Hart Neighbourhood Centre  

Opening Hours
Monday - Thursday: 10 to 4.00
Friday: 9:30 to 12:00
Saturday: 1st of the month only 9:30 to 12.00
Tel: 01256 760800
Fax: 01256 760707
Email: info@hartnc.org  
Web: www.hartnc.org

Executive Summary

The Hart Neighbourhood Centre, was designed by the "Safer Hart" Partnership and presents a high profile community development facility that will be considered as an example of good practice and multi-agency partnership action for the County, District and the western parishes in particular of Hart.

The location of the facility was chosen to balance the geographical provision of agency support and contributions giving a centre of excellence at the rural end of the District. The venue provides a focussed community development opportunity for the western area which is driven by the aims of the Community Safety Strategy, fully supported by the Local Strategic Partnership, particularly those of building safer and stronger communities, youth provision and education on drugs and alcohol misuse. The devised programme for the facility includes targeted work around reparation and cross-generational development along with specific projects on areas such as anger management and parenting skills. The facility is set to be complimentary to the work already underway in the District and to extend customer access and to operate as an information and service dissemination point for all partner agencies.

A Pro-active Steering Group is in place consisting of committed partners established to oversee the interventions and project programme to ensure relevance and productivity at all times. The Partnership ethos is one of community ownership "local solutions to local issues from local people". The facility is managed by Hart District Council in line with Partnership expectation and appropriate access has been established for all relevant community groups.

Project Description

AIM - To work towards promoting social inclusion and community awareness through building safer and stronger communities and working with young people and their families

(working with disability, mental health, race, the elderly, young, the gay community and minority groups)

"LOCAL SOLUTIONS TO LOCAL ISSUES FROM LOCAL PEOPLE"

The usage of the venue and the advancement of the community development programme reflect the need established in the locality.

The project consists of a venue for the delivery of targeted projects around social inclusion and the building of safer and stronger communities. There are 2 meeting rooms available for general hire although free use of these rooms is available for partner agencies to establish projects and surgeries.

The venue is a facility for the promotion of information and support services and a base for the delivery of community development work. The facility is a recognised customer access point and holds up to date literature for the public to take away. Support services are provided by the partner agencies and include police surgeries, benefit and welfare advice and Housing support.

The facility is specifically dedicated to all aspects of community cohesion and will give social inclusion and community development work in the District a tangible identity. Community groups who use the facility are given support with finding future funding and establishing links between themselves and District wide services.

It is important that local groups work in a collective and joined up way to deliver opportunities to the community. A network of projects, support groups and measures have been devised for the venue which will break down the discrimination of vulnerable and minority groups and encourage improved understanding in the wider community. Reparation programmes are organised here and projects related to the programme are co-ordinated from the facility.

The venue offers support to a wide range of minority groups (e.g. the established traveller community in Hart) whilst also supporting the local community in a more general way, improving the quality of life for local people, ensuring support, understanding and opportunity is evenly distributed. The facility will be used as a Centre of Excellence to inform, educate and advise, making local services more accessible.

The facility offers a venue for residents to make reports to a range of agencies at one central location. The reception desk is manned by volunteers who have received and will receive ongoing training in their role as information assistants.

The lack of transport services is a notable local issue particularly for vulnerable sections of the community - elderly, young people, disabled etc. The findings of local work have highlighted the lack of accessibility to essential information and services for a growing community. This has led to a sense of isolation and a lessened sense of well-being in rural areas, particularly in outlying villages. The facility will be added to the established 'Call & Go Bus' route, which will increase access for rural residents to the facility.

Both national and local expertise support the theory that a bottom up approach and a sense of local ownership remains the most effective way to engage local people, particularly where issues of social inclusion are concerned. Initiatives which involve local people have a far greater success and sustainability rate. It is our intention that the operational element of the facility will remain a grass roots initiative, although the strategic and managerial responsibilities can be supported by partner agencies. The facility is very much people led and reactive to the needs of the community.

Management of the Community Facility

The appointed Managers for the facility who work on a job share basis report to the Community Safety manager at HDC, who oversees the day-to-day operation. A report is generated on progress by the Managers on a monthly basis, this information is supplied to the Steering Group, who meet regularly, for consideration, analysis and comment. The Steering Group will direct activities and make operational decisions. The Steering Group reports to the 'Safer Hart' Community Safety Partnership on progress and seeks to use this forum to generate sustainable support for the work underway, using the expertise of the group to balance and develop in a flexible way, the grass roots initiatives generated by the community. The expectation is that the facility will become a Centre of Excellence for Hampshire, attracting enhanced local and european funds to aid sustainability. The 'Safer Hart' Partnership will in turn provide reporting to the Local Strategic Partnership who have already actively supported the project with funding.

The Managers at the Centre will be responsible for the development of the daily work programme and for ensuring that publicity for the facility is generated in the appropriate forum. A large amount of their role involves networking and liaison to establish links and needs with some gap analysis work to ensure appropriate and full coverage. Project management, budgets and administration also forms an integral part of not only their role but also the role of HDC's Community Safety Manager and the Steering Group.

As part of the monitoring and evaluation process the Managers are also required to further develop the existing long and short term goals for the facility (in consultation with the Steering Group and Partners) and to produce a project plan and forecast for the next three years to ensure sustainable long term development.

The Hart Neighbourhood Centre has been planned over the last five years, following a successful pilot scheme in Fleet town centre. The pilot scheme ran for six months, and it was recognised that in the first instance the value of the scheme could be greatly enhanced if the venture was situated in a rural setting. The need for the facility is supported and highlighted by a number of studies and pieces of work that have been undertaken in the District since 1999, including the customer access inspection.

Notably, the findings of the third Crime Audit 2004, the Community Safety Strategy ('Safer Hart' Partnership), Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) work, the Rural Transport Study (western parishes badly served), the MORI poll and the Rural Facilities Survey.

Needs Analysis

The 2001 Crime Audit identified two wards in Hart that ranked amongst the 20 most deprived wards in Hampshire when looking at geographical access to services - Whitewater being ranked 6th and Long Sutton 15th. There are identified pockets of hidden deprivation in Hart with households and individuals becoming subject to the polarisation of issues as there are fewer support networks in the area and indeed it is far harder to be poor in an area of perceived affluence. The same also applies to other vulnerable and minority groups including those with mental health issues and isolated young mothers. The government's Indices of Deprivation does include ward level data but this does not however focus specifically on deprivation among older people. The assumption that large, mainly rural counties contain wealth not deprivation is not supported by the results of recent national survey work. As a nation wide survey reveals, some of the worst pockets of pensioner poverty are in the least expected areas of Britain.

Future Opportunities

Community development such as village/countryside forum, support for lone workers, support for network groups, innovative project work

• Regeneration and Development work
• The base for detached youth workers and neighbourhood wardens
• Supporting Youth Council and possible Youth LSP

Return to top_of_page