You may or may not be aware that Birmingham City Council’s Priority Neighbourhood Programme is coming to an end on 31st March 2011 as a result of the removal of Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF) and other time limited central government grants. Unfortunately it has not been possible to secure alternative funding and so the Council has no other option but to implement its proposal to close the service.
As from Tuesday 1st February 2011 I will be taking up a new post as a Tenant Participation Officer with the Housing Team in Yardley.
Thank you to the many people who have worked so hard with me during the last eighteen months in Highgate, Digbeth and St Andrews. It has been a pleasure working with you all. I think that we have made real progress in drawing together residents , service providers and third sector partners to work together to improve the Neighbourhood. I have been particularly grateful to work together with Monica Lee and the Stanhope Hall Women’s Group in Highgate , and Shabnam Mughal and the Bordesley Village Community Association in Bordesley Village. Having two community workers and two groups of keen volunteers to work with has been incredibly useful and rewarding. I have also appreciated working with Hyacinth Tobin and the South Acre Resident’s Group , and Adam Crossley, Val Woodward, Pam Pinksi and the Digbeth Residents Group. I hope that we have help build lasting links between Stanhope Hall, Bordesley Village Resident’s Group , South Acre Residents Group and Digbeth Residents Group and also between these groups and the many agencies and service providers ( schools, police, Fleet and Waste Management, Housing, Environmental Wardens etc ) which work in the Neighbourhood.
Had we known when Neighbourhood Management started that the future would be so austere for local neighbourhoods we could have concentrated from the beginning on trying to help the resident’s groups in the neighbourhood to become as self sufficient as possible but I hope that we have still made progress in this direction.
One of the features of Neighbourhood Management in Highgate, Digbeth and St Andrews has also been the way in which we have worked very closely with the Partners who applied for Successful Neighbourhoods Funding. In many cases we approached organisations and asked if they could work in the neighbourhood and so they have been able to fill exactly the gaps we have identified. For example Women and Theatre’s Comedy Courses at Stanhope Hall, Sports 4 Life’s Street Dance Course, Start Again’s Saturday Football ( not SNF funded) , Local Leagues sports activities for young people and Bordesley Village Community Association’s Health Awareness Day, Community Fun Day and Cultural Diversity Day.
A further achievement has been to begin to bridge the gap between Highgate and Digbeth and it was great to be able to support Friction Arts who took the lead on Highgate Fun Day. It was amazing how many organisations and individuals from Highgate and Digbeth took part in the Fun Day and I am very grateful for the way Friction Arts enabled such team work to take place. Thank you to to Nicky Getgood at Digbeth is Good who has been so supportive and helpful in publicising our activities.
Looking at the Neighbourhood Action Plan we agreed at our meeting on 16th March 2010 we have achieved all the major targets we set , plus many we have added since. I am sorry that there is not space here to highlight all the things we have done.
It has been agreed with Housing that I will continue to work on Neighbourhood Management for one day a week during February to tie up loose ends and to finalise the Successful Neighbourhoods Funding etc.
The whole structure of the Constituency Team is currently under review and as soon as I know the best contacts to leave you with for the future I will let you know.
