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Case Studies Appendix 3: The Bambury 1.0 Introduction The Bambury Regeneration Centre comprises 15,000 ft sq of new build community facility which is situated in Camlachie at the heart of Glasgow 's East End . It is the result of several years dedicated effort by local people to create a multipurpose community facility. It has its roots in both a strong tenants group and a local housing association. It is clearly a result of a passionate and well thought out campaign to match a needs based proposal with key partners' resources and funds. The Bambury was constructed at a cost of £1.9. million and became operational in March 2001. Capital Funds for the project were secured from the following sources.
2. Local Context and Demand Analysis Camlachie is a high density tenemental housing estate situated at the heart of Glasgow 's east end which includes 15% of the worse enumeration districts in Scotland . It is an area of multi-deprivation and disadvantage which experiences a “cocktail” of poverty related factors including unemployment/long term unemployment, child poverty, benefit dependency, low educational attainment and poverty related health problems. Many families experience problems which are directly related to drug and/or alcohol abuse. Underlining these factors are indictors such as; nearly 90% of all households are in receipt of income support and nearly 90% of primary school children receive clothing and footwear grants and free school meals. Communities Scotland (formerly Scottish Homes) is committed to a rolling programme of funding for the physical regeneration of Camlachie. This programme is managed by West of Scotland Housing Co-operative and involves a phased demolition of existing housing stock and replacement with new build houses and flats. The programme, which is currently underway and scheduled for completion at 2006 will create 400 new dwellings and an element of private sector housing. Acting on the premise that housing alone cannot create sustainable communities the Bambury was created to progress social and economic regeneration in Camlachie and its immediate surroundings areas. The Bambury is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status and is owned and by managed by the community via a board of Directors. The board comprise nominated representatives from local community and voluntary sector projects. Other organisations represented on the board include East End Partnership, Glasgow City Council and local churches. 3. The First Year The Bambury opened to the community in March 2001 and in the first year of operations it has been successful in raising the capacity of the community through the development and delivery of a wide range of initiatives. Outcomes in relation to specified targets in our first year of operations are extremely encouraging: In many instances actual outcomes outstripped targets in the period April 2001- March 2002. A total of 39,202 people accessed the services/initiatives provided by the Bambury in this period. This equates to 168 people accessing its services on a daily basis. Successful outcomes include:
Other significant developments in the first year of operation include the development of an East End Internet Broadcasting Project, the Bambury Music Maker Project and the re-inforcing of partnerships with external organisations. The Bambury has also been approved as an official Learning Centre by the Scottish University for Industry. 4. Vision The vision is the creation of a busy welcoming environment, which provides for social interaction and community capacity building. The Bambury aims to improve the quality of life for local people of all ages through the continued development and implementation of social and economic initiatives in line with local priorities and opportunities. The vision recognises that in defining local priorities and opportunities the Bambury must take account of the external environment in which it operates and recognise the requirement for partnership working involving local people, local projects/groups and external organisations agencies. The mission is to be the mechanism for the social and economic regeneration of Camlachie and its surrounding areas. The Bambury will work with individuals, local projects/groups external organisations/agencies and the private sector to identify local needs, draw up plans of action to secure appropriate resources, evaluate the effectiveness of service provision and strive to improve services in line with the needs and priorities of local people. 5. Guiding Principles The Bambury will fit its services to the needs of local people, and not local people to the service. It will seek to build the capacity of the local community by fostering the concepts of empowerment and independence, assisting local people to plan and act for themselves, and not by planning and acting for them. It will continually monitor service provision, evaluate the effectives of services and implement improved approaches where required. 6. The Future The Bambury is developing a business/sustainability plan to set specific targets for the period 2002-2006. It defines activities, projected outputs and performance targets. The following narrative is based on that plan and it is hoped that the message reflects the enthusiasm and commitment of all those who participate in making the Bambury a success. It is important to note that this plan will not viewed as just a document, but also as a working tool to enable the Board of Directors to oversee progress and also to enable managers to maximise resources to achieve specific objectives. This plan takes into account the external environment that the Bambury operates in and seeks to link the operational plans with East End Social Inclusion Partnership's prioritised vision for sustainable neighbourhoods throughout the east end of Glasgow. It also recognises the continuous process of evaluation and consequent development and improvement that is central to its methods and future sustainability. The methodology employed in the development of this forward plan involved:
7. Strategic Aims and Objectives The Bambury's strategic aims and objectives take account of the external environment in which we operate and the requirements to work within the strategic objectives and operational plans for the East End Social Inclusion Partnership.
Strategic Fit : The strategic aims and objectives of the Bambury will contribute towards the implementation of the Camlachie Community Regeneration Strategy, the strategic objectives and operational plans of the East End Social Inclusion Partnership and relevant regional and national strategies. They will specifically contribute to the following:
8. Risk Assessment An overarching objective of this business plan is to move the Bambury project (which is highly dependent on public funds) to a sustainable social economy (third sector) organisation. Although the Bambury will always require an element of public funding to support ‘core functions and core costs the Directors are aware of the requirements to seek to operate the project as a business. The Bambury will strive to minimise reliance on grant/public funding with the aim of achieving a level of 70% self sufficiently by the year 2004 through the development of income generating initiatives. Every potential opportunity will be fully explored, including.
The Bambury Directors are aware that the Bambury will require to continue to access public funds/grants to enable the achievement of our strategic aims and objectives. To this end the Bambury will continue to liase with existing funders for the purpose of securing continuation funding as follows: East End Social inclusion Partnership additional 15k per annum in the period 2002/05. Communities Scotland : Continued funding beyond agreed expiry date at 2004. European Regional Development Fund: Additional 3 year funding package at reduction in existing level of funding. Current funding package secured until 2004. The Bambury will also continue to access public funds and grants through the development of new services/programmes and seek to build on our successful track record in accessing funds from charitable trusts. Other potential risks to future development and sustainability include: Usage: The Bambury's future success is inextricability linked to community participation and usage. Achievements of targets and adherence to funders specified criteria. Innovation: The Bambury is widely recognised as an example of good practice in the field of Social and economic regeneration. It is critical to the future success of the Bambury that we continue to ‘put' innovation at the forefront of future developments. Staff & volunteer development – The Bambury recognises that its most valuable resources are its human resources. To this end of the Bambury will aim to maximise the potential of its staff members and volunteers through a commitment to people development in line with its strategic aims and objectives and operational plans. The Bambury will continue to develop and implement comprehensive monitoring and evaluation frameworks for the purpose of assessing all aspects of its project on an ongoing basis. 9. Marketing The Bambury will play central role in promoting a positive image of Camlachie and its residents. It will at all times portray a positive image of Camlachie and will focus on the removal of any stigma that is attached to the community. The general tenet of the Bambury's approach to improving the image of the community will focus on the development, delivery and promotion of local services, programmes and initiatives. The priorities adopted to achieve this aim include: Capacity building initiatives and training and employment programmes which will represent the main focus of attention in the promotion of a positive image of the community. Community participation and empowerment will be actively encouraged and supported to enable local people to engage in the local policy and decision - making process. There will be a strong emphasis on the provision of quality services with particular emphasis on customer care, equal opportunities and the adoption of a strong client focus. The Bambury's staff members will have clear defined role as specified in job descriptions and company polices developed in line with the strategic aims and objectives of the Bambury, the Camlachie Regeneration Strategy and the wider aims of the East End Social Inclusion Partnership. The Bambury directors will ensure that their aspirations for its clients are positive and realistic and that this concept is portrayed to all partners. The Bambury will seek to promote its services both within and outwith the community through every means available to it. It will continue to develop and progress its web page information touch screens and the East End Broadcasting Project. All of its services and activities will continue to be fully promoted through the use of posters, flyers and the local press. Dissemination of information is the key to maximising usage of the Bambury and it is therefore critical that we continually review our marketing strategy and implement amendments/improvements as required. The Bambury website can be accessed through www.thebambury.org 10. Management and Personnel The Bambury is a company limited by guarantee and is owned and managed by the local community through the Bambury Board of Directors which comprises representation from the following community based projects/groups:
The Economic Development Manager who is directly responsible to the Board of Directors manages the Bambury project on a day-to- day basis. The Centre Manager is responsible for the line management of operational staff and the Finance Officer also assumes line managements duties. The Economic Development Manager, Centre Manager and Finance Officer make up the Bambury's senior management team. Senior Staff roles and responsibilities are as follows: Economic Development Manager
The Economic Development Manager is responsible to the board of Directors. Centre Manager.
The Centre Manager is responsible to the Economic Development Manager. The Finance Officer - Responsible for control of company finances and administration. The Finance Officer is responsible to the Economic Development Manager. 11. Performance Measures The Bambury has set targets to measure our performance for the purpose of ensuring a clear focus for staff, volunteers, service users, key partners and funders. Targets and indicators are in place to act as yardsticks through which the Bambury can monitor to effectiveness of all of the services, programmes and initiatives which we deliver. The Bambury will be required to compete for scarce public resources and for continued support from charitable trusts and the private sector. For this reason it is critical that we continually analyse and evaluate our performance and seek to learn from good practice elsewhere. The Bambury is currently widely recognised as an example of good of practice in the field of social and economic regeneration .We must continue to be innovative and forward thinking in our approach to future developments if we are to continue to access the resources required to progress our strategic aims and objectives The targets for the Bambury reflect key elements of our funders specified criteria together with the monitoring framework for East End Social Inclusion Partnership and will include the following categories:
12. Finance The Bambury will continue to be highly dependent on grant funding in the period 2002-2006. It is, however, critical that the Bambury Directors recognise the requirements to maximise opportunities for income generation, including:
The Bambury Directors are currently aware of the requirement to work towards self sufficiency and will at all times seek to operate as a business, they are also aware of the need to be realistic. It is highly unlikely that the Bambury will ever achieve 100% self sufficiently (via generated income) and a more realistic target is to achieve a level of 60% self sufficiently by the end of the year 2006. The specified shortfall in finance (40% of total core/operational costs) will be categorised under the heading of “opportunity cost” whereby the Bambury will demonstrate to potential funders (public & charitable trusts) that the programmes/initiatives that we provide have made a significant impact in the lives of local people. This would ”in real terms” represent a significant saving in public monies; for example, the Bambury assisted 30/40 local people into full time employment and/or assisted in preventing 10/20 young people from becoming addicted to drugs. An important element of any project is financial control. The Bambury will continue to generate a considerable amount of public money and it is critical to the future sustainability of the project that all monies are accounted for. The Bambury has been subject to a number of financial audits and its funders are confident that it has robust and transparent financial systems in place. The Bambury will continue to develop and upgrade its finance systems to meet criteria as specified by funders and auditors. 13. Equal Opportunities The Bambury is an equal opportunities employer and will support and promote equal opportunity in all its activities:
Appendix 2 – Gorbals Initiative income and expenditure |
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