Plans to action

We asked the research team at the Community Development Foundation (CDF)
to explore how Big Local areas are delivering their plans. They conducted interviews
with five Big Local areas and six non-Big Local community groups at the
beginning of 2015, to understand how they each delivered projects to address
issues in their area.

Four different approaches to plan delivery were found in the Big Local
areas that took part in the research:

• Commissioning – Marsh and Micklefield in Buckinghamshire commissioned The Young Foundation to deliver interactive training workshops.
• Co-working – Heart of Pitsea in Essex worked with the local council to refurbish a playground.
• Co-creating – Bountagu in London developed a new community hub and Barrow Island in Cumbria has taken over the lease of a community sports facility.
• Bidding – Rudheath and Witton awarded funding to an outdoor learning adventure project for young people because they received a funding application from the project which met their plan priorities.

The research report also covers:

• the challenges and advantages of each delivery approach
• what is the same or different about Big Local partnerships and other resident-led community groups when turning an ‘idea’ into action
• what lessons have been learnt so far about how to effectively deliver plans.

The research has informed our latest programme guidance on delivering Big Local.