Residents of Birmingham’s first eco village are proving ‘people power’ can transform neighbourhoods after the area was overhauled thanks to a regeneration project.
Summerfield Residents’ Association has launched a new website, www.oursummerfield.info, and residents’ charter to celebrate the improvements to Summerfield, in Ladywood, and the achievements made there over the last six years.
Residents worked with Ladywood neighbourhood manager, Clinton Simmons, and Family Housing Association to secure funding from Be Birmingham’s ‘Building Strong Successful Neighbourhoods’ to develop the community website and charter, and hold a community launch event on January 22 in Summerfield.
The residents association, which is made up of people living in Summerfield Crescent, Link Road and Gillott Road, decided to develop the website and charter to show how Summerfield has been improved, provide useful information about services and facilities, and show what a great place it now is to live.
Chris Vaughan, secretary of the Summerfield Residents Association, explained: “Summerfield is now somewhere people choose to live and there is a lot going for it. We have worked together to make it like this.
“Six years ago there were serious problems with anti-social behaviour, there were high numbers of flats and bed-sits in large converted houses, and there was a high resident turnover with many people only staying a short time in the area. This meant that there was not a sense of community and the large houses were expensive to heat.”
Summerfield residents have worked with Family Housing Association, Birmingham City Council, Urban Living and Be Birmingham to address problems in the area, build community spirit and encourage residents to stay living in the area.
The agencies carried out extensive work to the frontages of properties to improve the look of the area, and installed energy-saving and eco technologies, such as solar panels and energy-efficient boilers into households on a low income who found it difficult to afford to heat their homes.
Following this work Family Housing was able to create a six-month part-time paid role for a Summerfield project worker thanks to the Working Neighbourhood-funded Intermediate Labour Market programme, which aims to get unemployed people back into work.
Family Housing resident Alice O’Driscoll, who lives in Summerfield, was appointed as the project worker to deliver the Summerfield community website and charter project by working with residents and partners.
Alice said: “This project has proved to be a truly valuable experience. Being the Summerfield project worker has shown me what a wealth of warm, interesting and skilled people live in our neighbourhood and why Summerfield is a great place to live.
“Working with The Chamberlain Forum and thanks to funding through Be Birmingham’s Building Strong Successful Neighbourhoods fund we have been able to help the residents create the website and charter, which I hope develops into a valuable local resource and is used by as many people as possible.”
For more information visit www.oursummerfield.info