THE WOODCHURCH ESTATE
Woodchurch is located within the centre of the Wirral peninsula and forms part of the Upton ward. The area is primarily residential and is characterised by social housing dating from the 1940s. Much of this housing is of a ‘cottage’ design and of a low density. With the introduction in the 1980s of the ‘right to buy’ legislation a significant number of properties are now privately owned. The remaining social housing was transferred from the council to a registered social landlord, Wirral Partnership Homes, as part of the stock transfer process implemented in 2005.
The estate itself is defined by a boundary of main roads, including the M53, and Wirral’s main hospital Arrowe Park is situated next to the estate. The population in respect of the social housing on the estate has been fairly stable and many of the residents have lived there all their lives.
Key issues that faced the original Woodchurch Neighbourhood Management Partnership back in 2006 included poor health, significant levels of drug and alcohol misuse within the estate and crime and anti social behaviour which manifested a ‘fear of crime’ on the estate. Despite some good work being undertaken since that time, it appears from current statistics and partner consultation that many of these issues are still cited as being a ‘problem’ for Woodchurch.
Woodchurch T.R.U.S.T sees a neighbourhood management approach as an opportunity to focus the work of key agencies and groups operating on Woodchurch Estate on providing services with and for the community that make a real difference to the quality of life in the area now and in the future.
Success for neighbourhood management will be measured through the impact it has on the needs of people living in the area, and their view of the services available and the support those services offer.
As the previous neighbourhood management programme was part of a national Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy, it aimed to close the gap between disadvantaged neighbourhoods and the rest of the Wirral, Woodchurch Trust would like to see this work continue for the benefit of the estate’s residents and through working with Wirral Partnership Homes (WPH) and Lairdside Communities Together (LCT), we have produced this plan to highlight what we think the local issues are and to start working in partnership with other community groups and service providers to address them.
Neighbourhood management helps communities and local service providers work together at the neighbourhood level to improve local services by encouraging services to be more responsive to local needs and make sure they deliver priority outcomes on the ground and achieve the things that matter to the community they serve.
LCT have worked with the Trust across a series of sessions to investigate what we feel are still key issues for Woodchurch and the Trust are keen to share this plan with the Woodchurch Partnership, local community organisations on the estate, partner organisations and the local residents to ensure that we all have shared aims that we can work together to address.
Proposals for a way forward
1. Using an evidence base gleaned from local and national statistics we have identified some ‘key issues to be addressed’ to help improve the quality of life for local people and to drive service improvements. These key issues provide the basis of the priorities for action included in this set of plans.
2. Work with Lairdside Communities Together over the past six months has enabled Woodchurch Trust to understand the complex nature of service delivery on the estate but we also realise that we cannot achieve these aims alone. We intend to contact and enter into a dialogue with a variety of local organisations and groups in order that common ground can be reached to work together to address these issues alongside partner agencies.
3. In order to drive this plan forward it will be necessary to have a ‘vehicle’ for this purpose. We have identified two possible options for this to happen:
i) Set up and convene a new partnership to take this work forward
ii) Utilise the structure (and skills) of the existing Woodchurch Partnership to take this work forward
Having given this true consideration and in the interest of ‘building on existing strengths’ we feel that this plan should form the basis of our approach to the existing partnership, Wirral Partnership Homes and the community groups on the estate to start discussions off.
4. We are also aware that for reasons best left unstated, relationships between groups and individuals on the estate have been divisory in the past. We hope that this plan can help renew relationships across the estate and create a stronger partnership with the same aims and objectives – Making Woodchurch a better place to live for everyone
5. The Delivery Plan identifies the action needed to do this or the changes planned to improve the impact services have in the area and what we believe this will achieve.
6. Specific work areas – Through our research, it appears that most issues identified by residents, partner agencies and statistics fall in to 5 key categories, they are:
- · Healthy Lifestyles
- · Community Safety
- · Employment and Opportunities
- · Living Environment & Housing
- · Children & Young People
The following chapters set out an action plan for each of these categories although some issues may cross over two or more. Where this is the case, key issues and actions etc will be included in each area they concern. Each of the above priority areas should have a working group built around them so that they can take the actions forward and report progress to the main partnership. For this to be effective, a lead officer will need to be identified for each of the areas, preferably someone with existing responsibility within that area of work.
7. We believe that through a partnership approach, the residents of Woodchurch alongside partner agencies can use existing resources to improve the quality of life for the local community. The following action plans include some issues which will be default be a longer term vision but it is also important to realise that some can be ‘quick wins’ which can act as visible ‘proof’ that local people are listened to and that shorter terms actions can be delivered fairly quickly.
Woodchurch TRUST