Connecting Communities in Skerton
Outdoor Classroom activity - what would you like to see improve in your area?
'Connecting Communities in the Skerton Area' Booklet
What was Connecting Communities?
Why did we do it?
How did we have to use the funding?
How has it benefited local people?
What were the Big Conversations?
Why did we have these Big Conversations?
What were the Big Questions?
Who did we talk to?
What has happened since the Connecting Communities Project started?
What Next?
A Big Thank You!
'Connecting Communities in the Skerton Area' Booklet
Download the booklet from the right hand menu, or click in the viewer below (please note that some clickable links do not work in the viewer).
You can pick up a copy of the 'Connecting Communities in the Skerton Area' booklet at Lancaster Library, community or council buildings in the Skerton wards.
What was Connecting Communities?
It was about helping local councils to work with an area to help local people to work out what changes they would like to see and work with other public and voluntary sector organisations to make those changes. It was about helping communities to help themselves.
Similar projects have happened around the country including some in other parts of Lancashire e.g. Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Burnley and Pendle.
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Why did we do it?
• To listen to the voice of local people of Skerton
• To improve quality of life for people living in the Skerton area
• To encourage people to be proud, think positively and take some responsibility for their local area
• To improve the way organisations work with communities in the Skerton area
• To improve the way organisations work together in the Skerton area
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How did we have to use the funding?
• Train people across local organisations in new ways to engage with communities
• Have a company to provide this training and support local organisations in engaging with Skerton communities (Appreciating People)
• To develop a sustainable (within current resources) community plan for improving quality of life in the Skerton area
• Support for the project
• Small environmental improvements
• Council housing also made some improvements although this was not being funded by this project
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How has it benefited local people?
Provided an opportunity for local people to:
• Help local organisations understand how they could do things better (within current resources)
• Consider what is good about where they live and the services that are currently provided
• Improve relationships with people who provide services and support in the Skerton area
• Develop a plan which describes the outcomes of the conversations, what is happening to take what people said is important forward, where to go for information and how to get involved - what role the people who live in the are can play.
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What were the Big Conversations?
The Big Conversations were about the Skerton east and west wards. This included Beaumont, Vale, Hare Runs, Mainway, Ryelands and Scale Hall.
Summer Gathering Views – Asking Big Questions
Connecting Communities started by spending the summer having conversations with the people who live in Skerton east and west wards.
Autumn Talking Together – Big Conversation Summit
In October there was an event to consider all the things that had been said, who should do what and when. It was a chance to plan how we could make the Skerton area even better than it is now.
Spring Making it Happen Together - Skerton Cafes
In May 2011 two Skerton Cafe events were held to talk about the potential projects that had come out of the conversations and how together they could be taken forward.
Please take a look at the Skerton Cafe Report from these events.
We wanted to involve as many people in the area as possible including students/young people, older people, people with disabilities, gypsy travellers, families and wider neighbours.
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Why did we we have these Big Conversations?
We wanted to find out what is great about the area and what the issues were.
All the views people who live and work in the area were fed into the Big Converation summit event in October. This is where the sustainable community plan/booklet started to be developed for your area.
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What were the Big Questions?
We wanted people who live or work in the area to tell us:
- A story about what is great in Skerton
- What were the three smallest things that would make the biggest difference in the Skerton area?
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Who did we talk to?
19 May 2010
Representatives from Lancaster City Council ran a session with children who attended the opening of the ‘new Ryeland’s park recreation area’ to find out young people’s views on the questions.
See: School children give their blessing to new ryelands park recreation area
9 June 2010
A group of people (core group) was set up with representatives from a range of organisations working in the Skerton area.
Lancaster City Council and Lancashire County Council formed the project team which led the project. Other group representatives include:
• Lancashire Police Authority
• NHS North Lancashire
• Lancashire Fire and Rescue
• Community Learning Network
• Lancaster CVS (Community and Voluntary Solutions)
• Local children’s centre
• Skerton high school
• Jobcentre plus
• Local residents association
• Relevant county councillor
• Ward councillors
Appreciating People facilitated the groups meeting.
5 July 2010
A taster training day on facilitation techniques and identifying improvements was held for a range of organisations working in the Skerton area.
15 July 2010
Representatives from Lancaster City Council and Lancashire County Council helped Appreciating People to facilitate a Big Conversation at Skerton Community High school to find out young people’s views on the questions and the future of their school.
26 July 2010
Representatives from Lancashire County Council attended the Lancaster City Council ‘Shaping housing services’ event for Ryelands estate at St Chad’s Church Hall to find out housing tenants views on the questions.
See: Council tenants invited to shape the future of housing services
11 August 2010
Representatives from Lancaster City Council ran a session with children who attended the St Luke’s Playscheme to find out young people’s views on the questions.
See: Everybody's talking about Skerton
13 August 2010
Representatives from Lancaster City Council and Lancashire County Council attended St Luke's Fete to ask parents for their views on the questions.
Throughout September 2010
Representatives from Help Direct, Lancaster City Council and Lancashire County Council went into the neighbourhood to find out local people’s views on the questions.
6 and 7 September 2010
A two day training course was held for people who work for organisations in the area. This training was about new ways to engage people and helped to create a network of people who could be called on to help to run future engagement events across the district.
Week commencing 20 September 2010
Postcards promoting the project, the questionnaire and this web page were distributed to local shops and businesses in the area to encourage local people to get involved and have a say on the questions.
Please refer to right hand menu for connecting communities postcard pdf.
24 September 2010
Lune Park Children’s Centre ran a session with Appreciating People to find out young parents views on the questions.
28 September 2010
Representatives from the organisations who work in the area and people who live in the area were asked to attend an event where they looked at what works well and how this can be used to improve how the organsiations work together and work with people in the Skerton area (frontline worker event).
6 October 2010
Appreciating People ran a session with the Access2Learning group to find out young gypsy traveller views on the questions.
12 October 2010
The Big Conversation summit event was held to pull everyone who had been involved together along with the feedback from the questionnaires and events that had taken place. This event used the feedback to celebrate what was great about the area, look at what the big issues were and what could be done differently and how people who live and work in the area could make this happen.
This is where the sustainable community plan/booklet started to be developed for your area.
Visual minutes were taken of this event and can be viewed in Skerton Community High School Hall - please refer to the right hand menu for a pdf of the visual minutes or you can contact the school directly to arrange a viewing.
A pdf of the poster which promoted the Big Conversation event can also be found in the right hand menu.
4 November 2010 - Design workshop
Representatives of the organisations who work in the area were asked to attend a design workshop where they started to develop potential actions based on the ideas raised at the Big Conversation summit event.
November 2010 - Debrief meeting
The project team met with Appreciating People to discuss what has what worked well and what could be done differently next time.
May 2011 - Skerton Cafe Events
In May 2011 two Skerton Cafe events were held to build on what came out of the design workshops, talk about the potential projects that had come out of the conversations and look at how these could be taken forward together.
Please take a look at the Skerton Cafe Report from these events.
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What has happened since the project started?
- Community voices have been heard
- Lots of good working and personal relationships have been built
- A range of people from public services have been trained to improve how they engage with local residents
- A number of environmental improvements have been made in the area
- A dog roadshow offering free neutering vouchers and micro chipping has been held at Skerton Community High School
- More trees have been planted in Ryelands Park by Local charity Lancaster Green Spaces and volunteers
- A play area has been developed on Ryelands Park and United Utilities are funding the further expansion of this.
- A group of young people from the area have started looking at mapping what is going on for young people in the area
- More events have been held - May Skerton Café events. Take a look at the Skerton Cafe Report.
- A street pride event has taken place on Howgill/Mount Avenue and Aldrens lane and Lune Street/Earl Street/Derby Road are in the street pride programme for next year.
- Projects to improve street scene across the district are being taken forward eg litter campaign, educational pack for schools etc.
- Investigations into putting the pavilion on Ryelands Park back into use
- United Utilities have agreed to expand the accessible play area and develop a concept plan for Ryelands Park – look out for future opportunities to have your say on this! Visit the face book page for this project.
- Public services in the Lancaster District are looking at how they can work differently together and with families in the area to better meet needs – Family Futures/Working Together project
- Lancaster University has worked with a group of young people from Skerton Community High School on a Health and Wellbeing project
- The library have offered to help anyone who is interested in the history of the Skerton area
- Help Direct are hoping to launch a time banking/volunteering scheme in the area
- Help Direct have also offered to help anyone who would like to set up a newsletter or social media eg facebook page for the Skerton area
- Lancaster University is planning to work with local people and groups to help develop any proposals for creative or innovative solutions to improve the either the environment or services in the local area.
- A community plan/booklet has been developed for the area based on what people said. A leaflet on where people who live and work in the Skerton area can view this will be sent out in Autumn 2011.
What next?
The Connecting Communities project has now come to an end but the projects identified above will continue along with the many valuable relationships which have been built up over the past year.
A Big Thank You!
To everyone from the Skerton area for telling us what you think and to the organisations involved in the Connecting Communities project.
For more information please contact Jennifer Milligan - Lancaster City Council's Consultation and Engagement Officer consultation@lancaster.gov.uk
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