The Shaping Places Healthier Lives (SPHL) project initially aimed to address local issues such as anti-social behaviour and fear of crime. However, it quickly became apparent that strengthening community cohesion was key to tackling these challenges and improving health and well-being, especially near the town centre where communities were most affected by health inequality.
A message from the Health Foundation
Thriving, healthy communities need all the right building blocks in place. These include our surroundings, quality housing, good education, nutritious food, stable jobs, community connections, and much more.
Local government is ideally placed to work with local partners and residents to identify blocks that are missing, or have become weakened, and strengthen these to build places that support good health for all. Shaping Places for Healthier Lives (SPHL) – a grant programme launched by the Health Foundation and the Local Government Association – set out to learn about the implementation of local government-led systems approaches to reducing local health inequalities.
During the application phase of the SPHL programme, councils identified issues which affect the health of their residents in unequal ways. They were supported to build a deeper understanding of these issues – and possible solutions – through resident engagement and by mapping the systems that surround the identified issues in their local area. This informed their Theories of Change and plans for action.
Over the three-year funded period of the programme, the five selected partnerships worked on a chosen determinant of health. They learnt on the job, and this learning informed the ongoing development of their plans and action. The changes and outcomes they ultimately sought to achieve – better health and reduced inequalities – are long term ones that were not expected to change in a measurable way in three years. Instead, the programme was interested in learning how local governments, working in partnership in local areas, can reshape local systems in ways that will support better health for all over the long term.
At the end of the three-year funded period, the sites had made great progress in establishing a whole system approach to the building blocks of health. Key learnings are described in this series of case studies.
Synopsis
Blyth, the largest town in Northumberland with a population of around 39,000, has a rich industrial heritage rooted in coal exports, shipbuilding, and offshore oil and gas. With these industries in decline, Blyth has a new vision: to become a hub for renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.
The Shaping Places Healthier Lives (SPHL) project initially aimed to address local issues such as anti-social behaviour and fear of crime. However, it quickly became apparent that strengthening community cohesion was key to tackling these challenges and improving health and well-being, especially near the town centre where communities were most affected by health inequality. Alongside a £70 million investment to revitalise Blyth town centre, Heart of Blyth launched a series of activities designed to build on the town’s existing culture and vibrant community. The goal was to create the conditions for local residents to gain the access and confidence needed to participate in important decisions affecting their area.
Central to this effort was the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach, which recognises that a community’s greatest assets are its citizens. By fostering stronger relationships between residents, strategic system leaders, professionals, and volunteers, the initiative aimed to drive system-wide change.
This case study outlines the approach taken over the past three years, highlighting the system-wide changes, impacts, lessons learned, and future steps.
The challenges
Heart of Blyth has faced several challenges. Blyth, like many post-industrial communities, has experienced economic deprivation and unemployment, which have been further exacerbated by crises such as COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis.
Historic mistrust between the community and local public services meant that some residents were sceptical that regeneration plans would benefit them and perceived previous efforts to revitalise Blyth town centre as unsuccessful. Residents expressed concerns about anti-social behaviour and low-level crime, which impacted their sense of pride and safety in the community. Yet Heart of Blyth still found the people wanted to get involved in ongoing, meaningful dialogue about Blyth's future rather than ad hoc, sporadic consultations.
The approach
From the outset, Heart of Blyth recognized the importance of ensuring that all residents have a stronger voice in local decisions that affect them. Empowering residents to come together and actively participate in turning their ideas into action—regardless of their education, accessibility issues, or circumstances, was a foundational step towards achieving long-term systems change.
Three key questions from the ABCD model were integrated into the fabric of the Heart of Blyth program design and activities:
- What is it that communities can do best?
- What do communities require help with?
- What do communities need outside agencies to do for them?
Building on these questions the Heart of Blyth team went to where people were and took the time to build deep and trusting relationships with residents at a pace that was right for the community. Using positive language, working alongside them, listening to their concerns, hopes and dreams, operating transparently, and acting as a bridge for residents and public services, they were able to close the gap of mistrust. Over time some power has been devolved to the community for some decisions.
More widely, Heart of Blyth advocated for Blyth residents through a wide range of stakeholder activities including consultation, partnership working, capacity building and influencing, as well as delivering a mix of one-off events and longer-term projects such as the microgrant scheme, Stories of Blyth, and Blyth Better Together partnership.
Finally, the £160,000 Microgrant scheme saw around 100 grants of up to £3,000 given out for projects across Blyth supporting community cohesion and connection across the arts, cooking, social events and health and wellbeing activities.
The impact
As is often the case with systems change, it’s the stories from those in the system - in Blyth it was the residents and stakeholders - that reveal where impact is being made. Residents have shared that they feel more connected, confident, and optimistic. They also feel valued, respected, and heard by public authorities, as their views have been listened to and acted upon. This is fostering a stronger sense of community connectedness and belonging in Blyth, with residents expressing pride in their local area and sharing that they are experiencing positive impacts on their health and well-being.
Crucially, the relationships between residents and the Council have grown stronger. Some decision making has been devolved to residents, for example, the Heart of Blyth Residents Panel who have made decisions on the distribution of £160,000 worth of microgrants to community groups and organisations. They designed the microgrant programme and have shaped the Heart of Blyth Project throughout, giving them power to support health and other community services they need locally. The Heart of Blyth team has witnessed more residents taking steps toward volunteering, learning, work experience, or employment.
Working with the ABCD and systems models, council and project partners now have:
- a better understanding of how to apply an asset based approach to community engagement
- a deeper understanding about what’s happening culturally across Blyth
- started to adopt new tools and mindsets for systems change, and thinking and planning for the long term.
Working with public health has been really interesting, thinking more about asset-based working. It's a model we are learning more about it as a council, working with rather than for communities. It [Heart of Blyth] is a toe in the door for more asset-based work. A blueprint to move forward.”
Heart of Blyth stakeholder (2022)
This way of working is starting to build resilience within local communities, as evidenced by citizens knowing what support is available, having stronger networks to draw on, starting and growing community groups, as well as through feedback surveys from Heart of Blyth stakeholders and micro grant holders. The team hopes this will improve wider determinants of health and wellbeing, reduce inequalities, and help residents adapt and cope with future adversity and shocks.
How is the approach being sustained
Learnings from Heart of Blyth’s work are being shared and socialised amongst various project partners and are already informing future development plans and policies.
A core legacy is that asset based community development is being embedded more deeply in wider public engagement activities with residents from across the whole of Blyth.
Learnings from Heart of Blyth are contributing to decisions and policies which will see this framework embedded in projects at inception as part of their design. One example of this is that the teams responsible for longer term regeneration plans in Blyth are already beginning to embed ABCD into their community engagement activities. Additionally, Local Authority improvement programmes are also experimenting on how to build ABCD into their activities: this could impact future shifts in preventative healthcare, freeing up pressures on social care and the NHS.
Other activities, which build on previous work and some of the prototypes funded through the microgrant scheme and seen in the past three years will continue. The team are currently seeking funding for a community based micro grant for future programmes.
Finally, the Heart of Blyth coordinator is working with residents and project stakeholders on what would be the most useful activities for her role moving forward. Heart of Blyth is reflecting on the different kinds of ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ skills people need for these community engagement and connector roles and reflecting on opportunities to coach, mentor and share learnings with others who want to adopt an ABCD approach. The Heart of Blyth Coordinator will also be offering 20 per cent of her time to other teams in Northumberland who may wish to try the ABCD approach.
Lessons learned
Key points
Build trust
Building trust increases cooperation and uncovers skills, passions and interests. This gives people the confidence to work with others to take action to make their area a better place. They’ve done this by:
- being accountable, honest and regularly giving and asking for feedback
- being consistent and keeping promises
- helping residents understand how decisions are made and how to get involved
- taking the time to build relationships
- being patient and moving at the pace of others.
Build strong connections
Getting or receiving support in your community or working together towards a common goal increases connection to one another and the place where you live. They’ve done this by:
- finding out who the community connectors are and bringing them together
- connecting people to others with similar interests
- creating events and opportunities for people to gather in their local community
- celebrating small and big wins and sharing positive stories.
Give residents a stronger voice
Residents have a vested interest in seeing positive things happening and are the experts about their town.Confidence can be built by helping them get involved in decisions affecting their lives, bringing a sense of ownership and pride. They’ve done this by:
- addressing power dynamics by devolving power, so that people can decide on the priorities that matter to them
- keeping an eye on who isn’t involved and who has the quietest voices: they often have the most to gain from positive changes
- using a variety of approaches to reach people, going to where they are most comfortable and confident.
Residents are the biggest asset
Focus on what is strong, not what is wrong. Think carefully about how to approach people and how you speak with them. They’ve done this by:
- starting with what matters to people and understanding what they are passionate enough about to get involved
- finding out what they need to turn their ideas into action
- advocating for residents if there is something that they can’t be involved in
- recognise that residents bring so much more when seen as active citizens.
Contact
For further information email the project team at [email protected]