The Neighbourhood Taskforce concept is a new model developed by the Young Foundation for tackling entrenched local-level conflict in areas where community capacity is low and where public services have difficulty engaging residents and neighbourhood groups.

Neighbourhood Taskforces was piloted in two communities in London, the Chestnut Estate in Haringey, North London and Limehouse, part of Tower Hamlets in East London.

In both cases the Taskforce brought together public authorities, community groups and residents to develop a plan to tackle a specific neighbourhood problem that had previously caused tension in the area.

The Taskforces were time-limited and aimed to develop a realistic action plan with commitment from the stakeholders involved. They were designed to tackle the identified issue, as well as increase community engagement in partnership activity with public agencies.

Limehouse

Limehouse, part of Tower Hamlets in East London, has experienced a huge transformation over the past fifteen years since the development of nearby Canary Wharf. This has lead to many changes in the types of property and businesses that have since been built in the area. Like other parts of East London, Limehouse has an extremely diverse population in terms of the age of its residents, their ethnic background and levels of prosperity. The local authority, through consultation with the local community has identified employment opportunities for local young people as one of its top priorities.

The Limehouse Neighbourhood Taskforce has now met three times and has collectively decided to organise a community art project linked to the annual Narrow Street Fete. It has also decided to find local resident volunteers to spend an evening in the local youth centre, joining in with the activities already happening or sharing a skill of their own with local young people.

Haringey

The Tottenham High road in Haringey has been identified as one of the government Growth Areas which will mean a huge influx of investment and development over the coming years. The Haringey Taskforce will initially examine issues around what community facilities exist already, who uses them and what the implications of future development might be.

In Haringey the Neighbourhood Taskforce has met for the three times and has decided to concentrate its efforts on children, young people and families.

Where did the idea come from

The Young Foundation has developed this model drawing on the experience of practical work with 15 local authorities as part of the Transforming Neighbourhoods programme. The Taskforce has been devised as a solution to tackling service delivery problems and improving community engagement in neighbourhoods where there are entrenched problems and limited community capacity.

To help us develop our knowledge of group facilitation techniques we have prepared two short papers looking at group mediation and decision-making techniques. We also organised a lunchtime seminar to discuss Consensus Decision Making. To read about the seminar and to download these papers click here.

Report Launch

Our Neighbourhood Taskforces Report was launched on the 23rd October at the National Association of Neighbourhood Management Conference in Nottingham. You can download a copy here.