Community facility opens for
Hill Rise neighbourhood

A fledgling community centre is now in place in the Hill Rise area of Chippenham - the result of two years' community consultation and a lot of hard work by all involved in turning an idea into a reality.

Westlea Housing gained planning permission from the former North Wiltshire District Council several months ago to put a large portacabin (known as 'the Pod') on Barrow Green for one year to act as a base for community activities.

"This is something that's been talked about for a long time," says Katie Scaife, Westlea Housing's Neighbourhood Worker for the area. "So it's great that to see it finally open!

"I guess the idea came from young people in the local area telling us that there was nowhere for them to go – they could only hang out in the street which wasn’t great given the usual British weather and wasn't always appreciated by other, older, residents."

Working with the local street-based youth workers (co-funded by Westlea and Wiltshire Council), the young people consulted with other residents to see how they felt about having a community building on the Green and found that there was support for the idea.

"Residents understood that there was a lack of things for young people to do and also talked about other things a community space could be used for - like coffee mornings and parent and toddler groups," says Katie.

"And we at Westlea realised that the Pod could help us provide residents with better access to services by providing somewhere in the community where we could hold drop-in sessions and advice surgeries.

"It took a while to research the options and get a planning application together, but the young people were patient and now can see the result!"

The Pod is a flexible, adaptable space and features a main room, an office, kitchen area and toilet.

Already the Pod is now a base for nine local agencies as an outreach/satellite office/workspace. The street based youth workers are running a group for young people on Monday nights and the RISE Trust run another evening drop-in on alternate Wednesdays. Coffee mornings are held on Saturdays. Key Westlea staff run weekly ‘surgery’ hours in the Pod and Knightstone Housing, which made a generous contribution to the Pod, also has a monthly surgery there.

In addition to granting permission to put the Pod in place, the Council also agreed to a standing licence for the use of the Green for Pod activities which means that it will be easy to run spontaneous outdoor activities centred at the Pod in the future.

"Residents are involved in deciding what goes into the Pod, what the Pod is used for, and how the Pod is used," says Katie Scaife. "Local residents are the Pod’s cleaners and the new Pod Planning Committee is made up of residents of all ages."

Westlea says that if the Hill Rise Pod proves a lively, growing community facility, they will work together with residents, the Council, and other partner agencies to consider how best to make the Pod a permanent community asset.

For more information contact Katie Scaife at Westlea on 01249 466015 or email katie.scaife@westlea.co.uk