Neighbourhood Management is a new way of working to improve some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country. It brings together a wide range of people who are already delivering services, working for organisations such as the Police, Health, the Council or for the voluntary and community sector in order that they can work in a more cohensive and co-ordinated manner.
Neighbourhood Management doesn’t involve large sums of money – it’s about using resources that are already available more effectively to achieve lasting change. One solution won’t suit all neighbourhood so services need to be flexible to meet the needs of residents.
The main ingredients of Neighbourhood Management
- Residents who are involved and ready to help;
- A neighbourhood manager with overall responsibility at the neighbourhood level;
- A local Neighbourhood Board to provide strategic direction made up of Councillors, a voluntary sector representative and service providers;
- Political leadership and commitment;
- Support and commitment from the key organisations and partnerships in the city;
- Quality information – both statistics and community views;
- Commitment of service providers and mechanisms for engagement between
services and residents; - A Neighbourhood Delivery Plan – setting out the priorities and actions.
Progress so far
Since Neighbourhood Management was set up in Leicester in the Autumn 2006, a wide range of early practical improvements have been delivered with resident involvement such as environmental improvements and youth provision.
Neighbourhood Boards are now up and running – consisting of residents, councillors, service providers and the voluntary and community sector representative from the Leicester Community Network. The neighbourhood boards are functioning well and attracting other residents and partners to want to work with them. Their mood is positive and ambitious and they represent a new foundation for developing social capital in each area. They are currently undergoing a training and development programme.
The Neighbourhood Boards have completed their comprehensive Neighbourhood Delivery Plans – copies are available on each of the neighbourhood sites to the left.
Developed through consultation and the involvement of local people, the plans set out local resident’s own priorities for their neighbourhood. The plans also provide an in-depth analysis of the neighbourhood against each of the key neighbourhood renewal themes of crime, health, environment, worklessness, education and housing. They build on previous community plans produced in the areas and measure the current deprivation gaps in each theme and set out agreed action to tackle them.
Neighbourhood Management has added value in each neighbourhood by –
- Promoting and supporting a local ‘customer perspective’ in public service provision, identifying local problems, communicating these to providers and pursuing 'joined up solutions'.
- Promoting the greater involvement of local people in decision-making and consultation about services, particularly the greater use of deliberative processes.
- Supporting networking, relationship building and joint working between
providers at a neighbourhood level.
- Bringing residents, community groups and providers together at a neighbourhood level in a way that improves providers' understanding of local problems and ability to target services on local needs - improving the 'targeting, tailoring, and take up' of services.
- Promoting and supporting innovation in working practices by service providers
- Facilitating a more active community and voluntary sector, and contributing to the development of social capital in the community.
How the neighbourhoods were chosen - priority LSOAs
The priority neighbourhoods consist of 22 ‘Lower Super Output Areas’ (LSOAs) of approximately 1,500 people each, that fall into the bottom 5% nationally of the Index of Deprivation 2007.
The Index of Deprivation is a database used by the Government to calculate disadvantage, using a wide range of information about crime, employment, education, health, the environment and housing. The twenty priority LSOAs are clustered in the seven priority neighbourhoods. The Neighbourhood Management areas are based on these LSOAs, but have also been broadened out a little to fit with the real geography of the areas. These neighbourhoods also receive Neighbourhood Renewal Funding from the Government to help to improve the way major services are delivered to tackle key problems.
In July 2005 the Leicester Partnership agreed the areas of Leicester that are priority neighbourhoods in the city.
Neighbourhood Management was set up in six of the areas, but following a review in 2007-08 two schemes - Beaumont Leys, Abbey Rise and Stocking Farm and St Peters were wound down and wrapped in to the development of new ward based Community Meetings starting in April 2008. Neighbourhood Management now operates in -
Braunstone
- Saffron
- New Parks
- St Marks
- St Matthews
Does Neighbourhood Management work?
Neighbourhood Management is a relatively new way of working. Since 2001, the Government has funded 35 ‘pathfinder’ schemes to test the approach. In addition, more than 250 other Neighbourhood Management initiatives are operating across the country.
These have been implemented by local authorities, registered social landlords, community development trusts, New Deal for Communities programmes and others who have been convinced of the value of the approach.
Research by the Young Foundation has already endorsed the neighbourhood management approach. But evaluations of the Government’s pathfinder programme – as well as studies of non-pathfinder initiatives – have now yielded conclusive evidence that Neighbourhood Management is a force for positive change. In particular, household surveys of the 20 ‘Round 1’ pathfinder schemes – carried out initially in 2003 and repeated in 2006 – offer further evidence that residents’ perceptions about their areas are improving faster than those in comparable areas.
“to many practitioners, residents, councillors and service providers, it has the hallmarks of a more intelligent and sustainable approach to Neighbourhood renewal and public service improvement. It is not expensive compared with more conventional regeneration approaches, it is grounded in its local community with a dedicated local team, and it is clearly focused on improving mainstream services – the services that matter in deprived areas – from the perspective of ‘the customer’.”
NEIGHBOURHOOD MANAGEMENT – at the Turning Point? (DCLG formerly ODPM 006)
How will local people get involved?
Local people can get involved in a variety of ways, through receiving information, being consulted, coming to events or joining neighbourhood theme groups. Some will have a key role to play as members of the Neighbourhood Board.
Leicester’s Community Network has key role in ensuring the involvement of local groups and people in the neighbourhood arrangements, supported by Voluntary Action Leicester.
How will the Neighbourhood Delivery Plans be implemented?
- changing the way services are provided – to meet the city’s targets and local needs
- working with current programmes
- setting up new projects, to try out new ways of providing services
- supporting voluntary groups and the community to take action themselves
