Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>>Bracknell Forest Borough Council works with communities from cradle to grave.
They've been encouraging community action and volunteering for over twelve years, through
projects like Bracknell Forest Pride and Sandhurst Pride, long before the term 'Big Society'
was coined.
Bracknell Forest Borough Council is working to increase levels of personal and community
responsibility.
>> We believe that people have a real sense of community identity. They feel very strongly
about their community and so it's really harnessing that love of where they live, to help us to
channel their activities in a way that helps to build community cohesion, community responsibility,
and to allow people to actually participate and take a real stake in the area in which
they live and raise their families.
>>Here at Uplands primary school in Sandhurst they focus on the UNICEF Rights Respecting
project. The children are learning about their responsibilities to their community by taking
charge of equipment and mentoring younger children in literacy projects.
>> They look up to the older people around them so you need to be good, because they
kind of follow you because you’re their role model.
>>Sandhurst Town Council is one of the six town and parish councils in Bracknell Forest.
Since 1999 Sandhurst Pride has been the cornerstone of Sandhurst Town Council's strategy to create
a cleaner, greener, safer area. Inspired by the UNICEF schools project, they bought these
themes to the wider community through Sandhurst as a Respect, Responsibility, and Rights community
initative.
>>Okay, so there haven’t been any serious incidents. >> No.
>> We want to link it to the other end of the social spectrum, which is the anti-social
behaviour and crime. It works. We've developed a theme that actually is having an impact
on the community. Crime is down by 17% in Sandhurst. Anti social
behaviour in Sandhurst memorial park is down by 60%.
We've tackled litter and we've tackled various aspects of the environment.
>>At the memorial park is the police point, the first of its kind in the UK and manned
entirely by volunteers.
>>Good Morning. >>What can I do for you?
>>The Sandhurst police point was opened in 2000. The building is provided by Sandhurst
town council. The money for the alterations was provided by Bracknell Forest Council,
and the training for the volunteers is provided by Thames Valley Police.
The point itself tackles crime and fear of crime.
>>Also in the park is the coffee spot, a partnership between Sandhurst town council and five churches
to provide a cafe for local people run by volunteers. Sandhurst council provides the
building at an affordable rent. It's typical of how the town borough and parish councils
work closely with the voluntary community and faith sector across the borough.
>>By harnessing their abilities, we can help no end, the area that we live. And it's just
another way of pulling people who have time and talent to give, to allow them to self-express
within the community and hopefully get something back for themselves.
>> Here at Kerith church in the centre of Bracknell, they are running a food bank, using
volunteers, in partnership with Bracknell Forest Borough council and other agencies
and organisations.
>>We have over 40 organisations in the town now. They are statutory and voluntary organisations
and they participate with us. Partnership is hugely important in the borough. There
are things that the statutory agencies have to do. There are things that we do, that they
would not do. But then there are a whole number of things in between, that we can do, that
voluntary organisations, that faith groups, can do, that are not statutory services.
>>Debt counselling services are also available, as well as other community services.
Bracknell forest work with communities to increase levels of personal and community
responsibility focuses on prevention, not just engaging communities to address community
problems but on changing behaviour and reducing dependency on public sector organisations.
>>This is an estate action day and the idea is to make a visible improvement in a particular
area.
It’s encouraging residents to take responsibility by firstly, giving them the opportunity to
select the areas for these estate action days. Secondly, by giving them the opportunity to
participate on the day itself, and thirdly, after the event, what we find is, is that
residents take more pride in their environment, and help keep the estates looking in really
good condition.
>>Business has a part to play in Bracknell Forest Pride. Here at Lilly Hill park, one
of the councils key contractors, Ringway, are working on another volunteer project.
>>Today, as part of our corporate social responsibilities, we’ve supplied the men, labour, and plant
to vertical mulch the veteran trees. By vertical mulching, it’s the trees are becoming distressed,
so we aerate the ground, put the mulch back in, and hopefully the trees will grow on for
another few more generations to enjoy.
>> All sectors of the community are encouraged into action in this holistic approach. This
is a council run community radio project, run with volunteers with disabilities. Because
of projects like this, Bracknell Forest Borough Council came second highest among the local
authority areas in England in 2008 in a Cabinet Office survey for creating an environment
where the voluntary and community sector can thrive.
>>We have to work hard with our communities in order to maintain the quality of life for
people who live there and that’s why it is such a high priority for us at Bracknell
Forest.