Community advice

Neighbourhood management is about improving quality of life for people at neighbourhood level.  Government funded the establishment of the Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder Programme in 2001 split into two rounds.  In Round 1 there were 20 Pathfinders created across the UK with a further 15 being created in Round 2.  Hawkinge is a Round 2 Pathfinder.

Pathfinders

Areas selected as Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders are those characterised by deprivation, where communities are at risk of decline and where performance in terms of meeting Government targets is below the national average.  Second round Pathfinders, of which Hawkinge is one, receive up to £350,000 from Central Government each year to support their work.  This is subject to annual approval, and, progress and contributions to national floor targets are closely monitored over the seven years of the initiative.

What is Neighbourhood Management?

Neighbourhood Management is about improving quality of life for people at neighbourhood level.  It delivers neighbourhood renewal by improving local public services, building local residents’ capacity and raising the profile of local priorities.  It tackles problems at local level that are of most concern to local residents.
Neighbourhood Management is a new way that communities can work with local agencies to improve and join-up services.  It is fundamentally about delivering services more effectively and requires Pathfinders to work with public service providers and others to develop a joint local focus and to identify opportunities to mainstream successful changes within service delivery.
The whole purpose in working together is to ensure that services appropriately meet the needs of local people.  It is essential therefore that local residents are able to shape service provision. This requires community engagement and capacity building, enabling local people to identify and articulate their needs. 

Background to Hawkinge

In 2003 Shepway District Council was successful in gaining approval from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Hawkinge to be recognised as one of the 35 Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders operating nationwide.  A shadow Board and Neighbourhood Management Team was formed consisting of residents, service providers, District, County and Parish Councillors in March 2004. 
Following a period of widespread consultation and research the Partnership wrote its first Delivery Plan in October 2004 detailing the direction of the Partnership’s work which was followed by a delivery plan for 2006 - 2007.  In 2006 the Partnership Board agreed it would be an appropriate time to put in place a five year strategy for Hawkinge to plan for the future and to use as a tool to gain greater support from partners.  The Strategy for Hawkinge 2007 - 2012 sits alongside the Partnership’s annual Action Plan 2007 - 2008 which gives more detail around the projects to be undertaken in that year.

Why Hawkinge?

Hawkinge was selected as a Pathfinder as it shares many of the characteristics of other areas of disadvantage.  In 2000, the Indices of Multiple Deprivation ranked the ward of Hawkinge and Paddlesworth as the 1414th most deprived ward in England, making Hawkinge within the top 20% most deprived wards in England.

What makes Hawkinge unique to other Pathfinder areas is the extent of growth and development over the past ten years.  Between 1991 and 2011 the Shepway District Local Plan, allocated a number of housing sites in Hawkinge in order to cater for the majority of the district’s housing allocation.  Since 1991 over 1,400 houses have been completed and this growth has placed a strain on the capacity and resources of service providers in catering for the needs of the local population.  It is inevitable that pressure on services will increase as further development is scheduled in the coming years. Growth will eventually equate to the area increasing threefold over a twenty year period and the integration of ‘old’ and ‘new’ Hawkinge is one of the key challenges of neighbourhood management in this area.

As well as there being obvious physical differences, residents living within various parts of the village experience vastly differing standards of living. This is especially true in considering parts of the newly developed areas.  These are built to a high standard and are highly sought after, in comparison to some of the more established areas.

What do we do?

The Pathfinder brings opportunities to address priority issues for Hawkinge, narrowing the gap of social inequality and improving community cohesion.  To oversee the development and delivery of the Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder the Hawkinge Partnership was created, and under its guidance and direction seeks to:

• assist residents shaping services to meet their needs
• enhance public service provision to improve deliverylocally
• create sustainable improvements
• join up service provision at neighbourhood level
• provide opportunities for mainstreaming new, piloted projects

Who are we?

The partners and the residents ARE the Hawkinge Partnership.  The majority of representation on the Hawkinge Partnership Board is residents who work with the service providers and together with the Neighbourhood Management Team make up the Hawkinge Partnership.

The Hawkinge Partnership, as in all Pathfinder areas, is about change management, focusing on the improvement of public services through changes in mainstream delivery and working with residents to meet their needs. 

The Neighbourhood Management Team

The team gathers information which helps to identify gaps in service provision in Hawkinge and provides an understanding of how public services can be improved.  By drawing on this information they are able to support residents in putting forward their views and help them to work with providers to make improvements to public services.  By bringing together residents and service providers, initiatives are developed to address priority needs as identified by local people, these are agreed by the Board and detailed in the annual action plan.  It is also the team’s responsibility to work with partners to monitor progress to ensure services address these as required.

How Are We Funded?

Funding to support the work of the Pathfinder comes from Central Government and since 2006 comes via Kent County Council as part of the Kent Local Area Agreement.  As a result the work of the Pathfinder will be measured in terms of its contribution to Local Area Agreement Outcomes, this is reflected in the five year strategy.  To find out more information about our funding please click here.

Contacts

For further information please contact:

Barbara Bradley (Neighbourhood Manager) on 01303 858663 or email barbara@hawkingepartnership.org.uk

Jenny Hanna (Deputy Neighbourhood Manager) on 01303 858663 or email jenny@hawkingepartnership.org.uk

Or you can visit our website at www.hawkingepartnership.org.uk