Getting There: Maddiston and Rumford

Activity report 2016-17
Published in Reports on 11 Sep 2017

Since the end of 2015, Maddiston Community Council, Iriss and a range of other partners have helped carry out a variety of local activities in Maddiston and Rumford. The aim of this work was to explore with local people how they feel about the area they live in, and work with them to make some real positive changes. This report outlines the work to date of the Getting There: Maddiston and Rumford project and presents some challenges that, when addressed, have been identified as benefitting people living in the local area.

Outputs from Getting There: Maddiston and Rumford project

  • Completion of a local enquiry that involved asking local residents about their experiences of living in Maddiston and Rumford. In total, 200 adults from the local area and 250 children from Maddiston Primary School participated by filling in a paper survey, submitting answers online and being filmed on video.
  • A Maddiston and Rumford Community Feast event brought together local people and organisations to celebrate, and share food and ideas around activities that would benefit the area.
  • Following a community vote at the Feast, five local projects have been given small amounts of money to spend on activities that were deemed to have a real positive impact on local people.
  • An asset map has been collated and hosted by Maddiston Community Council that captures the range of the local community assets (resources, places, activities and businesses) in the area.

Challenges

Having completed the enquiry process and activities outlined above we feel that, although outlining some extremely positive aspects of life in Maddiston and Rumford, there are still key issues that need to be addressed. Due to new housing being built in the area, the population of Maddiston and Rumford has more than doubled in the last 20 years. With more housing due to be built locally, this population will rise again and the local infrastructure, including local services and facilities, has not kept pace with this expansion. This has made the area feel fragmented across new/old/mixed housing areas. The project work has raised a number of concerns that directly relate to this issue. These include:

  • An absence of physical spaces to socialise and bring people together such as a pub, café or restaurant
  • No GP surgery or health clinic
  • No significant facilities for cultural or sporting activities
  • Insufficient spaces generally for young people
  • Local shops that, although appreciated and well used, are not able to provide for everyone’s needs.

The lack of this provision in the local area results in people needing to travel to access these services. Generally there is high car ownership in the area, but still 20% of the population have no access to a car, making them reliant on buses or taxis beyond any distances that they can walk.

The previous work of Maddiston Community Council and the work of this project has revealed that there is sufficient local will and community assets to make positive changes in the area. However, this potential is only able to go so far. To be able to fully access the potential assets of Maddiston and Rumford and help improve the lives of people living here, the underlying infrastructure and services issues outlined above need to be addressed by the local authority and other local organisations with the involvement of the community of Maddiston and Rumford.

What’s next?

  • We will follow and track the great work being done by the five projects funded on the back of the Feast event
  • We will promote the development and use of the new community asset map
  • The projects and community buy-in that this project has generated can only go so far. There needs to be a commitment by local authorities and other organisations to support the community, especially with regards to wider support and infrastructure issues such as local health services and transport.
  • Along with project partners, we want to spread the learning of this work beyond Maddiston and Rumford. We recognise that many of the issues and hopes raised here are by no means unique to this area.

We hope the activity outlined in this report and the positive work previously undertaken in the local area can contribute strongly towards achieving our aspirations of further developing Maddiston and Rumford into an even better place to live and work.