South Westminster Renewal Partnership

Below is a brief description of one of our recent contracts;

The South Westminster Renewal Partnership’s (SWRP) work focuses on reducing disadvantage in south Westminster. It works across four and a half wards to target pockets of deprivation.

The SWRP, brings together the statutory, voluntary and business sectors to work together locally to improve services and opportunities.

Newmanfrancis have carried out a number of commissions for SWRP, the first of which was a large scale community survey. Undertaken jointly with the community involvement team we had set up at West Ham and Plaistow, we designed the survey and recruited and trained a local team of residents as community researchers. Face to face interviews were conducted and residents also had the option to return surveys by post. The results, once analysed, fed into the review of the Neighbourhood Renewal Plan.

The community researchers recruited to carry out the survey were invited to attend a workshop to enable them consider what they had personally achieved; recognise their important contribution; and allow them the chance to comment on the survey findings. They were awarded certificates to recognise the skills and knowledge they had developed. Participants identified that they had;

• improved their communication skills
• improved their understanding of the local area
• learnt how to work as a team; and
• improved their confidence in speaking publicly in groups

Newmanfrancis also devised and facilitated a Forward Strategy and Partners Day for SWRP. The first provided an opportunity for the SWRP steering group to review its activities to consider it future priorities, aims and objectives. The Partners Day brought together a range of statutory, voluntary, community and private sector organisations working in South Westminster to consider the community survey findings and draft the revised Neighbourhood Renewal Plan.