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The following are extracts from the 1999 Annual Report - they show the wide range of activities now undertaken by the Heeley Development Trust as a direct result of its having been set up to enable the implementation of the idea of developing a local park. The aim of the
Development Trust is to create an organisation that
has the capacity to obtain funding to develop and
manage local regeneration projects linked to the
ability to directly involve the local community in
its activities; key objectives: Promote
community safety This year has
been a period of major expansion for the Trust in
which we doubled our turnover to over £l/2
million and have greatly expanded our staff team.
The Trust also moved into new offices in
Heeley. Excitingly we
completed on time the largest capital core phase of
the Millennium Park. Additionally we
have developed a range of activities including work
with young people, development work in the Lower
Arbourthorne area, the Hartley Street Project, the
New Heeley Voice newsletter, a local Management
Board Community Chest and
more.............. The support
that the Trust has received from member
organisations and the many local community
volunteers has been essential to the Trust's work
this year. It has also been good to see the
membership of the Trust partnership expanding this
year. In the future
the Trust's total budget will significantly fall as
the large capital phase of the park has been
completed. The Trust is in the process of carrying
out a review of its priorities, looking towards the
longer term. Clare Burnell Our
group has gained access to funding, information and
technology, project management skills and liaison
with other groups.
Peter Holland - Heeley Community Action
Group I
feel that the Trust has clearly set down its
objectives and is presently achieving them. The
Millennium Park has given hope to the residents and
businesses of Heeley that an improved environment
is possible.
Adrian Ponsford - Ponsford Furnishings The
Trust has achieved an impressive amount, it has
been good to feel like part of an exciting
development with the local community and our
students have gained from their
involvement.
Ian Cockburn - Head teacher, Newfield Secondary
School The
HDT has been successful from almost every
perspective. Most funding authorities and statutory
bodies appear to have recognised it as a
professional and well represented voluntary
establishment. In short it has managed to deliver
effectively what it is supposed to do i.e. help the
local community at grass roots level. Our
organisation has benefited in terms of funding
advice from the Trust.
Tariq Lone - Makki Mosque This year Phase
1 and Phase 2, the major new sections of the park
have been completed. The park now covers 2.5
hectares and includes a children's playground,
Sheffield's first outdoor climbing boulder, quiet
'corners'' and substantial areas of planting, both
ornamental and 'native'. Local people have
continued to play an important part both in the
major work and in the numerous smaller projects
such as the planting of 1OOOs of bulbs and
trees. Feedback from
local people: 'It's
brilliant' 'Now
we have somewhere for the kids to play'. 'The
park is being heavily used by lots of people of all
ages'. Funding for the
park has come from SRB Round 2; European Regional
Development Fund; English Partnerships; Sheffield
City Council's Transport Policy Unit (for the Cycle
way). Planning and
preparation for Phase 3 is well under way with 2
strong groups of local people taking the lead. We
will be setting up a Grounds Maintenance,
training/trading company to undertake both the
maintenance of all the park sites and outside
contracts which will be used to finance the future
maintenance of the park. The Heeley
Youth Participation worker started work in May
1998. In the subsequent ten months the worker has:
The team (one
sessional worker) has delivered detached youth work
across the area. This has resulted in lively
discussions and explorations of their views about
their neighbourhoods, football matches, and groups
organising events for themselves. Feedback from
the young people included: 'You're
the only people that really listen to our
thoughts'. The two main
pieces of work that came out of this were:
A piece of
Social Action group work with the Young Committed
Footballers of Arbourthorne. This group have
campaigned, arranged meetings and negotiated with
the council to get their football pitch
reconditioned. Comment by the
YCFA: 'The
hardest thing we have done was to get the attention
of the people who met and trying to get them to
talk to us and not just Hettie and Craig. Getting
people to attend our meeting instead of just a few
people turning up'. A group were
interested in doing some drama work, which we
facilitated. They attended 12 workshops exploring
and devising a story about a fifteen-year-old girl
who goes missing from Heeley. This has now been
written up into a play. The SRB Priority 2 Youth
Theme and European ERDF Priority 5 money funded
this work. This project
has targeted resources at a clearly identified area
- Olive Grove & Lower Arbourthorne. With
funding from SRB and European ERDF a Development
Worker has been employed. He has: Future plans
include developing a partnership between parents
and staff at Anns Grove School to tackle the
environmental problems associated with an inner
city school and lack of facilities (Learning
Through Landscapes). The majority of
available statistics for Heeley and the surrounding
areas are based on the 1991 census information.
Current up to date information is not readily
available but is often requested from funders in
some form. The Heeley Profile was developed to
address this problem. Building on the '91 census
information and drawing data from a variety of
sources, the Profile has up to date statistical
information on a variety of subjects: population,
unemployment figures, housing, children & young
people, education, crime, etc., for the Heeley
area. The Profile is a constantly moving target
currently in its 4th draft. Copies are available
from the Trust. The Community
Chest was even more successful in its 2nd year. 47
projects received grants to a total of £19,802
across the Norfolk Park Sheaf Valley area. (All SRB
funding). A total of 68 projects applied to the
fund. Projects supported used their grants for a
wide variety of schemes including: computer
training, buying library & resource books,
refurbishing spaces for community use, team
building, tutors and part time workers, workshops
and feasibility studies. The grants panel continued
to prioritise & target funding to new groups
with little or no funding. This year's fund had an
element of support built in for the 3 forums across
the area. This mainly provided training, training
equipment and workshops for local
people. The close of
the financial year saw the Hartley St. Project up
and running and open for business after a
successful launch event in February. The Project
received SRB and English Partnerships funding for
refurbishment and SRB & small Trust funds for
the furnishings. Hartley St. offers a large
meeting/training room for up to 40 people and a
rent-a-desk facility for up to 5 local groups with
kitchen facility and disabled access and toilets.
Regular users include the Cottontales Co-op,
Sheffield Educare, Heeley Family Literacy Project,
Heeley City Farm and the Community Composting
Network. The project is managed by he Trust with
the help & support of the existing User
Group. Funded by SRB,
NLCB & ERDF. Already a well-supported and much
awaited publication, the Voice has proved to be a
mine of information for local residents and
community groups. The response to each issue grows
and suggestions and articles arrive regularly at
the Trust Office. The small business directory on
the back of each issue has been valuable in
attracting new contacts for the businesses who
advertise, getting local firms more jobs in the
immediate area. The Voice regularly carries
features on Trust projects, what's on at the Farm
and other Heeley venues and often has a competition
to keep everyone guessing. The New Heeley Voice is
distributed to around 4500 local homes and
businesses free of charge. The Trust has
employed Gary Hunt as River Sheaf Development
Worker. So far this project has involved the
following: Networking -
making contact with individuals, groups, Local
Authority officers and businesses to assess what is
happening with regard to environmental regeneration
and with whom partnerships could be
formed. Establishing
the 'state of play' with regard to the river
walkway, i.e. the present planning and transport
issues within the valley that could present
opportunities to create new sections. Developing an
awareness raising process, starting with a
newsletter to be released partly through the New
Heeley Voice and cleanup events one of which was
held at Cutler's Walk. Developing the
Neighbourhood Environmental Projects scheme jointly
with Sharrow Community Forum to encourage the
community to come forward with their ideas and
implement their own environmental audits. This
proposal is now complete. Writing and
submitting a bid for ERDF Objective 2 Priority 5.17
funding for post to continue until Dec
2001. Unusually the
Trust managed to secure a direct allocation of
Priority 5 funding for the Heeley area of
£725,111. The Trust partnership is not the
accountable body for this funding but does have a
role to monitor how the funding is spent in the
area. The Trust has
done early development work this year on the Sheaf
Valley Development Framework - a more strategic
view of regeneration and economic development
opportunities across the Sheaf Valley. Additionally
work has been done to develop an asset base for the
Trust; an allocation of funding has been secured
for the Enterprise Centre Project, which will
provide office and training space and refurbish the
listed chapel on Hartley Street. The Trust has
recently obtained funding for a "Local People into
Jobs" worker. The Trust is a
charity and company limited by guarantee; it elects
directors annually from its membership, which is
made up of representatives from local
organisations. It has six meetings a year plus the
AGM and an annual strategic review setting
session. Charity
objectives The Trust has
been established for the public benefit within the
area of Heeley and Lowfield in Sheffield with the
following objectives: Anns
Grove Primary School Barrels
and Bottles, Oak Street Christchurch Cllr
Tessa Hainey Cllr
Steve Ayris Cottontale
Co-op H
Ponsford Limited Heeley
Advice Centre Heeley
City Farm Heeley
Community Action Group Heeley
Credit Union Heeley
Young Children's Centre Langton
and Sons Ltd Lowfields
Primary School Makki
Jamia Mosque Newfield
Secondary School Open
Performance Centre Roshni Sheffield
Academic Press Sheffield
Environmental Training Sheffield
Youth Service South
Yorkshire Police The
Heeley Health Project Tillotson
Tenants and Residents
Association |
Annual
report 1999
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report 1999
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report 1999
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report 1999
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report 1999
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report 1999
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report 1999
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Prepared by STEP on behalf of DTA - Yorkshire and Humberside Region |
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**Heeley
Millennium Park