Over the next year, community innovators in ten places across the country, will receive Footwork’s support to realise bold ambitions for positive change in their neighbourhoods.
We’re delighted to announce the ten innovators joining Footwork’s People and Place programme in 2025. These groups and individuals represent a growing movement of ambitious community leaders, galvanised by a shared determination to bring about locally-led neighbourhood transformation.
The People and Place 2025 community innovators, image by Footwork
In responding to a local challenge or social injustice, each innovator has become a community developer to help achieve their aim. This might mean taking on local assets such as land or vacant buildings for community benefit; it might be tackling barriers around how local people use or own facilities, resources, land and buildings, to unlock lasting positive change for people and place.
The projects we describe here are helping to transform every type of place, from town and city centres, to sprawling suburbs, from the leafy green home counties to the brownfield sites in ex-industrial heartlands. They demonstrate both a widespread need and inventive ideas for how local people can revitalise places, interact with each other and have a sense of ownership. For example, in Whitleigh, Plymouth they are building social housing on under-used sites; in Stretford, Greater Manchester they are ensuring that local residents can influence development plans; in Brent Cross, London they are saving a historic Farmhouse for community-use.
In the coming year, we look forward to convening and journeying with these inspiring individuals and groups to help tell their story, to identify and overcome challenges and, crucially, to know their own power. Together we’ll be:
Creating time and the space to take a breath
Connecting with peer mentors with a wealth of shared experiences
Strategising to build a strong foothold in the work
growing roots for successful partnerships
caring for each other and taking joy in time together
connecting into a wider network of community asset leaders across the country.
Here’s to another year of inspiring community-led neighbourhood transformation!
Simon
Transforming Stretford's town centre through community-centred development
We wanted to create a mechanism to allow independent businesses and community organisations to have a collective voice and an active input into the development that's happening in Stretford Town Centre.” Simon Borkin
James, Marie and Ethan
Stewarding land for community use in Sheffield
“We want to demonstrate that good community development is not just aspirational, but locally feasible, empowering and scalable.” Sheffield CLT
Alan and Neil
West Marsh Community Led Housing
“Our team aim is to become over time an ethical landlord, bringing empty homes back into use for local families. To involve, wherever possible, local people with required skills to potentially gain employment or training from being involved in the renovation of the houses. And ensuring that these long time empty properties become loved and valued homes” Neil Barber
Pippa
Build Up Whitleigh
“It’s about more than just houses. The project is about housing and the social rights of people, regardless of their social economic position, to have housing that is fit for the future.” Pippa St John Cooper
Krissie and Len
Standing up for the Social Value of London's Small Businesses
“Our project tackles the root cause of this historic inequality by taking three arches in Haggerston into community ownership for permanently affordable rent. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle in addressing gentrification that kills off accessible jobs, apprenticeships, well-being and connection.” Krissie Nicholson
Amahra
Hood Ventures
“There isn't a challenge of our time that isn't somehow fundamentally tied to land, whether it's what we do with land, whether it's how we treat it, or constitute it or chop it down, everything comes back to the relationship to land.” Amahra Spence
Alex
Bicester Social Impact & Community Hub
“What if we move from a mindset of deficit, to abundance where we curate compounding cultures of care, collectively supporting one another to build thriving and healthy communities?” Alex Lui
Paulette
Saving Clitterhouse Farm and beyond
“Our aim is to take on the whole Farm site which would enable us to support dozens of local people to, bring their ideas into action, incubate dozens of businesses, save and restore a heritage asset, improve local bio diversity and strengthen the local economy.” Paulette Singer
Leslie and Dhelia
Granville’s community: management that works for all
“We're trying to raise community awareness and get excitement about, how the community could run The Granville and what could go into it” Leslie Barson
Angela and Gill
Community wealth building, returning assets and land to community stewardship
“We are building a more connected community where people can take more control of the local place and the local assets.” Angela Fell
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