Community Assemblies return for a second year with £100,000 allocated for each of Newham’s eight Community Neighbourhoods.
This month sees the return of Newham’s ground-breaking Community Assemblies, which allow local people to directly influence spending in their local area.
Newham has eight Community Neighbourhoods and each has been allocated £100,000 funding by the Council to spend on improving the local area.
Each Community Neighbourhood has a working group which consists of local people who live, work or learn in the area. Together with councillors and council officers they review local priorities and support community projects to meet local needs. .
Newham Council is encouraging locals to register to join the new cycle of Assemblies which begin on May 11 – with new money to spend in the Neighbourhoods over the next year.
Those who join the Assemblies will have a chance to:
- Discuss the local priorities for each Community Neighbourhood, which were identified by residents in the previous cycle
- Highlight and find solutions to local problems
- Connect with neighbours and share knowledge
- Developing proposals for community-led projects to address the local prioritiesFind out what’s happening in the local area
- Give direction on how funding available to each area is spent
- Apply for part of the funding to bring community projects to life
Newham’s network of Community Assemblies forms the largest participatory budgeting programme in the country and gives people who share a local space the chance to directly influence how money for improvement is spent.
Newham wants anyone interested in taking part in an Assembly to register now - to help make Neighbourhoods a better place to live.
The dates for the eight Community Assemblies are:
- Beckton and Royal Docks – May 11
- Forest Gate – May 12
- Custom House and Canning Town – May 16
- Stratford – May 17
- East Ham – May 18
- Manor Park – May 19
- Plaistow – May 23
- Green Street – May 24
For more details on how to register to attend (in person or virtually), together with times, and venues – visit https://newhamco-create.co.uk/en/folders/assemblies-2022
Last year projects included:
Forest Gate and Maryland Neighbourhood – Ashok’s Vision
Ashok’s Vision is a group which runs workshops every Saturday at Woodgrange market to support young people to learn about the importance of green spaces and teaches them how create a cleaner and greener borough where everyone has access to nature, clean air and pleasant spaces to rest, relax and enjoy.
Stratford and West Ham - Love E15 anti-flytipping project
A group of 84 households came together for this project, aimed at improving the well-being of the residents by improving the local environment andreducing fly-tipping. Residents identified the worst fly-tipping areas on Holbrook Road, Bull Road, Morley Road and Corporation Street, and created planters and a beautiful mural, to encourage pride and community spirit in the neighbourhood.
East Ham - Grow Together Be Together
This project aims to improve a well-used eco-friendly Community Garden in East Ham. It runs weekly garden maintenance workshops for people moving on from homelessness. The Grow Together Be Together Community Garden team have been teaching a diverse team of local volunteers about growing healthy fruit and veg during the free open-to-all workshops on Friday and Saturday mornings
