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| About This Site |
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The information on this site is provided in good faith as guidance and stimulus to those involved in the Church’s strategy for new housing areas. No responsibility can be accepted for information which is inaccurate, and professional advice specific to particular places should be sought.
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| General context
Creating community is a key concern of the Christian tradition which has love at its heart. How that love is shared raises lots of questions in established communities, and they become al the more sharp on new housing estates where there is no existing community.
In addition, many of the people who move to new housing estates don’t want to create community in the traditional sense of geographical place. They may already have their community networks in the place of work, or at the leisure centre, and only see the house as a place to sleep. Houses are built for easy maintenance and usually have small, if any garden, leaving little opportunity even for the proverbial conversation over the garden fence.
Add to this context the fact that many professional people buying their house, are having children later in life. Both partners are out at work, earning to pay the mortgage. The resultant links between children and parents in the park and at the school gate are less likely than they were in previous generations.
A further factor on new housing estates which can militate against building community, is design. Apparently, Barrett’s do not build homes now with dining rooms for the family to eat together, preferring to use the space as a study. Footpaths take a definite second place to the road, and people are not often seen walking.
Many stories of large housing estates being built with no community facilities like public transport, shops, health, and school provision only encourage the local church to be in partnership with the planning authorities and other groups with shared interest to make community provision possible. |
| Future Communities website launched | 16th Mar '09 | On 10th March 2009 The Young Foundation and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) launched a new website – futurecommunities.net - aimed at everyone involved in building the successful sustainable communities of the future. Although aimed more at regeneration areas rather than isolated new housing building sites (where no existing communities exist), this resource can help all church groups think about creating community.
View full details ... |
| Sense of belonging | 16th Feb '09 | | Communities and Local Government (CLG) has published new Guidance on building a local sense of belonging. It’s aimed at councils, voluntary groups and other organisations, particularly local cohesion practitioners and will be particularly relevant where they are working in areas where building a sense of belonging is a key priority, or where it supports the delivering of improved community cohesion in other areas. See web site |
| Community Cohesion and Planning: CLG Guidance | 21st Jan '09 | | The Government department ‘CLG’ has published Guidance on meaningful interaction: How encouraging positive relationships between people can help build community cohesion. This guidance sets out what the Government knows about meaningful interaction, based on research findings and the views of expert practitioners. It’s also aimed at local cohesion practitioners and policy planners and includes some good practice. Feedback on whether this information is accurate is very welcome. See web site. |
| Sense of belonging | 21st Jan '09 | | Communities and Local Government (CLG) has published new Guidance on building a local sense of belonging. It’s aimed at councils, voluntary groups and other organisations, particularly local cohesion practitioners and will be particularly relevant where they are working in areas where building a sense of belonging is a key priority, or where it supports the delivering of improved community cohesion in other areas. See web site. |
| Creating Community : Community Audit | 20th Feb '07 | 106 Agreements can be a significant part of the process in creating community. However, initial questions also need to be asked about what the nature of community might be envisaged.
View full details ... |
| Creating Community : Education | 20th Feb '07 | Kathleen Wood is a member of the Co-ordinating Group for New Housing Areas. As Education Officer for the Methodist Church she offers the following.
View full details ... |
| Creating Community : Environment | 20th Feb '07 | | Material being provided |
| Creating Community : Health & Social Care | 20th Feb '07 | | Material to Follow |
| Creating Community : Leisure Provision | 20th Feb '07 | One of the ways in which many Christians engage with people in their community, is in the gym. Some church congregations even meet at the Leisure Centre. In areas of new housing, people are often move in and seek out the local fitness facility. One organization which encourages Christians to get fit and meet others is called Fit Lives.
View full details ... |
| Advice : County Ecumenical Officers | 12th Nov '06 | The County Ecumenical Officers (CEOs) are very useful as they work to build good networks and aim to provide information to all of the churches.
View full details ... |
| Advice : Churches Regional Network | 19th Feb '07 | At the Regional level, church representatives will be aware of the planning for new housing and the network of people involved. In some cases the Churches Regional Network representative is already involved in the planning discussion and will have made the regional church leaders aware of any consultations.
Rev. Mark Fisher of Churches Together in England is the contact person for the Regional Assembly church contact list. |
| Advice : Faithworks | 19th Feb '07 | | As a large network of Christian groups involved in community action, www.faithworks.info provide a useful resource, not least in the new book by their leader, Malcolm Duncan. He has just written an apologetic book on ‘faith and work for change in society’ called Building a Better World: Continuum 2006. |
| Advice : National Church Contacts | 19th Feb '07 | | Some Churches do have people in the national network who have picked up the responsibility for advising their church on new housing areas. It is usually in relation to other responsibilities. We can suggest contact personnel. |
| Advice : National Estate Churches Network (NECN) | 19th Feb '07 | | They have a website and a part-time national advisor in Birmingham. NECN collates much of the information about the housing estates which have been built in the last few decades, and the church ministry and response. It therefore has an important part to play in feeding the lessons learnt and information required for ministry in new housing areas today. |
| Advice : Shaftesbury Society | 20th Feb '07 | Another key agency which provides information and consultancy for church involvement in local community is the Shaftesbury Society.
View full details ... |
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