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Community Powered Neighbourhoods
- Social Homes 4 Manchester
- Mar 17
- 6 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Over 70 residents, community leaders, council officers and public provider stakeholders attended the amazing #CommunityPoweredNeighbourhoods event on 17 March 2026 cocreated by Wythenshawe Central Network, Social Homes for Manchester (SH4M) and the We’re Right Here campaign as part of this years’ #GMLiveWellFestival.
It was an absolutely brilliant day full of excitement, hope, innovative ideas and grassroots solidarity!
We were welcomed by John Hopkins Co-Chair of Wythenshawe Central Network who explained our objectives: to bring community-led projects and initiatives together with communities across Manchester and GM – and especially new Pride in Place areas – to share learning, build relationships, and explore potential ideas for their own local areas, including through the launch of two reports:
We’re Right Here’s Blueprint for Community Powered Neighbourhood Governance; and
Manchester Social Housing Commission’s Alternative Models for Social Rent
Andrea Lowman, Director of Development at Wythenshawe Community Housing Group and Commissioner welcomed us to Wythenshawe and shared WCHG’s commitment to supporting community-led innovations in the area.
Anoushka Deighton then told us all about the We’re Right Here campaign calling for new rights and powers that would change where power lies in English planning including the Community Right to Buy and a new approach called a Community Covenant. Anoushka told the story of how she had worked together with other local residents and community leaders to take ownership over Stretford Public Hall and how their next steps are to draw up a Community Covenant with Trafford Council.
She handed over to the inspiring team at Market Drayton Community Covenant who are the first pilot of this approach. We heard from Melanie France, Public Health Principle, at Shropshire Council; Judith James, Parish Councillor, Moreton Saye Parish; and Iana Jacobson, Chair of the Ukranian Community Hub. Three representatives of the Market Drayton and Rural Parishes Community Covenant which has now been operating for 18 months with over 17 member organisations. “This is an authentic, power-sharing group working collaboratively with Shropshire Council and the local community to make decisions that are decided by us, for us!”
This is a pilot project testing the model of Community Covenants and Neighbourhood Governance funded by Power to Change. A Community Covenant is basically a power-sharing agreement between the local council and a network of local community groups and representatives and you can read the Market Drayton Community Covenant here.
We also heard from Dave Baxter at Wigan and Leigh Community Charity who told us all about his experience of working to bring five villages together in a former coal mining community to create Abram Communities Together Neighbourhood Plan. This is a mechanism for the local community to make their own plan for their area that becomes enacted as a legal policy instrument within the wider national and local planning framework and sets out the parameters for what kinds of developments can take place. Dave explained that it is a long challenging journey requiring several battles with the council, extensive community consultation, and lots of support from planning policy experts but has resulted in the community having their own local policies for their neighbourhood in Abram Ward.
Many participants were excited to learn from East Marsh United who had set up their own Community Land Trust and taken ownership of some houses that had fallen into disrepair in an area of Grimsby known locally at the time as “Murder Mile”. Together, local community activists had brought the community together to mobilise around climate resilience (the area is actually marshland) and to demonstrate how to be an ethical landlord amidst so much poor quality private rented sector and run down social housing. Find out more about East Marsh United here.
We also heard all about Our Sale West; Middleton Cooperating; and about Community Land Trusts and Community Led Housing from Rachel Summerscales at GM Community Led Homes and the SH4M Steering Group; and Tom Chance, CEO of the National CLT Network and Commissioner for the Manchester Social Housing Commission who launched the Alternative Models report setting out how Manchester City Council can create a more enabling environment for Community Led Development.
Community land trusts – or CLTs – are democratic, non profit organisations that own and develop land for the benefit of the community. They typically provide affordable homes, community gardens, civic buildings, pubs, shops, shared workspace, energy schemes and conservation landscapes.
The network highlights how CLTs are:
Run by ordinary people: They are community organisations run by ordinary people who want to make a difference to their local community, putting control of assets into the hands of local people. They can be set up by the community or a landowner, developer or council.
Protect community assets forever: They ensure that their homes are permanently and genuinely affordable. CLTs act as long-term stewards of land and the assets on it. They ensure that it is put to the benefit of the local community, not just for now but for every future occupier.
And a worldwide movement: Started by black leaders in the civil rights movement and others in the peace movement in the USA, CLTs are now a worldwide movement. In both urban and rural areas, CLTs are a key part of the future of land, affordable housing and community facilities.
Information is power
After everyone’s five minute elevator pitches we moved into a marketplace event where residents from different communities including Benchill Pride in Place area were able to network with all these brilliant initiatives and take away learning for their own local community.
The reflections and feedback at the end of the day were overwhelming and there was a sense of new beginnings in the air.
Janice, from Tone and Trim community gym, said:
“I’ve lived in Wythenshawe all my life … I work with young people from aged 3 to working with people from 80, 90 plus. I believe in my area I’m very proud to be from Wythenshawe and Benchill… I’m really proud also to be part of the Dandelion who have supported me to run my own project and I’m also proud of the people where we live because we’ve had to struggle round here to get this (Pride in Place) so I hope this becomes a reality, because it sounds really good. My passion is for the young people, give them what they need, and let us as we get older take the lead and show them the way. And hopefully with support from some of you guys, we can get more information and ideas behind our passion and our vision for our area. I’m really pleased I came today because I didn’t know about half the stuff that was being created already so that’s made me excited”
Joe and Tom had travelled across from Trafford to get ideas for their newly formed coalition Social Homes for Trafford.
Joe said:
“Today’s event has been absolutely brilliant because its an opportunity to network with other people working towards the same goals as us”
Tom said:
“It’s also been really useful to hear from people who are further into their journey because it’s quite early days for us and we’ve been able to go away with new ideas”
Rev Kate Gray from the United Reform Church said:
“In my little group we found out about Pride in Place. We hadn’t heard about what that really means and how that connects with other areas like Abbey Hey and Gorton so we got out the maps and talked about that and made a plan for this weekend to share that with our faith community….And then I really loved hearing about the project East Marsh United and the specific things about housing, being an ethical landlord and also about Community Covenants and Neighbourhood Plans. I loved the reality of it: it took ages! It’s really helpful to hear that. Its gritty, its long-term work. So, ok, “sticking power”.’
There was a consensus that this event was just the beginning and plans are already afoot for:
a joint trip by groups from Middleton, Miles Platting, and Wythenshawe to travel over to East Marsh United
a community-led Pride in Place networking event for all five Manchester areas
and a GM gathering of grassroots-led initiatives focused on innovative means for ensuring community control over neighbourhood planning, housing, land use and community assets.
Please sign up to the Community Savers mailing list and to the Social Homes for Manchester mailing list or email contactus@class-uk.com for more information.
