Council wins national community award

Rochdale’s award winning community champions have transformed lives.

Rochdale Borough Council’s Community Champions initiative has won a national award recognising how it has transformed people’s lives.

The programme is the first of its kind in the country and since being launched in 2010 it has helped residents from across the borough change their lives for the better.

The initiative was announced as the winner of the Local Government Chronicle’s Community Involvement Award at a ceremony in London last night (Wednesday 14 March). Other local authorities nominated for the award included Coventry, Liverpool, Newcastle and Cambridgeshire.

Chief Executive, Roger Ellis, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the Community Champions have got the recognition they deserve.

“This programme is all about people working with the Council and officers to help them support neighbours and members of their wider community who are most in need. It shows just what can be done if we work together and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved.”

The programme has involved the Council and its partners working with people from across the borough to develop new ways of supporting residents who are facing real challenges. As a result, there are now 185 Community Champions who have delivered more than 2,000 positive outcomes relating to wellbeing, families, skills and employment. They have included people moving from long-term sick into employment, others entering education, some learning to read and others simply being able to manage their family circumstances better and avoid family breakdowns.

Rochdale is the only local authority to have a project of this scale and its success has led to it being replicated across ten London boroughs and at least ten others in England including Oldham, Bolton, Salford, Wiltshire, Sheffield and Suffolk.

It has also attracted European attention and one of the Community Champions has been invited to share our model with colleagues from France, Italy, Denmark and Portugal.

Council Leader, Colin Lambert, said: “The programme has unleashed the expertise of residents. The community-based research generated a clear vision of what was wanted and needed - healthy, happy, thriving homes that people can be proud of. That has been achieved and as a result lives have been turned around. It’s fantastic that we’ve got this recognition for a programme that really is making a difference to people’s lives.”

The award judges were Ged Fitzgerald, chief executive of Liverpool City Council, Dame Moira Gibb, former chief executive of Camden LBC, Mary Harpley, chief executive, Hounslow LBC and Tim Grier, managing director, John Laing Integrated Services.