Perspectives on regeneration: Colin Greenhalgh

Colin Greenhalgh was operations director at Groundwork Wigan and Chorley when interviewed in January 2007. This summary has been approved for publication.

The issue in a soundbite

I’d like to see that the training, the understanding of communities will help to ensure the middle management layers within the council start to appreciate that the third sector and community partners can actually deliver things in a social enterprise framework.

Background and key challenges

Groundwork has been working in Wigan for 23 years. It’s been involved mainly in physical improvements but is now looking at wider issues. It has a turnover of £2m in the local area, with successful projects such as Youth Works, and a good relationship with number of communities. I think we’re seen as a trusted partner by the council.

A lot of regeneration funding – SRB, ERDF – is ending, and alternatives such as local area agreements are not ready for accessing. Groundwork’s recent Lottery bids were not successful. I’m not sure Wigan has embraced the opportunity for the third sector to get more involved in service delivery. Contracts are still price led.

Groundwork Wigan and Chorley is merging with Groundwork Lancashire West, covering a wider area. Three Youth Works projects are coming to an end, and they need a sustainable exit strategy.

A bigger challenge is that funding seems to be being pushed more and more towards super output areas. While this is right in terms of the statistics, at the same time some communities on the edge of that top 20% could miss out.

We have a number of our projects that are coming to an end this year, three Youth Works projects that have been working over three years, and what is very important is that we get a good exit from those projects and we get some sustainability - and a couple of those are not looking as sustainable as we thought they would have been from day one, so there’s some work to do there.

Progress so far

Groundwork is well established with the economic partnership in Wigan. We have been working with partners in Wigan for the last 23 years. It’s very much about building sustainable communities.

We have a good relationship with a number of communities in the Wigan area. So in terms of involvement with Regenerate we’re seen I think as a trusted partner, certainly by the council. We’re getting involved at a strategic level, we’re on the LSP, but we also deliver, so we’re not just out there talking, we’re trying to turn that into action. So obviously we’re seen as a natural link with Regenerate because of our link with communities.

Hopes and aspirations for Regenerate

We need to know what people want, so we see the Regenerate project as being a very effective tool. When you listen to people you can take action quickly.

For us it’s about trying to maintain current levels of delivery. I’d like to see the council being able to appreciate that the third sector can deliver things in a social enterprise framework.

We’ve… put in a bid to Children in Need to get a community animator in one of our areas to link in with our Youth Works project, so we do have a belief that it can link very well, that we can work in partnership with Regenerate.

Obviously we’re about delivering quality projects and getting close to communities and to deliver that you’ve got to know what people want, and I see Regenerate as being a very effective tool, certainly in terms of the rhetoric that’s been talked about so far.

I’d like to see that the training, the understanding of communities, will help to ensure the middle management layers within the council start to appreciate that the third sector and other partners, community partners can actually deliver things in a social enterprise framework.

What should be achieved after 18 months?

I would like to think we’re well on the road to having community animators in ten local areas. Groundwork can help make it happen in Worsley Mesnes and Abram, where there are Youth Works projects.

We don’t really need a whole lot of funding to make this happen – what we need is the energy.

Regenerate can play a big part in terms of the exit solution for the Worsley Mesnes Youth Works project that will come to an end in October. I’d love to see that the project has been maintained, with the training that Regenerate have helped us pull together, and that this project is sustained by the community with some support from Groundwork.

I think the ambition initially was to get ten community animators into local areas. I would like to see us being involved to some extent, with community animators linked into Groundwork, but I don’t think it really matters, it’s about having the right people in communities and those people empowering other people and using the training they’ve been given to train other people.

What needs to be done in the next four months?

I haven’t seen enough in terms of building up trust and communication. I hope Regenerate will be seen as being a really good tool and that initial marketing has gone out to people saying that this is a really helpful tool for us in the community. We would hope to have the security of some funding for a community animator ourselves.

We’d like to make sure that Youth Works is sustainable, certainly in the Worsley Mesnes area, and that we get the right training for the right people who are going to be sustaining it.

Internally we’d love to be in a position where we’ve got the security of some funding for a community animator ourselves and we’re up and running.

You would hope that as part and parcel of that training there would be an increase in understanding of how the community works within the [Groundwork] staff who are involved in that. You would hope that increase in knowledge and understanding would then not just be passed on to communities but would also be linked in internally in the organisation and that understanding would lead to more potential opportunities for Groundwork to get engaged in regeneration.