Neighbourhood Alliance – Providing a meaningful structure for community engagement
Key contact: Susan Carr
Address: Neighbourhood Alliance, Hay Avenue, Edinburgh, EH16 4AQ
Telephone: 0131 657 0500
Email: susancarr@ednet.co.uk
In a nutshell
Craigmillar, the area we operate in, is undergoing extensive regeneration. By providing a structure for the community to become involved we help them to have a say about the changes taking place in their area. With our support, community groups are better prepared and better structured to influence decision-making.
The issues
The whole area was undergoing extensive regeneration. Although the community had been involved to a certain extent, they had not been able to gain access to higher levels of decision-making.
This was because there were no effective structures for wider community participation. The structures that were in place often appeared to be random and tokenistic. We wanted to move away from this towards participation that could ensure that regeneration progressed with the involvement of the whole community.
How we got started
We evolved from an existing project that was set up by the Council – the Craigmillar Housing Development Project. It was overseen by the Craigmillar Festival Society – a community arts organisation - in the early 1990s. The project was set up to support community involvement during the housing regeneration phase in the area.
Increasingly it became clear that the way the Housing Development Project was run was not taking account of the wider community views.
Regeneration work also started to involve more than just housing, including social and economic issues and the way the Project worked needed to incorporate that.
Staff were gradually replaced and the constitution of the management committee changed. Together, we rebranded the project to take account of what we were trying to do. In the beginning we called it the Craigmillar Neighbourhood Alliance. It is now called Neighbourhood Alliance to include the neighbourhoods immediately outwith Craigmillar.
We are currently funded through the Council and short term funding from the Community Regeneration Fund. We employ three full time staff.
What we do
We support community engagement in two main ways.
Firstly, we facilitate and help maintain clear and open structures for local people to be involved in decisions that affect them. Early on we encouraged the development of clearer structures through which individuals and groups could participate.
We recognised that each community has its own issues. We approached people in each neighbourhood and persuaded many to set up neighbourhood associations. All of these associations feed into a Community Regeneration Forum, which we help to facilitate. The Forum is used by the Council as a consultative body.
Secondly, we offer hands on practical support for individuals and groups who wish to take part in the decision-making process. This involves:
• Carrying out administrative work for the community groups - organising meetings, sending out letters, taking minutes and sending out newsletters
• We regularly accompany individuals and groups to official meetings of other bodies and take notes so that the community representatives can actively engage in the meetings.
• Preparing people for strategic meetings by having pre-meetings. We look at the issue at hand, explain any jargon and simply set out what things mean.
• Facilitation between community groups and organisations involved in the regeneration process – where we are often seen as ‘honest brokers’ – when communication breaks down.
Our outcomes
The environment we have created has encouraged genuine community involvement in decision-making. Our outcomes are directly related to what we do.
• We have helped develop clear and consistent structures for community engagement. By encouraging the development of more neighbourhood associations, we know that the community is better represented. We have seen the number of neighbourhood associations go up from three to the current eleven.
• Joining up all the groups in a structured way and making sure that we work together has meant that the community groups are able to have a more cohesive, stronger voice.
• Clearer structures also mean that we can add easily add things to the agenda on behalf of the community. Often, people phone us up with issues and we take them forward to the Forum. And it means that there is greater transparency and accountability.
• Supporting people in becoming actively puts them on a more equal playing field, and gives them greater capacity to influence decision making. It also impacts positively on their confidence and self-esteem. We often see people going from being a member of a community group to becoming the Vice Chair and then the Chair of the groups or other strategic bodies.
• We have made good contacts with people in the Council and the Scottish Government. These informal links work really well and we now know who we can speak to if we have any issues. Often, we can settle things by a simple phone call – speeding up the process and making quicker progress.
One great thing – Our independence
Our success depends on our autonomy. Although we have received funding from the Council, we value the fact that we sit outside their structures. By not being linked to the local regeneration company, local councillors or the Council the autonomy has allowed us to be:
• more democratic
• more open and transparent
• less bureaucratic.
It means that the issues that are brought forward for discussion are set by the community.
Lessons learnt
• Be clear about what you are trying to achieve. This will influence how you develop structures for community engagement. For us it was important that as many people as possible would be encouraged to participate. Each person is only allowed to hold one post within the community engagement structures that have been set up. This makes it fairer and allows more people to participate at a higher level.
• It is worthwhile to have a Forum that brings together all community groups. Groups can learn from each other and longer established groups can pass on experience to newer ones.
• The community has a stronger voice when they are unanimous. Before we have any meetings with the local councillors we often have a pre meeting with all representatives to make sure we are going in with one agreed view.
• It is easy to adopt a ‘we’ and ‘them’ attitude. In reality the community want many of the same things as the agencies operating in the area. We have tried to develop a working relationship with the Council – this benefits everyone.
• It is always easier to communicate when there is some diplomacy and tact involved. There is no point forcing an issue too far. It is better to try to find a way of talking about an issue while listening to what the other party has to say. Be aware that people have their own opinions and each person needs to have their say.
What next?
The Community Regeneration Forum has been given a place on the Neighbourhood Community Planning Partnership Board. We are currently waiting to see which sub groups we will be represented on. This will benefit the involvement of the community.
