At Community Gateway, we work closely with local organisations through the Prosper Partnership, launched by Lancashire Police to reduce anti-social behaviour (ASB) in our local areas.
As part of the partnership, we are working alongside the police to help rebuild communities facing ASB.
We know that proactively managed environments with clean and safe spaces create places that people feel good about, and last year, our Community Fund supported a project helping to improve gardens and greenspaces in areas of Fishwick and St Matthews.
The project was led by Green Space Transformations (GST), who were awarded part of our Community Fund to help communities reclaim their gardens and communal greenspaces.
Our Community Fund supports projects that have a positive impact on our local communities, improving them as places to live whilst encouraging tenant involvement. As part of GST's project, they were joined by a group of tenant volunteers who received greenspace and garden maintenance training and contributed to the transformation of seven overgrown gardens that tenants were struggling to manage.
The group were also joined by Billie, a tenant volunteer returning from the last project led by GST (read here) who took on the role of a mentor to the group.
Together, the team from Green Space Transformations and the tenant volunteers made a huge difference to several communities. Driven by the lasting impact of their efforts, the tenant volunteers involved shared:
"I'd like to use the skills I've learnt to improve my own community by cleaning up areas of the estate that are overgrown and unsightly".
"The reaction from tenants and the impact we had as a group was my favourite part of the experience".
After the transformations, James worked with the tenants whose gardens had previously been overgrown to create a maintenance plan, to ensure the garden is kept in good condition going forward.
Our Tenancy Management Teams will also continue to work with tenants to encourage them to keep the gardens at an acceptable level of condition.
This project demonstrates the impact of the Community Fund, empowering tenants to gain new skills and contribute to their communities. By investing in making our communities cleaner, greener and safer, we are creating communities our tenants are proud to live in.
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