Award for Phoenix Centre community work

The community-led Steering Group for Heywood’s Phoenix Centre collect their award.

The community-led Steering Group for Heywood’s Phoenix Centre has won the National Local Improvement Finance Trust award for Community Engagement.

The group consists of representatives of the community, and the NHS, Rochdale Council, Heywood NDC, BRAHM Lift Co and the developers, the Eric Wright Group.

Ninety organisations submitted applications in the 11 available categories, 16 of which were for the Community Engagement Award.

Vicki Devonport, Chief Executive of Heywood’s NDC explained: “What made this entry so different was that it was written by the community themselves. It is the positive engagement and commitment of local residents to make a change in the level of local provision that is making the Phoenix Centre so much more than a building. The group will continue its engagement to ensure that services provided in Heywood are responsive to local needs. What better way to demonstrate this than asking members of the community group to tell it how it is?”

A delighted Sheila Hill, Chairman of the Steering Group, said: “I am so very pleased that we have won this award in the face of competition from 15 other worthwhile projects. If you had asked us nine years ago whether we could influence the power of the NHS or the Council we would undoubtedly have said ‘No’. This process has given us the confidence that true partnership can work.”

Chairman of the New Deal Partnership, Susan Coates, said: “As community members, we have taken responsibility for making sure all Heywood residents know what’s going on. There have been regular stories in the local press, and we have on the site ten huge photo boards of local people saying what the scheme will mean to them and the town. When our centre opens this Autumn, our aspirations will be in full view for all to see, feel and use.”