Case studies

Showtown worked with youth organisation HeadStart and professional comedians to deliver Open Up the Mic, a 12-week course supporting young people aged 10-15 to develop their resilience, performance skills and confidence.

This case study provides an overview of the West of England and its cultural and creative economy, and the role of the West of England Cultural Compact in this context. It also summarises the new West of England Cultural Plan, including reference to some early initiatives.

Local Cultural Education Partnerships (LCEPs) are an England-wide network of change partnerships. In the North East, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums drives the LCEP network in its remit as an Arts Council England Bridge organisation.

As a result of the pandemic and the financial difficulties being experienced by many, the government provided local authorities with grants to distribute to those most in need. Buckinghamshire Council set up a Helping Hand service to help administer the funds, working with partners in the voluntary and community sector to reach those really struggling.

Storms Desmond and Eva in late December 2015 led to record river levels in many river catchments, 453 properties and 174 businesses flooded in York. The Environment Agency and City of York Council were successful in attracting funding to renew existing and provide new flood defences. The York Five Year Plan was developed and detailed business cases and designs for schemes in 19 flood cells across the city have been delivered. An adaptive approach to flood resilience has been developed, work programmes to develop increased flood storage and the incentivised delivery of natural flood risk management measures have commenced.

Ealing Council in West London are creating the conditions to develop a mass community cycling culture in Southall, by tackling the core underlying barriers to cycling and putting residents at the heart of any change. The Sport England funded project involves the giveaway of up to 2,500 bikes to residents, a wraparound training offer, friends to cycle with, daily led cycle rides for all abilities and a platform to create wider system and infrastructure development to sustain a new cycling culture.

Councils that have declared a Climate Emergency may struggle to fund the measures needed to cut emissions in their area. Warrington Borough Council has piloted the use of community municipal bonds, a fundraising tool for local authorities, to fund renewable energy projects. Community municipal bonds allow councils to raise money directly from residents. In Warrington, the money raised has been used for low-carbon infrastructure, to speed up carbon emissions reductions and increase resilience to the pandemic.

Gloucestershire County Council has taken a dynamic and innovative approach to recruitment and retention of social workers which has driven increased stability in the workforce to achieve better outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Like many areas, reaching and engaging middle aged men in suicide prevention activities is an important objective for the Champs Public Health Collaborative. The Collaborative commissioned Everton in the Community and Edge Hill University to conduct an evaluation of funded projects and a rapid evidence review of the effectiveness of these interventions. This case study was done jointly with the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and forms part of our suicide prevention resource.

Thurrock council used artificial intelligence technology and co-produced an interactive app with families and local professionals to support on breast and bottle feeding, immunisations, sleep, play, mental health, diet, and oral health.