Aims, Plan & How We Work
WEM’s vision has evolved over seven years. For our new Action Plan, we have revised and tightened up our previous work to help us focus on what we are going to deliver. Building on four previous themes we have now added education and together this follows a template that identifies the building blocks of a community based work.
West End Morecambe Big Local’s Vision
WEM’s vision is to be a catalyst for positive change in the West End.
- Community: the heart of what we do, how we work together.
- Health: a foundation to help people thrive.
- Economy: helping and encouraging enterprise
- Education: growing through new skills and learning.
- Place: improving our physical neighbourhood.
This is the basis for our Action Plan, the work we do, and the legacy we will leave.
Underscoring this vision our organisation is also emphasising five key priorities so that learn from previous years’ work and ensure we can successfully meet our obligations to Big Local. This being the shared vision for the West End and our goals being specific to what we can and should achieve.
Priorities
- Setting specific commissioned projects, that work strategically for the West End, the majority of which have significant detail, but some offered further time to evolve.
- To expand on trusted relationships with larger partners to deliver work and draw in matched funding / support.
- We are going to avoid getting bogged down in grant giving and the micro politics which has dogged previous activity.
- Recognising our delayed spending and confidently making it up to fully commit all spend within the programme.
- To develop a solid legacy based on credible options
The work set out in the 2022 – 2025 plan reflects this vision and priorities and the WEM partnership is sure of its ability to now deliver the objectives it sets out and catch-up in terms of spend. We know that some Big Local partnerships committed all their funding in the first few years and then managed the activity. WEM will provide a counter to that approach by making our larger commitments in the latter stages of the programme. We will use the themes as a framework to help shape the activities we do or give support to. Our focus is to work with residents within the West End, but we will also link with and work with groups, organisations and agencies in Morecambe along and the region if their activity benefits the West End.
Our Organisation and How We Work
West End Morecambe Big Local (WEM) is a community partnership and has a committee led by local residents who volunteer their time freely. We are an independent partnership and not part of the Council, housing associations or any political or religious organisation.
We currently have some part-time staff to support day to day activity, but part of the Big Local project means we also contract a locally trusted organisation to help with the technical and legal side of delivering our activities as well as administer the funding we distribute. Our current locally trusted organisation (LTO) is Lancaster District Community and Voluntary Services. West End Morecambe Big Local also has support and oversight from the national Big Local programme which links back through a Big Local representative who attends our meetings.
West End Morecambe Big Local fundamentally relies on residents who volunteer, and that affects the way we work. Sometimes it is through learning as we progress, but it also means we sometimes work at a slower pace than organisations that have lots of full-time staff and paid managers.
Big Local is a part of LOCAL TRUST, a national programme set up to support residents in 150 local areas around England to use at least £1 Million each, over ten years, to make a lasting and positive difference to their communities. Big Local brings aims to bring together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make their area an even better place to live.
Big Local is funded by the Big Lottery Community Fund and managed by Local Trust. Nationally they work with a range of partners to deliver Big Local, building on the skills and experiences of others to provide expert advice and support for residents.
Big Local outcomes
- Communities will be better able to identify local needs and act in response to them.
- People will have increased skills and confidence so that they continue to identify and respond to needs in the future.
- The community will make a difference to the needs it prioritises.
- People will feel that their area is an even better place to live.
The Big Local helps with guidance but the programme is not about residents being told what to do by councils, the government or a national organisation. It’s also not about individual groups and organisations funding their own pet projects or doing things without talking to a wide range of different people who live and work in the community. With ten years or more to deliver things, the Big Local is also not about short-term thinking. It’s about planning and delivering the best options for each area that may be sustainable and will last.
You can find out more about the national Big Local programme as well as all the other community partnerships across England at localtrust.org.uk/our-work/big-local
Some other coastal Big Local groups
- Barrow Island
- Distington
- North East Hastings
- North Cleethorpes
