CommUNITY Hub Doorstep Engagement

The value and meaning of community spaces in local neighbourhoods: pilot project

Members of SHUSU will be teaming up with a local third sector organisation in Salford to deliver a community research project hoping to develop understanding about the role of community spaces from a neighbourhood perspective. Eve Blezard, a researcher within the unit will be working with CommUNITY Little Hulton to support a community research project led by local residents.

CommUNITY Little Hulton was set up by local Little Hulton residents as a legacy organisation of Little Hulton Big Local with aims to sustain and develop the Youth Unity Youth Club, develop a permanent community hub within Peel Park Little Hulton and to continue to develop activities and services to enhance the community’s wellbeing.

The group became a charity in 2019 and initially began work on projects to develop Peel Park in Little Hulton, including a new bike track and developing the Pavilion building into a community hub for the area. However during the pandemic the organisations work needed to shift to providing support, food and essentials with the local community; work which now continues into the cost of living crisis.

However CommUNITY are still dreaming big and are moving closer to turning their dreams into reality by refurbishing and extending Peel Park Pavilion into a permanent community hub. You can learn more about their work and plans for the area in this short video:

Building on previous research that highlighted the importance of social and community places the University of Salford is now working with CommUNITY to deliver a co-research project with local residents. This pilot project will employ members of the local community on a living wage and will enable local residents to lead their own conversations about the role of community spaces. CommUNITY has a strong background in community research, engagement and empowerment and their work to date is informed by previous community research and consultation.

CommUNITY will recruit and employ a team of four community researchers on a living wage who will work for 10 hours a week for four weeks with a researcher from SHUSU. After some initial training and research workshops the team will deliver a doorstep outreach project in the local area surrounding the proposed site of the new community hub.

The team will use a doorstep questionnaire to engage with local residents to find out their views about what role they see the new hub having in the local community. It will also gather views and ideas about what activities local people would like to see in the hub.

The research team will then co-create a report of the findings to inform the potential development of Peel Park Pavilion. It is also hoped that this pilot project will form the basis of a larger community research project that tracks the journey of the community hub and its role in local community life.