Your Newham
London Borough of Newham

Background

Newham, in east London, is the most ethnically diverse area in Britain. More than 110 languages are spoken among the 244,000 residents and the borough is one of only two in the UK where the white population is in the minority. 

The rich diversity of cultures is one of the borough's greatest assets. However, like other inner-city areas, Newham suffers from high levels of poverty, crime, unemployment and health problems, making it one of the three most deprived areas in England. 

Now the council and its partners are actively encouraging residents to have their say on how the area should be improved and backing this up with £30m of Neighbourhood Renewal funding to be spent on new schemes between 2001 and 2004. 

To distribute the funding effectively, a Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) has been set up. This is an independent body, including representatives from the police, health trusts, the council, business and community groups. The aim is to identify unmet needs so suitable projects can be established. 

The LSP's campaign to encourage local people to have their say has been branded 'Your Newham' to emphasise the huge scope that the community can play in allocating money, as well as the aim of making Newham a desirable place to live by 2010.   

Objectives

	To raise the profile of the Your Newham campaign within the local community; particularly among young people aged under 25
	To initiate and encourage consultation with local residents, business and community groups, empowering them to have their say and giving them a leading role in identifying priorities and allocating funds
	To gather opinion and feedback on service performance and regeneration proposals, especially among 'hard to reach' groups where age, language or culture may be a barrier
	To raise awareness that the LSP is changing the approach to service delivery from paternalistic and fragmented to joined-up delivery drawing on community knowledge and needs
	To demonstrate to Government how effective and far reaching Newham's LSP has been

Implementation

The two-person communications team behind Your Newham, working under the auspices of the Council, faced a daunting challenge in raising public awareness from zero, and then maintaining a momentum. 

Events and schemes included:

	Your Newham free community convention, at West Ham football stadium, February 2002. This attracted more than 12,000 local people and included interactive displays (people were able to vote on priorities), workshops and entertainment. The event launched a major consultation programme to help decide how money should be spent in the borough. A wealth of information was gained
	Your Newham: The Next Big Thing, held at West Ham FC, November 2002. Despite heavy rain more than 10,000 people attended and LSP work was showcased using computers and multimedia. Singing star Ms Dynamite and TV newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy hosted a Question Time style forum. The event's aim was to appeal to young people - 90% of attendees were aged 25 or under
	A mobile exhibition trailer, packed with Your Newham information, toured the borough visiting housing estates and established grass roots consultation, especially among 'hard to reach' groups. Free merchandise, branded Your Newham, was distributed including yo-yos, pens and baseball caps
	Publishing a range of community forum newsletters. The borough is split into ten areas, or community forums, which each produce their own and fully independent quarterly newsletter. The aim is to encourage discussion and invite comments
	Special postcards used at events and trailer days, giving local people a simple method of feedback
	Regular articles, information and inserts in The Newham Magazine, published by the council, going free to all 110,000 households
	Ready translation of information into one of 20 languages, with more on demand
	Development of www.yournewham.com website. This will be relaunched later this year, offering borough information along with online feedback forms

Evaluation and measurement

The Your Newham campaign has been a success. Through the events, meetings and tours the campaign has reached all 110,000 households and businesses in the borough as well as actively engaging more than 25,000 people, nearly 1/10 of the population. One event alone attracted more than 9,000 young people in the target age group of 16-24, a socalled 'hard to reach' group.

Independent research has shown awareness of the Your Newham campaign is increasing in line with expectations. Recent surveys showed 31% knew about The Next Big Thing event and 70% of those who attended the event said they would go to another one. Some 40% said they had heard of the Community Forums, more than 97,000 people.

As a result of the consultation, 134 LSP projects have been set up, ranging from £28,000 for high street computer kiosks to nearly £3 million for youth facilities. The Your Newham campaign was crucial in getting feedback from residents on where the money should be spent to ensure funds were not wasted.

While the campaign has been supported by local media, the overall aim was not to produce newspaper column inches but establish a firm bond with borough citizens. It was by this yardstick that the communications team has gauged its success, i.e. through outcomes not outputs.

This case study is drawn from the Local Government category of the CIPR Excellence Awards 2003.