A service station with ethics - guest blog, part 2

"Gloucester Services has a bit of a ‘Robin Hood’ ethos to the takings where, up to 3p in every £ of non-fuel sales at Gloucester Services supports local communities through Gloucestershire Gateway Trust (GGT). We saw for ourselves the difference this is making. Our visit took us to four projects supported by GGT:

1. Play Gloucestershire (also supported by Sport England’s Potentials Fund), which is a local charity that transforms children’s lives using the power of outdoor play.
2. The Venture (in White City), where they have big plans to refurbish a well-used community hub and play area in to a whole lot of swinging, climbing, sliding, spinning and challenging activities and a whole world of social interaction for the community.
3. The Power of Three – Matson, Robinswood & White City Community Partnership where local people have developed a plan that gives them more say and influence over what happens in their communities.
4. Gateway Café and the Loop Project, that is providing a multitude of community services including an after-school homework club.

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Driving around the social housing estates of Matson, Robinswood and White City, you can feel and see the sense of pride and ownership in these communities. The streets are clean, there is no fly tipping, shops aren’t boarded up and the only thing hanging around on street corners are sheep!

So, what makes these communities continue to thrive both socially and economically (with very little additional investment)?  

Each community is different, as are local circumstances and environments. There are however, several approaches which have been tried and tested here in Gloucester, that could be replicated elsewhere, and that have made asset-based community development a success:   

• Good quality community engagement is key. This has to be honest, meaningful and lead to a plan of action that is relevant to and owned by the community. 
  
• Take the time to build trust within communities.
  
• It is easier to tackle issues/challenges by working collaboratively rather than competing for diminishing resources – we see this happen all the time at a hyper local level, especially amongst voluntary community groups / services. It really does make more sense to work collectively and support each other towards a common goal.
  
• Empower local people to provide leadership in their own communities and build their skills and confidence in community activism.
  
• Recognise the power of play. We need to move away from this notion that activity has to be structured and in formal settings – especially for our children and young people.
  
• Promote a positive reputation of our communities – the people living in these communities love it and this positive image should be well communicated. Always focusing on the negative can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy and low aspirations.
  
• Helping local people to help themselves and their communities. Support some form of dedicated local capacity – even if it is a short hour contract under 16 hours to encourage those on benefits in to employment. Investing in a local person and a local resource to activate within a community can make a sustainable difference.
  
• Support local small businesses to start up and grow in our communities.
  
• Have a cavalier approach to system thinking which is to “get on with it and apologise later”.  

Some valuable learning to be shared here and certainly lots for us to take away and think how we can apply this form of community development to our own local delivery work in Birmingham & Solihull (the team pictured right).
 
Thank You to Mark Gale & Jo White from the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust for hosting us for the day. I encourage you all to visit Gloucester Services and spend money, knowing you are doing your bit to support local community development."   ​