Partners and Stakeholders
Although the regeneration work was led by Beyond Housing, the support of partner organisations and stakeholders has been vital in securing funding, engaging with the community and promoting the project and its outcomes.
Key to delivery were officers and members from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council (RCBC), and the strategic housing, highways and planning authority. One of the ward councillors is a resident on the estate and we had demonstrable support from both councillors in the run up to and throughout the project. We ensured that RCBC was regularly briefed on progress and made aware of any issues arising. We worked closely with the housing strategy team to develop the type and tenure mix for the new build homes and with the highways officer on improving the estate infrastructure to provide coherent and visually appealing street scenes.
Grangetown Generations has been one of our major partners during the regeneration. From provision of school holiday activities, christmas activities, delivering afternoon teas to older residents, supporting the 8-week programme for the open space consultations by offering use of the building, facilities and volunteer time. They also provided meeting space and refreshments for the Residents Group Drop-ins and used their social media presence to promote and encourage opportunities to Church Lane residents and increasing attendance at events. They also provide volunteering opportunities and community initiatives which cater to the local need in the area.
Local Schools
Equans visited Caedmon School to give Health & Safety talks to 178 children to raise the importance of keeping safe and not accessing site areas. St Mary’s School received a donation of £2400 to send Year 6 children on a trip of a lifetime to London. There will also be involvement in the development of our green spaces to increase the feeling of ownership and care.
You’ve Got This
You’ve got this organised and led on the 8-week consultation workshops alongside Barefoot Kitchen to consult and devise the initial green space design with residents. The workshops focused on practical skills such as gardening, growing food, cookery and offered trips to local gardens and green spaces. This in turn inspired attendees to come up with design boards depicting the main elements they would like to see in the new community green spaces.
East Cleveland Police
Involvement with the local PCSO to conduct estate walks and discuss any pertinent issues arising at the time. DOCO (Designing Out Crime Officer) provided an initial assessment and recommendations which were followed up with further estate visits, liaison with other stakeholders and guidance on where changes could be made to further increase the safety of the area.
Groundworks
Groundworks and Beyond Housing are working on a legacy programme for the open spaces which will involve the Church Lane North Community in enhancing and developing the green spaces.
Equans
Equans donated over £400 worth of Easter Eggs to over 100 children at Church Lane North, donated funds to provide skips for the Estates Big Spring Clean, carried out a number of litterpicks and conducted estate tours to Beyond Housing staff who were interested in the progress of the regeneration work.
Challenges
A key challenge across the entire project, particularly in terms of working with external partners, was the length of time the project took to develop and deliver (over x years) and maintaining interest and energy from partners with less investment in the it’s delivery over that timeframe
Lessons Learned
- Regular short updates to ward members throughout
- Key points of contact within Beyond Housing for information and queries
- Providing specific opportunities to be involved throughout the project such as
- Conduct a pre- works networking event to present the plans and timescales of the regeneration and discuss the community need. Obtaining initial offers and commitments from stakeholders and partners.
