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Home > What
do we do? > Community Development
 The
community is supported through grants, networking and
development work which focuses on ideas that express
community aspiration and create a more balanced community
by bridging the gap between wealth and poverty, and
by engaging our communities in the ownership and successful
management of the area’s assets as well as in
new development.
We are in the fifth year of our SRB4 (Single Regeneration
Budget) programme and the third year of our SRB6 programme.
We have invested a great deal of time in bringing the
SRB6 Partnership together, helping it start to function
effectively by establishing an integrated approach.
We are currently bringing forward the major projects
for approval. The SRB6 programme provides significant
resources to back projects that will help implement
the regeneration strategy of the Leaside area.
A large part of our work centres around strengthening
the local economy by supporting the growth and consolidation
of local competitive businesses and ensuring Leaside’s
share in London’s strong or emerging economic sectors.
We have built a powerful network of local agencies,
and our community strategy is “joined up”
in some very practical ways. For example, we have put
significant funding into community access infrastructure,
such as the Ideas Store, development of green spaces
for the local community and many more. We are ensuring
that local residents are stakeholders in the improving
area by promoting an entrepreneurial culture and backing
local people who can lead changes in the locality such
as business leaders, skilled workers or civic leaders.
This will result in the creation of socially-owned cultural
and economic assets.
Leaside Regeneration has been a key partner in driving
forward and improving the area’s neighbourhoods
by supporting neighbourhood management initiatives.
These initiatives help strengthen neighbourhoods and
develop integration into the wider area by breaking
down physical barriers and also challenging social perceptions
of isolation. We strengthen the networks through which
local people engage with the wider economic and cultural
life of the community.
Leaside Regeneration has a number of ways of communicating
its work to partners, the community and wider audiences:
- Quarterly Newsletters circulated to every household
in Poplar
- Regular community consultation events engaging local
people to influence regeneration in their communities
- Launch events raising the profile of key sites and
projects in the Leaside area
- Involvement of individuals from the local community
at every stage of our work, whether this is through
involvement at Board or committee level or in perusal
panels of local neighbourhood partnerships
- Executive membership of the Poplar Area Neighbourhood
(PAN) Partnership
An essential element of the SRB programmes and some
of the ERDF revenue funding is to enable local residents
and community groups to access funding. Through the
Company’s Community Development Team local residents
and community groups are given support to gain access
to funding. Whether people want advice on getting their
ideas for a community-based project off the ground,
need help filling in grant application forms, or would
like to know about other possible sources of funding,
the Community Development Team is available to give
hands on support, guidance and training.
Leaside Regeneration Ltd is responsible for managing
two Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) Programmes.
- The first is SRB round 4 entitled Leaside, to the
value of £7.8 million, and this programme is
now in its fifth year. The vision of the SRB4 Programme
has been to redress permanently the balance of London’s
economy towards the east. This creates the opportunity
for the local population to benefit fully from the
area’s emergence as a major commercial centre,
situated within a pleasant environment where dynamic
and sustainable businesses provide a wide range of
accessible employment that fully encompasses the needs
of an increasingly skilled and competitive local workforce.
- The second is SRB round 6, entitled Communities
in Business, for the value of £20.7 million.
The vision of the SRB6 Programme is that the residents
of Poplar and Leaside as a whole will experience a
transformation in the quality of their lives and in
the lives of their communities during the coming decade.
By close of the decade, the area will have become
home to a spectrum of attractive and vibrant residential
and business communities that contribute to and draw
strength from a thriving east London economy.
Leaside Regeneration has also been extremely successful
in raising large amounts of both capital and revenue
funding from the European Regional Development Fund
(ERDF) and Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF).
A core principle of the Company is to develop ideas
in partnership with the key agencies within the Leaside
area, from across the public, private and voluntary
and community sectors. This establishes an integrated
approach and ensures the successful delivery of projects.
We have in-house experience of drafting and submitting
bids for and managing large programmes of public funding.
Leaside Regeneration works closely with Partnership
Boards, local authorities and agencies such as the London
Development Agency (LDA) and Government Office for London
(GOL) and can assist project managers in meeting monitoring
and appraisal requirements in order to maintain funding
and successfully complete projects.
 Enterprising
Initiatives - Support and training for community groups
and organisations
Being
Economically Active Project
Urban
Design for Local People: A workshop
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