Changemakers: Investing in people and local organisations in East Finchley

East Finchley in north London is an area with both deprivation and wealth. Grange Big Local is working in a small pocket of the area to bring the community together. From reclaiming neglected spaces to funding local organisations so they can expand, residents are deciding where just over £1million of funding is going. Here, James Masters, chair of Grange Big Local, shares how collaborative efforts are shaping the community’s future.

James’ story

East Finchley is a lovely part of north London. It’s a tale of two cities – or two towns. The Tube station and the high street are prosperous and we’re just a short walk from Bishops Avenue, which is nicknamed ‘billionaires’ row’.

But if you keep walking down the high street, there’s a deprived area that’s been overlooked for a long time. This contains social housing and what’s called the Grange Estate. It’s the area covered by Grange Big Local and has 6,500 people living there.

There is a mix of private and social housing in the area. One of the pinch points I see is where couples are paying £1,600 a month in rent while working and commuting into central London, yet struggling to make ends meet.

These people are affected by the cost-of-living crisis and landlords increasing rent prices. The other issue is that there’s a lot of densely populated social housing which has been neglected for decades.

Creating community cohesion

The purpose of Grange Big Local was to encourage residents to bond together. We wanted people to start talking about what their little part of the world really needed and to instil a sense of civic pride.

I first heard about Grange Big Local when I was contacted by a volunteer in 2017, a year after it was formed. She was organising a community festival called the Fun Palace. It was an inclusive free event, with lots of activities for the whole community. The volunteer knew I was in the music business, so I pulled a few favours, and we had a marquee with four hours of live music. Incredibly, we had 700 people there.

After that, I was invited to join the Grange Big Local partnership. I was completely new to community work; I didn’t have any experience. But I came with enthusiasm and capability and to my surprise, I was voted in as chair at the next AGM.

My background is as a business planning manager for a large global business, but I’ve always been into music. When I left the business world, I formed a successful record label. Now I have a merchandise business. So, I bring that entrepreneurial and business mind to make sure that we spend the funds in the best way possible and in the way our community wants.

We’re providing people with the resources they need to take their own ideas forward and be changemakers themselves.”

Growing local organisations

Some of the successes of Grange Big Local are the organisations that we’ve invested in which are making a positive impact in the community, and then going onto bigger and better things.

For example, we funded a social enterprise, called Bread n Butter, to do community cookery classes to combat social isolation and depression. Now they’re one of the preferred partners for Barnet Council.

We’ve also been a key funder of Art Against Knives, a charity preventing youth violence through creativity. Young people co-create arts and music projects to boost their skills and training. It’s these things that give Grange Big Local a legacy. We’re providing people with the resources they need to take their own ideas forward and be changemakers themselves.

One of the projects we’re really proud of is Barnwood N2, a community forest. Barnwood started life as a boarded-up piece of scrubland on the Grange Estate. When we got access to it, we got tonnes of rubbish out. Through hard graft, it’s been turned into a wonderful oasis that is run entirely by volunteers for the benefit of the community.

Barnwood provides a safe, green haven for those who don’t have access to nature in their everyday lives. There are many events happening there. Everything from commemorative bulb planting to teaching people woodwork and a nature club for the over 55s. They’re growing all sorts of fruit and there’s an abundance of wildlife. Everyone who walks by starts smiling.

If you invest in people a little, it uplifts them and you save money later in life as people are healthier, and it alleviates poverty.”

One of the constant themes of all our consultations with residents is that there’s nowhere in the area for children to play. Just outside the Grange Big Local area is Market Place Playground. We helped local parents to form a group and supported them with funding to improve the space. They’ve now become an organisation called Friends of Market Place Playground and have planning permission to completely redesign it.

We’ll hopefully have a spade in the ground later this year. It won’t be finished by the end of Grange Big Local, but it’s another strand to the legacy of what we’re trying to achieve.

Uplifting the community

We’ve also been working on plans to renovate an unsafe and poorly lit underpass beneath the Northern line. It’s the only walkway between two sides of the Grange Big Local area. From day one, we’ve been trying to encourage the council to improve it, be less risk averse and work with us to co-produce something transformational.

We set up a petition and got over 500 signatures to show we had community support. But the problem is there are so many different agencies involved. We’ve been to the council committee three times and were awarded money or resource, but we still haven’t seen it. We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re determined to improve the underpass in some capacity.

We’ve also been working with the think tank Autonomy and Northumbria University on a proposal for a trial of universal basic income. The concept is that people receive a set salary, no matter their income, to use as they wish.

You could start a second business or take a day off if you’re working all hours trying to keep a roof over your head. There’s so much evidence that if you invest in people a little, it uplifts them and you save money later in life as people are healthier, and it alleviates poverty.

East Finchley is one of a few Big Local areas exploring this. We’re all working towards getting the funding needed to get started. If we can secure financial backing, the pilot will explore the benefits of this much-needed initiative.

A legacy for the future

I’ve also been part of the Community Leadership Academy, where people from different Big Local areas came together for mentoring sessions and workshops on leadership and motivating and influencing people.

It’s helped my relationship with senior people in the council. I always hold them to account, but now I know I can express that I have the will of the community and provide the evidence and data that we’re doing what residents want.

At the academy, I was with people in a similar position, so they could understand the trials and tribulations I’ve been through. I have a support network of other people that have walked a mile in my shoes and recognise the reality on the ground.

We’ve turned that original funding into a lot more experience, skills and ambition within the community.”

Now, a number of us who have been involved in Big Local have formed Amazing Communities Together, to enhance and build on all the work that’s happened with Local Trust on the programme. We’re trying to be that organisation that can help facilitate and grow the support that Big Local started.

Grange Big Local has around £300,000 left of the £1million we were awarded. There are lots of constraints in London beyond our control. But I don’t think we’ve added a million pounds to the area – I think we’ve added several million.

We’ve turned that original funding into a lot more experience, skills and ambition within the community. I want that to keep accelerating and multiplying for years to come.

Interview by Elspeth Massey.

Discover more inspiring stories in the changemakers series on our Voices page. You can also read more about James’ experience with the Community Leadership Academy in a previous interview.