Case studies

Palmer Park library in East Reading supports a range of students, including learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities at nearby Reading College (run by Activate Learning) to gain, develop and improve customer service skills, offering a way of gaining skills in a real life environment, whilst ensuring that a public library service can still be sustainably provided.

As a High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ), Reading Borough Council was awarded a £85,000 grant from Historic England to create and deliver community-led cultural activities on the high street over the next three years.

Oxford City Council’s awardwinning sport and physical activity team works with a broad range of partners, including an external provider which operates the city’s sport and leisure facilities. Targeted programmes, projects and events are helping to increase participation among key community groups.

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.

Open House is a long-term creative collaboration between Kettle’s Yard art gallery and its neighbouring communities in North Cambridge. What initially started as an audience development programme resulted in broader impact developing pride, a sense of place, a reduction in social isolation and improved wellbeing.

Oldham Community Leisure was formed as an industrial and provident society in 2002. Its partnership with Oldham Council is successfully delivering on a range of community outcomes. The leisure trust delivers health interventions and services as well as running leisure centres and sports facilities.

On the 18th March, leisure facilities in Nottingham closed their doors. This left large numbers of staff in Nottingham unable to continue in their roles as pool attendants and gym instructors. It also meant that thousands of members could not visit services which were longer available and that buildings were suddenly empty.

In 2010 Northampton Borough Council carried out a business review of leisure services to ascertain the best way forward for the town.

The North Yorkshire authorities have submitted a live case study, capturing their work so far to bring together the culture, leisure and sport provisions and strategies of their eight authorities as part of local government reorganisation.

Since its set-up in 2000, the NewcastleGateshead Initiative has spearheaded strategic project delivery and marketing to visitors and investors, with cultural activity at the heart of this work.