About
Charlton Hayes is an extension to the Bristol satellite town Patchway. Planning permission was given in 2008 to build 2,200 homes with construction starting in 2010.
The initial Section 106 agreement between Bovis Homes and South Gloucestershire Council included funding for a part time community development worker for 5 to 6 years. However this was taken out of the final Section 106 signed in 2008 after the financial crash of 2007-08.
After some problems emerged early in the life of the new Charlton Hayes development, the Patchway Town Council and local community development trust Southern Brooks Community Partnership worked together to lobby for community development support. Bovis and Sovereign housing associations contributed to the creation of a new part time post at Southern Brooks, dedicated to Charlton Hayes.
Project details
Charlton Hayes is a mixed-use development located on land north of the Filton Airfield and is a new extension to the established community of Patchway. The South Gloucestershire Council granted planning permission in 2008 to build 2,200 homes for 6,000 residents.
Problems emerged very early in the lift of the new Charlton Hayes development. There was some resentment in neighbouring Patchway about the new housing and when the first residents moved in tensions quickly emerged between Patchway residents and people moving into the new homes. There were thefts from the site and Bovis had to employ security guards. 80% of the first phases of new homes were social housing, managed by Sovereign Housing Association.
The developers, Patchway Town Council, the police and Southern Brooks met. Southern Brooks offered to respond to the problem by employing a community development worker. Sovereign and Bovis agreed to contribute £8,000 a year each for three years. Bovis were about to release their second wave of homes with a larger proportion of private housing.
Southern Brooks were well established in the area. They were able to quickly bring together a multi-agency meeting. Their work was “tenure blind”, building on the strengths and interests people brought. The new community development worker did a signup meeting for all the residents, across tenures.
The developer was persuaded to release the land earmarked for the school playing field for residents use. The s106 included the replacement of the community centre in Patchway, to create a facility that could be used by both communities.
REACH – residents action for Charlton Hayes – was set up. This is a strong group that now sends representatives to the local partnership meeting. “ReACH is the catalyst, the glue, the force to make Charlton Hayes residents come together for the good of the community and to enrich everyone’s lives”. (4)
The Bovis and Sovereign funding was important but also was the relationship to Southern Brooks as a community anchor organisation. Patchway Town Council has funded Southern Brooks since it was set up as partnership between the community associations in Patchway, Bradley Stoke and Avon County Council (3). Southern Brooks argue that without this relationship the community worker would not have been so successful.
The specific funding for the Charlton Hayes community development worker has now ended. However Patchway Town Council continue to support Southern Brooks, with around £20,000 for core costs, plus around £25,000 for youth work. Southern Brooks have mainstreamed the Charlton Hayes community development work into another post. A new priority is around community cohesion. More Charlton Hayes residents are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds than the longer standing residents; initially there were some tensions, particularly around education.
Southern Brooks’ model is go work in a neighbourhood until they are no longer needed. They define their work in Bradley Stoke as successful because no one knows that they were there. Southern Brooks now have over 50 staff. The Southern Brooks chief executive states, “Our work is not done in isolation, it is wider than community development. If you just have a community development worker that isn’t part of a bigger infrastructure organisation it won’t be as effective”.
