Witton Lodge Community Association: making a success of community ownershipCosts and Savings WLCA is funded on an ongoing basis by rent from tenants and ground rent from those in new build home ownership properties in addition to modest investment. It is in a financially robust situation with an income of £870.5K and total spend of £783.3K retaining £87.3K for future use. Sub-neighbourhood budgets The residents have found it difficult to get statutory budgets broken down to community level. However their vigilance at the grassroots level has brought some immediate savings. For example, when examining the Schedule of Works for grounds maintenance, residents noticed that a playground included for daily sweeping and inspection at a cost of £1.43 x 5 days per week had actually been removed eight years previously, so they were able to advocate use of the budget elsewhere. The use of volunteers Volunteer community development is better illustrated in terms of individual case studies. Resident Directors have noticed that volunteering happens on a continuum, as confidence and skills grow. Benefits from volunteering are not absolute – they are more likely to occur where the volunteering complements the work of salaried staff, such as the Community Engagement Coordinator, Marketing and Communications Officer, Building Supervisors and Office Manager, etc. With regard to these salaried staff, WCLA has ensured that recruitment for such staff is locally targeted when possible. Some performance indicators regarding volunteer initiatives are more readily available. For instance, during two years of activity from Community Watch (a group of volunteer residents who patrol the streets and offer assistance and information sharing) there has been a 43% reduction in burglaries, 26% reduction in car crime and a 9% drop in assaults. To some extent residents feel “victims of their own success”, as there is now a lower police presence on the estate, thanks to this voluntary action having been so successful in addressing crime and vandalism. |
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Patricia Jones Honorary Fellow Third Sector Research Centre University of Birmingham Email: Pat Jones wrote this case study for Governance International on 14 June 2012
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