes.

Big Local will support communities to identify issues and plan and develop solutions. This will provide a sustainable approach to long-term issues and ultimately create better places to live.

Big Local aims to achieve the following outcomes:

• 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 can continue to identify and respond to local needs in the future.
• The community will make a difference to the needs it prioritises.
• People will feel that their area is a better place to live.

A Community Development Foundation (CDF) led consortium has been chosen by the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to set up and manage a new independent, charitable organisation to deliver Big Local.

Our role in Big Local

You wouldn't try to bake a cake without flour so why try and help build an area without ensuring it has an environment everyone can be proud of now and in the future.

Everyone wants to live and work in neighbourhoods and areas with great environments - green, safe and healthy.

Yet many vulnerable areas have environmental inequalities, including lack of access to green spaces, flooding and high levels of derelict land.

The Big Local has a strong commitment to the environment and equalities and sees both as having a crucial role in helping communities to build successful vibrant areas.

We know from working with communities that the environment is as much about what people see when they step out of their front doors as it is about climate change. That means it is about clean air, good public design, warm energy-efficient homes, parks that people want to use, environmental protection and equal access to natural resources. All of these bring economic benefits, improve well being and can support community cohesion.

As a Big Local delivery partner, Capacity Global will carry out and support work on:

Visioning and Planning: Equalities, community inclusion and environmental justice need to be at every stage of planning to execution. Capacity Global will provide support and advice to people in the Big Local areas as they come together to make their community vision and plan to improve their area. People who want to get more out of their local environment while bringing communities together can draw on our expertise in these areas.

Training and Advice: We will provide support and advice on cohesion and environment for community facilitators, local representatives and social entrepreneurs.

Human Stories: It’s important to know what works and be inspired. We will provide real-life stories on experiences from other projects and Big Local partners for communities to listen to, read or watch.

Learning and Research: We will provide an environment and equalities baseline report, support pilot environment community projects and support learning and skills sharing.

Assessments and Monitoring: Big Local equalities and environment will be assessed; this means that Capacity Global will review how well Big Local is doing in terms of including the broadest range of people and take people's environmental needs and concerns seriously throughout the program.

For more information on Big Local email projects@capacity.org.uk