Case studies

Barking and Dagenham’s music education hub acts as a strategic broker, joining up council services and local providers to deliver opportunities for young people and schools.

Pedalling Culture will see the city’s cultural venues and spaces better connected to its 280 miles of cycling and walking routes.

Derbyshire County Council uses ‘creative mentoring’ to support looked after children who are struggling to engage in education.

Calderdale Council works with a range of partners to support cultural activity such as festivals and events, delivering pride in place to local communities and attracting visitors to its market towns.

The creative economy in Thanet, Kent, has grown significantly over recent years thanks to a concerted effort by Thanet District Council and its partners.

Broxbourne Borough Council runs its own sports provision through the Broxbourne Sport service. Over the last 10 years the service has gone from an operating loss to a trading budget surplus, which is used to improve the facilities and increase participation. This has already saved more than £700,000 from the council’s capital programme budget.

Wirral Council runs its own sport and leisure provision and has an ambition for the service to be selfsufficient by 2020. Ahead of that, investment is underway to improve the facilities, increase participation, improve the health of local people and generate greater income from the sports facilities.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council provides its sport, play and arts service and its leisure service inhouse. Other models have been considered and trialled in the past, such as outsourcing, but the services demonstrate high levels of success under the in-house mechanism.

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.

Three Rivers District Council has an in-house leisure development team and contracts out the management of its leisure venues. The team works with a range of partners to meet strategic targets around increasing the health and wellbeing of local people, including those with additional needs, mental health issues and vulnerable young people.