Monday, 28th April 2008, Coin Street Community Centre

Building forms of stewardship that encourage participation in new developments – what is known about good practice and research?


The primary case study we examined during our seminar was Walker Riverside, an ongoing regeneration project in the Walker district of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We were joined by Peter Aviston from Places for People, which is both developing housing on the site and also working with other project partners to consult the existing community. Peter explained more about how residents in the area have been included in the project’s decision-making processes and how the partners have worked together to develop plans for increasing social infrastructure provision locally as part of the development of the ‘Heart of Walker’

We were then joined by Maureen Worby, from East Thames Potential, part of the East Thames Group, a social housing provider in East London. Maureen was able to explain East Thames’ approach to sustainability of new developments, and the importance they place on considering and incorporating these concerns into each stage of their planning and developing process.

The seminar was attended by a diverse group of practitioners from English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation, IDeA, CIH, various local authorities, housing developers and third sector organisations. Collectively we discussed issues around participation and though these discussions were diverse some common themes that emerged were:

• The importance of providing sustainable social infrastructure from the start of a development
• The importance of understanding the future community and its needs
• The need to build in spare capacity so that as resdients arrive and communities evolve, communities facilities can adapt to their changing needs
• The need to avoid a new town becoming stigmatised

You can download the framing paper which was sent to the members of the audience before the event here. You can also view the presentations from the day below:

1. The Young Foundation's introductory presentation
2. Peter Avistion's presentation
3. Maureen Worby's presentation