Shiregreen Neighbourhood Challenge

Read the Shiregreen Neighbourhood Challenge blog

About the approach

The ambition of Shiregreen Neighbourhood Challenge is to recover a sense of neighbourliness, boost the sharing and exchange of skills between people on the estate and make more of under-used buildings. It will involve a two-stage approach which starts by slowly building public engagement through simple activities and incentivising participation, and then converting this into a programme of neighbourhood action planning around two existing under-used community buildings.

Activities will include: mapping talent on the estate; identifying spaces and places which are in need of improvement; codesigning with the community systems which reward resident participation; the creation of two new social participation ventures - a Skills Centre and a high-impact food project. A website will support the sharing of talents and promote rewards systems. It will also ensure information about the project can be shared at community, regional, national and international levels.

Once talents have been identified, communities of interest will be developed and supported around key areas of expertise such as gardening, cooking and music. People will be asked to share their skills for the benefit of the wider community. Groups and individuals will be able to use the website to organise themselves and promote their action. They will be rewarded in ways which are determined by the local community, which may be through an on-line credits system, through school rewards systems, through sponsorship or through mutual exchange of skills (we will do this for you if you do that for us).

The Project Director of Shiregreen Community Homes will lead the activity, supported by a 'Social Entrepreneur in Residence'- style advisor, who has experience of award-winning public participation initiatives. The intention is to pass the baton of 'social entrepreneur' to a local person once the community has been mobilised and inspired.

About the organisations

The Lead: Shiregreen Community Homes Ltd

Shiregreen Community Homes Ltd is a subsidiary of Sanctuary Housing Association and was set up to oversee the transfer of council stock from Sheffield City Council in 2006. As a social landlord, Shiregreen Community Homes manages 2,500 homes on the Shiregreen estate. It also has a commitment to delivering effective social and economic regeneration through the implementation of Community Investment Strategy.

The Sanctuary Group is involved in communities throughout the UK. They have won many awards for their relationship with residents and their commitment to resident involvement and empowerment. They are committed to devolving power to local people and acting as a facilitator, not controller, of local action. They are keen to build their knowledge and expertise of non-traditional regeneration approaches.

Partnership organisations

Shiregreen Neighbourhood Challenge has seven local partners. These are: Shiregreen Neighbourhood Centre Committee which has a pool of willing volunteers with ideas and contacts in the community, and the space to host events and support local groups; The University of Sheffield Enterprise, which is able to offer student volunteers and research and enterprise expertise; Sheffield Wednesday Community Programme, the charitable arm of the football club who are already proactive in the area and have a team of committed community workers; Get Hooked on Life, a new Sheffield-based social enterprise that has been working with the three schools on the estate to set up a rewards system for young volunteers; and three local schools - Firth Park Community Arts College, Beck Primary School and Hatfield Federated Primary Schools. Since starting on the project Rathbone have also become key partners providing valuable outreach work and Hinde House primary and secondary schools are now partners. There are many other organisations we are working with, as we seek to create a joined-up approach to community investment with all who have a strong interest in Shiregreen.

About the neighbourhood

Shiregreen was built in the 1930s in the North East of the city on one of Sheffield's seven hills. The housing is solid, attractive, and set on generously proportioned sites of predominantly two and three bedroom housing. Shiregreen is a relatively stable community which is not typified by transitory populations. Family, extended family and historically networked social relationships are the mainstay of community life but these are hidden from view and are not the things people talk about when Shiregreen is discussed.

Historically, community development has centred on 'community need' rather than 'community skill' and there is a real enthusiasm to refocus on the many assets of the area rather than perceived deficits. Shiregreen is compact and well defined surrounded on three sides by green space. It contains three shopping areas, 24km of grass verge and small internal green spaces. The area is four miles from the city centre and two miles from Sheffield's Meadowhall retail park. The famous Trans-Pennine trail also passes through the estate linking it to the countryside but routes over the estate are neglected and underused. It is a geography that has much potential for building relationships within the community, providing that a programme of activities are originated that are genuinely rooted in the community.