Hawkinge Partnership Board

The Hawkinge Partnership Board, which ran from 2005 to 2009, has ended its role. The Board would like to acknowledge and thank everyone who has supported its work

The Board, which brought together local residents, councillors and representatives from services, like health,  was created after Shepway District Council made a successful bid for government funding for a pilot Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder programme. 

Since the Board was created, a wide range of projects and initiatives have been developed, including:

• An annual Community Chest grant – which supported 70 local projects over five years;
• An annual Community Fun Day – with an average of 2,000 people each year;
• A Community Office – offering services to local people;
• A Community IT Café facility;
• Raised flower beds in Canterbury Road and other improvements;
• 20 additional litter/dog mess bins installed around the village;
• A Hawkinge Neighbourhood Caretaker working in priority areas;
• Support for the Hawkinge Community Centre to become sustainable;
• Youth provision including youth workers and activities for young people over four years;
• Support for a number of Hawkinge Children’s Centre projects for young children and their families;
• A speech and language therapist for three years;
• Community Safety initiatives;

The Neighbourhood Management Team

The Hawkinge Partnership Board was supported by a team of Shepway District Council officers, known as the Neighbourhood Management Team.  The team gathered information to identify any gaps in the way services were provided in Hawkinge and provided an understanding of how public services could be improved. The team supported residents in putting forward their views and helped them to work with partners to develop projects. These project ideas were taken to the Board, agreed if appropriate and then put into action.  The team also monitored progress and worked with partners to evaluate each project.

What happens now?

Some Board members,including residents and councillors, will continue to support remaining projects which still have funding for 2009. These include the Hawkinge Youth Work Team, Hawkinge IT café, and NHS Speech and Language Therapist and the Kent Play Clubs Walking Bus.

Based on what was learned at Hawkinge, the Shepway Neighbourhood Management Team has now broadened its work. It has set up a similar partnership board in east Folkestone – called East Folkestone Together - and has brought local residents and community groups together to be involved in the new board’s work.

What is Neighbourhood Management

Neighbourhood Management is a way that communities can work with local agencies to improve services and make sure they are joined up.  It aims to:

• help residents shape services to meet their needs;
• enhance local public services
• create improvements that can be sustained
• join up local services
• provide opportunities for mainstreaming new, piloted projects.

A  neighbourhood management programme tackles problems at local level that are of most concern to local residents.

Its success depends on local people telling us what they want,being willing to get involved and being given a chance to play a part infinding solutions.

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