GLOBE TOWN COMMON
VISION Report • December 2018
Globe Town Common Vision Report • December 2018
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Introduction This report documents the engagement work conducted by Roman Road Trust in Roman Road West, Globe Town, Bethnal Green, over a period of 16 months between September 2017 to December 2018. As part of a partnership with London Borough of Tower Hamlet’s Town Centre and High Street’s team, Roman Road Trust was invited to manage the engagement with businesses, market traders and residents in the area to support the delivery of activities that were part of the Thriving High Streets Regeneration programme funded by Greater London Authority. Roman Road Trust is a community development organisation working to revitalise the high street in collaboration with its local stakeholders and existing communities. Roman Road Trust believes strong community governance is essential for the long term health of the high street. Successful economic and community development of the local economy can only happen by involving the existing communities and stakeholders. For this project, Roman Road Trust helped to bring people together in Globe Town with the aim of creating connections, networks and partnerships; developing community governance and creating a common vision for the neighbourhood that will inform the local authority’s Town Centre Strategy over the next few years.
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Globe Town Common Vision Report • December 2018
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Contents 1 2
Introduction
8
Context & Landscape
13
3
Objectives & Methodology Objectives Methodology Six steps of engagement
33
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Outreach & Engagement
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Executive Summary
History Demographics Town Centre strategy survey Visitor survey Globe Town Common Vision Feedback Survey Roman Road West Shop Front & Vacancy Audit
Outreach Youth mapping Hamper flyers Volunteers Fostering relationships with students Halloween Survey Leafletting Getting help from volunteers Engagement Engagement with businesses Engagement with community groups & stakeholders Place-making workshops Other events Partnership events
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Impact
Projects seeded Collaborations & Networks
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Insights Square is key to animating road Clear place identity needed Better signposting to funding Vistor parking to attract shoppers? Identify & protect local heritage Continued outreach needed More youth activities to reduce ASB The Market Square is the heart of the Globe Town community Make arts & culture more visible More evening economy needed Food & evening economy map Case study: Lizzy Mace Performance Indicator Feedback Survey
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6
Community Projects
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7 8
Globe Town Assembly
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Recommendations
91
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Learnings
100
Team & Thanks
109
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Plastic Free Roman Road Re-opening the railway underpass Cranbrook Community Food Garden
The creation of local steering group Globe Town Assembly
Continued community engagement Widen diversity of steering group Digital marketing for high street Continue to listen to businesses High street improvements Create a green and pleasant area Encourage night time economy Activate vacant shops Animate Globe Town Market Square
18 enjoyable months 7 key learnings Legacy Testimonials
Executive Summary Roman Road Trust’s work began by researching the area’s demographic and population statistics as well as looking at the high street’s existing offering.
There was extensive outreach to all businesses on the high street, by email, phone and face-to-face, to explain the benefits of being on the project.
The area is notable for its increasing population over the last few years, which is projected to grow by circa 10% in the next three years, reaching in the region of 17,000 residents by 2021.
Over the course of the project, 115 businesses were visited, 30 of which attended our workshop series. We also engaged with new business owners on the high street and integrated them into the business community as the project progressed. The total number of businesses we connected with personally was 62 and we supported 42 of those with our vaious activities.
There is also a high representation of BAME groups identifying as Muslim. The percentage of children living in income-deprived families is over 50%. To gather insights from businesses and residents, we carried out three consultation activities: i) Town Centre Strategy Consultation, ii) Visitors Survey and iii) Shop Use & Vacancy Survey. Businesses, residents and community groups were involved in all meetings and consultations. This created strong networks between key players within the community. It also ensured the vision was informed by the needs of the local community. Roman Road Trust’s engagement operates on a six-step methodology, gradually increasing the community capacity of the group: i) introductory meetings, ii) unfamiliar meetings, iii) familiar meetings, iv) one-toone sessions, v) group session & workshop and vi) networking with wider community. Four key workshops focused on different key thematics for the high street. These were heritage and identity; food and evening economy; arts and culture; public realm and environmental initiatives. We then celebrated our findings with a final networking event. Outreach was made to faith groups; education groups and community groups to ensure participants in our activities were representative of the area, culturally and geographically.
It was apparent from the outset that the local community in Globe Town has a particularly strong appetite to be involved in local initiatives and to develop local governance. Having developed trust and enthusiasm in phase one, phase two built on this momentum by helping the community to realise the ideas, projects and plans that were seeded in the place making workshops. The second stage of the project involved helping the businesses and residents to form a constituted group; to support the delivery of emerging projects and initiatives; and to provide the skills and training needed for this group to be able to manage themselves and the projects beyond the funding cycle. By the end of the project, Roman Road Trust developed strong relationships with key businesses and community stakeholders; enabled connections and collaborations within the community, and surfaced a number of community projects. These include a campaign for plastic-free Roman Road, a vision for a green corridor between the Market Square and QMUL, and the creation of local steering group Globe Town Assembly.
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 1: Introduction
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Cranbrook Estate
Roman Road West context map
Globe Town High Street
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 2: Context & Landscape
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Context
& Landscape
Our work began with research into the area’s demographic and population statistics as well as looking at the high streets existing offering. The illustrations provide an overview of the area’s business community, community initiatives and other stakeholders. To gather insights from businesses and residents, we carried out three consultation activities,: 1) Town Centre Strategy Consultation 2) Visitors Survey 3) Shop Use & Vacancy
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Globe Town Shop use & vacancy map
History Globe Town Town Centre is one of the seven neighbourhoods created by London Borough of Tower Hamlets when it divided the borough for local administrative purposes in 1986. It takes in the eastern part of the former Borough of Bethnal Green and most of the Mile End area of the former Borough of Stepney. Globe Town is bordered by Mile End Road to the south, Cambridge Heath Road to the West and the canal to the east. The moniker of Globe Town revived a name for the area that was first used in the 1820’s to help organise the rapidly growing populations around what is now Roman Road and Globe Road. It is also said that Globe Town was originally named after a local Inn in the early 18th century. The area is known for its iconic housing estates. In the late 1940s the borough council built the Rogers Estate, named after a local war hero. The Greenways Estate was completed in 1959. Sulking House and Trevelyan House were designed by Denys Lasdun as part of the first phase of the project in 1958. They became known as ‘cluster blocks’ and are both Grade II listed. Cranbrook Estate used to be 17 acres of decaying Victorian terraces, workshops and one large factory. In 1957 over 1500 people were displaced for the estate to be built. The council appointed architects Messrs Skinner, Bailey and Lubetkin for the new design. The Estate as a whole was officially opened in January 1965 and completed in 1966. It consists of two fifteen-storey blocks of 60 homes each, two thirteenstorey blocks of 52 homes each, two eleven-storey blocks of 44 homes each and five four-storey blocks of 28 homes. With ancillary dwellings, there were 529 new homes in total. In 1963 the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, a bronze sculpture by Elizabeth Frink was moved to the Cranbrook Estate. It is said to be a local mythological figure dating back to the seventeenth century. The sculpture was grade II listed in 1998. Meath Gardens used to be a cemetery called Victoria Park Cemetery and was established in 1842. It was closed in 1876 and contains over 300,000 bodies. In 1885, Metropolitan Public Gardens Association led an initiative to turn the cemetery into a public garden, which was designed and laid out by female landscape architect Fanny Wilkinson. It opened in 1894 as Meath Gardens. In 1990s, many trees were cut down as new modern housing was established, but its Gothic entrance arch remains. The Bethnal Green Tube shelter disaster took place on the evening of Wednesday March 3, 1943. 173 people died in a terrifying crush as panic spread through the crowds of people trying to enter the station’s bomb shelter in the East End of London.
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 2: Context & Landscape
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Bethnal Green Principal Estates ca. 1836 (1 Bishop’s Hall, 1a Robinson’s Charity, 2 Cass, 3 Goosefields, 4 Pyott, 4a Pyott Sotheby, 5 St. Paul’s, 6 Eastfield, 7 Cradford, 8 Broomfields)
High Street Victoria Fish Bar and Four Corners in Mid 1970s
Sulkin and Trevelyan houses Greenways estate, Bethnal green, 1958
Cranbrook Street Before slum clearance initiative, 1957
The Florist Arms Globe Road, 1983
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 2: Context & Landscape
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Bethnal Green Tube Shelter East end residents taking shelter during blitz,1940s
The Blind Beggar and his Daughter of Bethnal Green (1790) A Blind Beggar that had long lost his sight He had a fair daughter of beauty most bright. And many a gallant brave suitor had she. For none was so comely as pretty Bessey. My father said she is plain to be seen. The silly blind beggar of Bethnal Green. That often sits begging for charity. Yet he is the father of pretty Bessy.
Cranbrook Estate Mace Street is a figure of 8 loop road 1955-66
Victoria Park Cemetery Pre 1894
Demographics The context for this report is set by the London Mayor’s plans for regeneration in specific areas of London. Those town centre and high streets will see major growth in the form of regeneration and investment. Globe Town is situated in one of those regeneration areas. Tower Hamlets is now the second most densely populated local authority in the country, next to Islington (Mid-2016 population estimates for Tower Hamlets). Over the next 10 years the population of the ward (Mile End & Globe Town) is projected to grow by 7% to 14%, reaching somewhere between 16,300 and 17,400 residents by 2021. As a result of extensive inward migration over the past few decades, Tower Hamlets boasts an extremely ethnically diverse population (New London Architecture, 2016). 52.6% of residents identified as black and minority ethnic (BME) groups, with 31.1% of them being of Bangladeshi ethnicity. In terms of religion, with 34.3%, the majority of people in Globe Town & Mile end are Muslim, followed by 25.6% of people identifying as Christian. With 46.4%, the main household composition of residents was family households with dependent children. Single adult households account for a further 32.4% of households. The percentage of children living in income deprived families is over 50% in Globe Town (Department of Communities and Local Government in 2010). The main types of crime happening in the area are mostly theft & handling (34%), and violence against the person (25%). (Mile End & Globe Town Recorded Crime). Interestingly, Tower Hamlet’s residents’ major concern to do with ASB was teenagers hanging around in the streets (58%). (Annual Residents Survey 2011/12 – Tower Hamlets). Initial research showed a lack of community organisation or internal communications, with no activities that brought together local businesses, residents and community groups, present or historic. Our place making workshops gathered local knowledge about the high street’s offering in terms of heritage & identity, food & evening economy, arts & culture, public realm & environmental initiatives and other community groups.
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 2: Context & Landscape
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Globe Town Market Square • Local’s Cafe
Town Centre Strategy survey We consulted 29 local businesses in Bow and Globe Town on the Council’s Town Strategy for 2017-2022. Businesses felt that better footfall, wider geographical catchment, and better visitor satisfaction were crucial factors to improve the performance of the high street. Businesses felt that Roman Road lacks a strong identity as a high street in the sense that it is not well enough known as a shopping destination and they believed that a market will be an efficient way for Roman Road to attract more footfall. At least three businesses mentioned the problems in the management of the market, deploring the lack of stalls, garbage management and order. Another important, yet divisive, issue was car parking. Some businesses complained about the price of parking and the lack of business parking available. Better social media and digital marketing skills
Vacant units were also a topic that generated a lot of comments and many did not want them filled with a business would not complement the existing offer21% (i.e. another coffee shop or convenience store). arketing skills
Low priority Medium priority High priority
When asked what support business owners wanted the 55% 6 most, the main priority was a website for the high street. 7 24% 16 Businesses were also highly interested in participating in social media training and being involved in business skills training.
NUMBER
Improve visitor perception of RR as a high street
Better social media and digital marketing skills Low priority Medium priority High priority
high street 1 3 25
3%
21%
NUMBER
Low priority Medium priority High priority
10%
55% 24% 86%
Improve visitor perception
RR as aCommon high street Vision Report • Chapter 2: Context & Landscape GlobeofTown
3%
Low priority Medium priority High priority
10%
22
Visitor survey
Shop Use in Roman Road West
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The visitor survey was conducted with support from QMUL45 volunteers over a period of 10 days between Shop Use in Roman Road West September and December 2017 in multiple town 60 centres, such as Bethnal Green, Roman Road East and West, Whitechapel, Stepney green and Mile End. Most 30 surveys were conducted around Roman Road Market 45 and Globe Town Market. A1
A2 30 There were 164 responses gathered and the majority of 15 A3 people who were questioned shopped in Bethnal Green A4 A5 andyou Roman Road East (Bow). A1 Would be interested in being A2 A3 A4 A5 C1 D1 N/A
15 involved in the event?
C1 D1 N/A they
People’s diverse on what 0 opinions were veryYes wanted to see in Globe Town. Answers ranged equally Maybe 0 No better evening economy, between greenery and seating, 8% better retail offering or community and events space. 24% What do you feel What doGlobe you Town feel Globe most? in being Wouldneeds you bethe interested
needs the most?
involved in the event?
67%
22%
18%
8%
Town
A community/event space Better evening economy Yes food o ering A community/event space Better Maybe Better retail o ering Better evening economy No green and pleasant More placesfood o ering Better
Better retail o ering More green and pleasant places
18%
22% 24% 21% 20% 67%
21%
19%
20% in Tower Hamlets Which town centre do you shop in/use most? 19% Which town centre in Tower Hamlets do you shop in/use most?
0
0
15
15
30
30
45 45
6060
Bethnal Green Brick Lane Roman Road East (Bow) Bethnal Green Roman Road West (Globe Town) Brick Lane RomanWhitechapel Road East (Bow) RomanChrisp Road West (Globe Town) Street Whitechapel Westfield Chrisp Stratford, Street Stratford, Westfield Watney Market WatneyAll Market All
Globe Town Common Vision
Feedback Survey
The Globe Town Common Vision Feedback Survey was carried out after our first phase of work to find out how our activities were I have made new connections perceived all tothe which I expect toby continue makeattendees of our workshops. use of We collected 39 response, with almost 40%, of the Yes No attendees between 30-40 Not sure years old. 2%
Maybe
11%
44% 4% of attendees made <5 new connections and 41% made 5-10 new connections. 70% of the people expect to continue making use of those new connections. 83% And over 90% want to stay involved in our future activities. I have made new connections which I expect to continue to make use of
Would you be interested in continuing to participate in the Globe Town Common Vision initiative?
I expect to NUMBER
82.6% 4.3% 2.2% 10.9%
Yes No Maybe
7% 2%
2%
Yes No Not sure Maybe
11%
4%
91%
83%
Would you be interested in continuing to participate in the Globe Town Common Visionisinitiative? “Roman Road a wonderful
ticipate ve? NUMBER
91.3% 2.2% 6.5%
place to live and work. I am very Yes No grateful to Roman Road Trust for 7% Maybe engaging the 2% whole community through events and workshops throughout the year. The RRT is also very supportive of local issues and businesses with a clear vision to create the very best for our community.” 91%resident and (Sarah Bland, local architect, Studio Wic)
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 5: Impact
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What have you liked most about the GTCV project?
Do you feel you have a stronger relationship to the high street and its business owners?
The GTCV has introduced me to lots of new people very quickly. Before, when I was trying to gather support for the food garden, I would have to approach people on a one-toone basis via email/phone, or call the Tower Hamlets Homes’ Engagement Officer who could only offer limited support. Thanks to the GTCV workshops I’ve had the opportunity to meet a huge number of like-minded people in a short space of time, and to meet them in person, which has helped build good relationships quicker.
Definitely. There are more business owners who I now know by name as well as by face. It was great to learn something about them personally and to see that they feel as invested in the area as other residents do. These workshops have helped break down barriers between residents and the business owners of shops, some of which I didn’t even realise existed on the high street!
It’s been amazing to feel that we’re not alone anymore. It was great to be in a room of people who love the area and want to work together to change it for the better. I’ve particularly enjoyed the positivity and creativity that people have brought to the meetings. It’s very inspiring! I really hope the connections, positivity and energy that has been unearthed by these workshops will be harnessed and taken forward into new community projects. RRT: What new experiences has the project provided for you? It’s the first time I’ve been involved in a consultation for renovating a public space. Often decisions about large-scale investments by councils are made without input from the communities that will be most impacted. It was really empowering to be involved in the process at this stage, as well as eye-opening to learn about the time-scales and complex requirements that need to be considered for such a big infrastructure project.
I had not realised the value of getting to know local business owners more personally, or the barriers that were formed by not knowing them. Roman Road Trust helped reveal this barrier and then break it down. Taking part in these workshops, that involved both businesses and residents, showed me how local businesses share similar concerns for the community. Now I feel like I have a completely different relationship with some of those business. Before it was more of a transactional relationship whereas now I feel I can go to them with an issue and we come up with solutions together. I understand them more as individuals rather than solely someone who is providing a service. In fact I’m going to speak to Kerry from Bamboo Bee and Daria from The Larder about collaborating with me on the plastic free project.
Roman Road West
Shop Front & Vacancy Audit
A study of vacancy along RRW was completed in November 2017 and updated on two occasions, in July 2018 and December 2018. Roman Road Trust gathered information from 115 properties in Globe Town by observing their current status and chatting to available shop keepers. At 52%, the majority of businesses on the high road are shops (retail warehouses, hairdressers, undertakers, travel agency, post office, pet shop, sandwich bars, showrooms, domestic hire shops, dry cleaners), followed by 13% of financial & professional services (banks, building societies, estate agencies), 12% of food and drink premises, and 11% of hot food take aways. In the timeframe of a year, the vacancy status of shops in Roman Road West seems to have minimally reduced, from 16 vacant units to 14 vacant units. It has to be mentioned that, Roman Road Trust’s method of identifying vacancy was mostly based on visual analysis. With a small amount of project funding this could be expanded to desk based research, contacting landlords and helping to reduce vacancy further. The movement in vacancy numbers has arisen from change of ownership rather than an absolute decrease of vacancy. There are 11 properties that have either changed ownership, the name of the shop or have changed their shop fronts: - - - - - - - - - -
Flowerescent to Luminor, Hugga Mug to Sazzy and Fran Cafe, Jameson Knight Estates to Naima Salon Hair & Beauty, Simply Beds and Furniture to Happy Nightmares, Bargain Emporium to E2 Express, Destina Supermarket to Kay’s Local Supermarket, Gourmet Garden to Tempus Gourmet Garden, Untitled to Whittaker Parsons Architecture Studio, Mezze BBQ to Kebab & Co, Roman Super Market to All in one Bazar and Castle & Accidents Management to Imporium Consultation Ltd.
Furthermore, at least six local businesses have undertaken shop front improvements such as new signage, removal of graffiti or changing their shop shutters from closed to open grill. Those shops include, Crossroads Counselling (144 Roman Road, E2 0RY), Mezze BBQ and Steak Restaurant (150 Roman Road, E2 0RY), Castle & Accidents Management (address to come), Bangle & Carat (address to come), City Financial (address to come), Keystones Properties (address to come), City Financial (address to come) and The Larder (address to come). Two shops have become occupied, 65 Roman Road, E2 0QN (E.P. Life Style Tattoo) and 107 Roman Road, E2 0QN (Nola Cocktail Bar) and their shop fronts were improved also. Two shops are currently being renovated 109 Roman Road, E2 0QN (Roman Grocery) and 111 Roman Road, E2 0QN (Victoria Fish Bar). One shop has become vacant, 49 Roman Road, E2 0HU which was previously Cosmo Lettings.
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 2: Context & Landscape
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88%
Shop use above shop
Shop Use in Roman Road West Flats/residential N/A Shop extension/commercial
3%5% NUMBER
60
45
55 13 12 2 4 2 14 13
30
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 C1 D1 N/A
93% 15
0
Shop Vacancy No Yes N/A
11% 1%
What do you feel Globe Town needs the most? A community/event space Better evening economy Better food o ering Better retail o ering More green and pleasant places
e most? NUMBER
18%
22%
88%
39 47 41 45 48
21% 20% 19%
Shop use above shop Flats/residential N/A Shop extension/commercial
3%5%
93%
3
Globe Town Shop Use & Vacancy November 2017
Vacancy December 2017 The first shop front and vacancy study was carried out over a period of four days in November 2017 to audit number of vacant units in the area. We gathered information from 115 properties in Globe Town by observing their current status and chatting to available shop keepers. We counted 16 empty shops in Roman Road West at that time. Their user class was unclear and three of these properties seemed vacant above the shop and 10 of these properties seemed to be residential above the shop.
65 Roman Road, E2 67 Roman Road, E2 75 Roman Road, E2 0QN 0QN - Seems to be 0QN - Seems to be Previously Tea Leaf residential residential London
87 Roman Road, E2 0QN Previously East End properties
89 Roman Road, E2 107 Roman Road, 0QN E2 0QN - Vacant Previously On the Grill
106 Roman Road, E2 0RN Previously Deli Diner
122 Roman Road, E2 0RN Previously D.G. Tropicals
144 Roman Road, E2 0RX Crossroads
152-58 Roman 190 Roman Road, Road, E2 0RY - Pre- E2 0QY - Vacant viously a bank
191 Roman Road, E2 0QY Previously a halal butcher
205 Roman Road, E2 0QY Previously Magriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pets
251 Globe Rd, E2 0JD - Vacant
253 Globe Rd, E2 0JD - Vacant
Globe Town Common Vision Report â&#x20AC;˘ Chapter 2: Context & Landscape
260 Globe Rd, E2 0JD - Vacant
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Vacancy July 2018 The second vacancy study was carried out in July 2018,12 properties were identified as vacant. During our engagement and consultation work with the residents and business community in the area, a few ownershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s were allocated. After speaking to Saif Osmani from the Bengali East End Heritage Society, he mentioned that a Sufi Centre could be opening on Globe Road number 253. There have been renovations (scaffolding) on 253 Globe Road since RRT started work in the area.
67 Roman Road, London, E2 0QN Residential
Since November 2017, three properties have become occupied; 65 Roman Road, E2 0QN is now E.P. Life Style Tattoo, 107 Roman Road, E2 0QN is now Nola Cocktail Bar and 251 Globe Road seems to have either residential or office use.
75 Roman Road, London, E2 0QN Residential
87 Roman Road, E2 106 Roman Road, 0QN - Vacant E2 0RN - Vacant
190 Roman Road, E2 0QY - Vacant
122 Roman Road, E2 0QN - Vacant
191 Roman Road, E2 205 Roman Road, 0QY - Vacant E2 0QY - Vacant
152-58 Roman Road, E2 0RY Vacant
170 Roman Road, E2 0RY Previously Angel & Crown Pub
253 Globe Road, E2 260 Globe Rd, 0JD - Vacant E2 0JD - Vacant
Vacancy in December 2018 A third vacancy study was carried out in December 2018, 14 properties were identified as vacant. The owner of two vacant properties, 191 and 253 Roman Road, has been identified as Simply Fresh’s owner and manager Mehmet Guzel. Mehmet has been finding it hard to find a tenant for 191 Roman Road. This could be due to business rates, rent levels or other contingent factors. According to Mehmet, there is more interest for an A3 (Restaurants and Bars) property. It has been a challenge to change the use class of the property from an A1 to an A3.
49 Roman Road, E2 67 Roman Road, London, E2 0QN 0HU Previously Cosmo Residential lettings
The property at 201 Roman Road will be used to expand Simply Fresh. The opening is planned in 2019. A few shops along Roman Road have changed owners; 33 Roman Road, E2 0HU, was Hugga Mug and is now Sazzy and Fran Cafe, 47 Roman Road, E2 0HU, was Flowerescent Florist and is now The Luminor Sign Co, 89 Roman Road was On the Grill and is now Mo’s Pizza/ 75 Roman Road, E2 87 Roman Road, E2 0QN 0QN - Vacant (to Indian and 102 Roman Road, was Jameson Knight Residential let) Estates and is now Naima Salon Hair & Beauty.
111 Roman Road, E2 152-58 Roman 0QN - Victoria Fish Road, E2 0RY Vacant Bar (renovations)
106 Roman Road, E2 0RN - Vacant (to become Tattooparlour)
109 Roman Road, E2 0QN - Roman Groceries (renovations)
190 Roman Road, E2 0QY - Vacant
191 Roman Road, E2 205 Roman Road, 0QY - Vacant E2 0QY - Vacant
122 Roman Road, E2 0QN - Vacant
Globe Town Common Vision Report • Chapter 2: Context & Landscape
170 Roman Road, E2 0RY Previously Angel & Crown Pub
253 Globe Road, E2 0JD - Vacant (to become Sufi Centre)
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Conclusions In the timeframe of a year the vacancy status of shops in Roman Road West has reduced from 16 vacant units to 14 vacant units. It has to be mentioned that, Roman Road Trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s method of identifying vacancy was mostly based on visual analysis rather than an analysis of business rates. The movement in vacancy numbers has arisen from change of ownership rather than an absolute decrease of vacancy. There are 8 properties that have either changed ownership or name of the shop; Florescent to Luminor, Hugga Mug to Sazzy and Fran Cafe, Jameson Knight Estates to Naima Salon Hair & Beauty, Simply Beds and Furniture to Happy Nightmares, Bargain Emporium to E2 Express, Mezze BBQ and Steak Restaurant to Kebab & Co, Castle Management to Imporium Consultants Ltd., Destina Supermarket to Kayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Local Supermarket. Furthermore, a series of local businesses have undertaken shop front improvements such as new signage, removal of graffiti or changing their shop shutters from closed to open grill. Two shops have become occupied, 65 Roman Road, E2 0QN (E.P. Life Style Tattoo) and 107 Roman Road, E2 0QN (Nola Cocktail Bar). Two shops are currently being renovated 109 Roman Road, E2 0QN (Roman Grocery) and 111 Roman Road, E2 0QN (Victoria Fish Bar). One shop has become vacant, 49 Roman Road, E2 0HU which was previously Cosmo Lettings.
260 Globe Rd, E2 0JD - Vacant
London Buddhist Centre • Srivati
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Objectives & Methodology
Roman Road Trust works to bring together businesses, residents and community groups through playful and creative activities that build positive relationships. Developing links between businesses and the wider community ensures the high street develops in a way that serves the community, increasing the sustainability of economic growth.
Our objectives included consulting the business community on proposed regeneration plans and encouraging them to take part in business improvement schemes; making connections between different stakeholders within the community, and discussing proposed and new ideas for public realm improvements. We used an exhaustive six-step methodology to help break down barriers and build trust.
3
Objectives Roman Road Trust was asked to manage engagement and consultation activities with businesses, residents and market traders to support the delivery of a range of initiatives under the thriving High Streets programme. These activities included:
Consulting local businesses on the council’s draft Town Centre strategy, and gathering feedback on their priorities
Helping businesses, community organisations and residents to develop content for place marketing & promotion campaigns
Bringing together local businesses, residents and community organisations in discussing a common vision for Roman Road West (locally known as Globe Town)
In terms of our communication activities, our objective was to i) encourage businesses to participate in local initiatives to promote the high street and increase footfall ii) promote the businesses on the high street iii) encourage businesses to join RRT as Members or Friends iv) encourage local businesses to increase their activity on social media.
Encouraging businesses to engage in high street schemes and opportunities that will help them adapt to changing customer base and market opportunities Consult businesses, residents and community groups on proposed public realm improvements to the high street with a focus on the Market Square Support businesses, community organisations and residents to activate a program of events and activities that will attract footfall to the area Consulting local businesses on the council’s draft Town Centre strategy, and gathering feedback on their priorities
Supporting the delivery of activities and events to help animate & promote Globe Town’s town centre with focus on the Market Square Engaging with property owners of vacant units to promote activation of vacant shop units Engaging with local schools and other public bodies to discuss public realm improvements to minimise crime in the area
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Globe Town High Street â&#x20AC;¢ Museum House
Methodology Six steps of engagement
Our outreach methodology is based on a process of sensitive and painstaking community outreach and engagement to build up trust.
This involves us engaging with a wide range of the community by addressing a diverse set of community stakeholders. These stakeholders can include local businesses, residents and residents associations, schools, faith organisations, environmental groups, arts or cultural institutions and other social organisations. We approach local business owners who usually havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t previously been engaged with business improvement programmes or other community initiatives. We engage with local resident associations and community groups who have been active in the neighbourhood from their own initiative. They usually come with knowledge about the area and valuable ideas on how the neighbourhood can be improved. The value of our engagement activities is in bringing this diverse town centre community together and gathering their shared knowledge. The stages outlined opposite describe the stages of outreach. Roman Road Trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-term goal is to help constitute a local group that will become part of the partnership between us and the local authority.
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1
Introduction
4
First visit, conducting consultation or email introduction
Fourth visit, establishing trust These meetings are one-to-one sessions with businesses, community groups and other stakeholders. The objective of these meetings is to get people involved in our workshop series. We offer a platform to communicate their knowledge and ideas to the community as well as give access to valuable knowledge from more experienced groups and businesses.
This is the first introduction to the businesses on the high street. Each business is visited in person and time is taken to listen and gather views as well as explain about the project and our objectives. At this stage we also reach out to local organisations by phone and email to arrange a meeting in person.
2
3
Unfamiliar meetings
One-on-one sessions
5
Group sessions, workshops
Second visit, consultation follow up
Community organisation & education
During this second round of outreach businesses and organisations are still unfamiliar with us and may not know us by name. It is important for this stage to be done in person too to build up familiarity and trust. To build trust we also share results of any survey conducted in step one.
Workshops are an opportunity for different local stakeholders to meet for the first time. They can speak about their own ideas concerning the neighbourhood and find common ground. New collaborations are formed and projects ideas born. During this stage we help community members come to agreement on a common vision.
Familiar meetings Third meetings, inviting businesses to take part These are the third and fourth meetings with the businesses on the high street. The meetings are more familiar and we invite them to take part in our workshop series. We also propose to support and promote their business with multimedia content shared through our online platforms.
6
Networking event with wider community Co-production model This is the final step of our outreach methodology. After several months of workshops, participants are familiar with each other. The final networking event deepens established relationships and discusses ways in taking ideas and projects forward. Community members are invited to contribute their expertise into initiatives.
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Outreach & Engagement To increase community capacity, care is taken to gather views from a wide representation of the community. Our outreach involves contacting faith groups, education groups and community groups to ensure participants in our activities are representative of the area, culturally and geographically.
Christmas Market Hamper stalls consultation NoWe of leaflets distributed set up a stall on the Market Square from
where we spoke to passers by and asked
Nothem of dedicated to take Mailchimp part in thecampaigns Visitor Survey.
Outdoor market stalls are a good opportunity
Noto of reach dedicated Media posts promoting outSocial to groups that don't have access each business to our online communication platforms. We
spoke to many Total number reachedelderly people.
“Roman Road is growing day after day and for a newcomer like me it is really 10,000 nice to be involved in 1 the community.” 16 (Francesco Ragazzi, manager Quarantacinque, 21,650 local coffee shop)
Valentine’s Hamper No of leaflets distributed No of dedicated Mailchimp campaigns No of dedicated Social Media posts promoting each business Total number reached
10,000 2 15 21,425
Christmas Hamper No of leaflets distributed No of dedicated Mailchimp campaigns No of dedicated Social Media posts promoting each business Total number reached
10,000 1 16 21,650
4
Valentine’s Hamper No of leaflets distributed
10,000
March 2018
Engagement with community groups Organisation
Contact
Calls
Converted
Faith Groups / Charities 27
0
3
Father Alan Green
5
1
2
Globe Town Mosque
Shabbir Chowdhury
2
1
0
Bengali East End Society
Saif Osmani
7
2
0
Museum House TRA
Tracy Barbe
5
0
5
Tower Hamlets Homes
Allyson Matthews
19
4
1
15
1
2
Oxford House
Joseph Grey
St Johns Church
Residents
Cranbrook Lizzy Mace Community Garden Friends of Meath Gardens
Tunde Morakinyo
45
2
7
Chater House TRA
Tareshvari Robinson
32
2
5
4
0
1
32
5
3
3
0
0
Education Bonner Primary School
Sarah Wildbore
Morpeth Secondary Jo Baily School Jemima Reilly Bangabandhu School
Taslima Sultana
Queen Mary University
Volunteer Network
18
4
5
Four Corners
Howard Francis Lyn Turner
35
3
5
Balik Arts
Yesim Guzelpinar
18
4
2
Art Represent
Baiqu Gonkar
12
1
1
London Buddhist Centre
Darshavini Srivati Skelton
21
1
3
Rich Mix
Tracy Barbe Margot Pryzmierska
73
2
8
Roman Road Gallery
Marisa Bellani
10
2
1
Numbi
Kinsi Abdulleh
4
0
0
Kazzum (Oxford House)
Nouria Bah
7
0
0
Arts & Culture
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Outreach The table of outreach shows how we reached out to various community initiatives.
Youth mapping The 2011 census shows that the number of young people in the Globe Town area has sharply increased. Yet during our engagement activities, young people have proven to be a hard to reach group. It has commonly been cited in literature that young people feel marginalised and further alienated by the regeneration processes that radically alter the areas they live in. To ensure young people are involved in future plans for the area we conducted a youth engagement study. This provides youth engagement case studies to inform youth outreach strategies Roman Road Trust could potentially deploy in the future. (See more details in our Youth Engagement Report)
Hamper flyers We sent 10,000 hamper flyers to all households in the Roman Road West area. This enabled those who are not engaged with us via our online platforms to access information about the project whilst engaging with their high street. The hamper flyer allowed those who are not involved directly with our monthly Globe Town Common Vision workshops to get involved through an activity on their high street. They could enter the competition by filling in details on the flyer and handing to a drop off point at a local shop. Residents could also find out more about the project by visiting the Roman Road Trust website displayed on the flyer. By allowing both an online and offline sign-up, this ensures those with and without access to the Internet are reached.
Volunteers In order to get local people involved in their community and high street, we reached out to recruit volunteers through newsletters, social media platforms, and through the Queen Mary University Student Union Volunteering scheme. There were a number of volunteer opportunities including data collection, market research, event organisation, interviewing, and hospitality. Reaching out to young people fosters long-term relationships with the younger generation and students living locally. Additionally we provided an internship opportunity that resulted in the development of a youth engagement strategy for Globe Town. We also worked with a group of young creatives from Rich Mix who created a short film about our engagement work. These collaborations have provided valuable experience and training for local young people and encouraged them to engage in community action from a young age.
Chloe McFarlane â&#x20AC;˘ Intern, wrote youth engagement report
Fostering relationships with students Roman Road Trust has provided academic and professional opportunities to a variety of students and graduates. QMUL students have helped us to carry out several data analysis activities and assisted us at our workshops. Journalism students from City University attended our identity & heritage workshop to cover it for local news channels. We were also interviewed for a feature about Roman Road Trust. A planning & economics students from UCL University helped manage the data collection projects. Jack Ratcliffe, a UCL PhD student attended our arts & culture workshop and voiced his and his colleges enthusiasm to collaborate with RRT in future activities.
Calum Somerville â&#x20AC;˘ volunteer videographer, shooting Globe Town Common Vision Short
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Halloween Survey October’s Halloween Survey was an opportunity to gather insights from 50 businesses about the idea of an annual event on the square, using Halloween as a timely example.
Would you be interested in being involved in the event?
The majority of businesses liked the idea of a recurring event on the market square.
Yes Maybe No
8%
ed in being involved in the event?
67% of the businesses would like to be NUMBER involved in such an event and were keen to 33 12 have their windows decorated in a seasonal 4 theme.
24%
67%
There were some reservations about the idea including a couple of shopkeepers who said events alone would not change the area for the better; that an Autumn theme might be more inclusive than Halloween, and a few businesses did not want to participated in guided ‘trick-or-treating’ tours as they didn’t want er Hamlets do you shop children in/use most? in their space.
Which town centre in Tower Hamlets do you shop in/use most?
NUMBER
54 23 47 26 19 2 4 2 2
Leafletting A leaflet about the Globe Town Common Vision project was printed and handed out at our market stalls and workshops as well as left inside shops and distributed at other events. This helped raise awareness of the project to a wider audience.
2
Getting help from volunteers
Bethnal Green Brick Lane Roman Road East (Bow) Roman Road West (Globe Tow Whitechapel Chrisp Street Stratford, Westfield Watney Market All 0
15
30
45
60
Engagement The aim of our engagement work during the community and economic development project was to make connections and develop relationships with local stakeholders, build a local network of empowering connections; gather views from everyone and help the community formulate a common vision for their neighbourhood. To cater to varying levels of individual engagement we structured our engagement programme around four types of activities: i) a series of place making workshops for those who want to be directly involved in making things happen i) a series of seasonal promotional activities that involved the businesses in a fun, hassle-free way iii) public events on the square to reach people who do not want to be involved but would support activities and improvements. iv) a series of steering committee meetings to develop local steering group with the aim of creating a community-let governance for Globe Town. During this process we introduced ourselves to all businesses alsong Roman Road West, we connected personal with 65 businesses, we supported 42 in our seasonal activities, and 30 different businesses attended our workshop series. We also engaged with new business owners on the high street and integrated them into the business community. We delivered a series of four themed place making workshops (heritage & identity, food & evening economy, arts & culture, public realm & environmental) and celebrated our findings with a final networking event, which attracted 47 attendees. A total of 108 local residents and community stakeholders attended our workshop series and we had 37 one-to-one meetings with some of them. We gave 33 local stakeholders the opportunity to speak to the wider community at our events.
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Peckover Butchers â&#x20AC;¢ Gavin
Engagement with businesses Engaging with the business community requires patience and perseverence. The majority of businesses stuggle at first to see the value in attending community driven activities. Also many business owners do not live in the area and find it hard to attend events in the evening due to other duties such as childcare. However, we began by developing relationships with the most engaged businesses, providing a positive example to other businesses. Bamboo & Bee hosted our workshops on 2 occasions. Bamboo and Bee’s Kerry, Simply Fresh’s Mehmet, Quarantacinque’s Francesco, Victoria Fish Bar’s Margherita and Peckover’s Gavin attended our workshop and shared their experiences with attendees. Art Represent hosted all Globe Town steering committee meetings. And Quarantacinque, Hugga Mug and the Florist offered us their premises to hold our workshops. During the project we visited businesses in Globe Town on 25 separate occasions. In total, we visited 115 local businesses, speaking personally with 65 business owners. During our visits we handed out flyers about our workshops and collected contact information such as email, number and if applicable online presence. We carried out three surveys with local businesses to engage them in our activities as well as find out about their interest in joining our activities on three occasions. Surveys were about Town Centre Strategy Survey in June 2017, Halloween event survey in November 2017, Performance Indicators Feedback Survey in December 2018. We had continual engagement with the two market traders on the Market Square to discuss improvements and collected their feedback. Our activities, workshops and social media, provided opportunities for businesses to connect with each other and develop relationships. We also promoted council led schemes such as graffiti removal and business training. We spoke to a series of businesses in June 2018 to engage them with the developments of the Steering Committee and invite them to join public meeting on 30th June 2018. Most (if not all) businesses were keen to attend the public meeting and to find out more about steering committee. Out of nine GTA committee members, four are business owners and two of them have taken on the role of business representatives. This will help establish a strong relationship between the local businesses community and the local residents community.
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Eyes London • Samir
XTrim • Mita
Simply Fresh • Mehmet
Ginger White • Chris
Massinghams Chemist • Sally
Bamboo & Bee • Francesca
Whistles • Ken
Rockafella • Mani
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Quarantacinque • Massimo
Mr Bulls Butchers • Chris
Meze • Suat
Lama’s Pyjamas • Abhayanandi
Engagement with community groups &
stakeholders
Part of our engagement involved building links with key community groups. Our workshop series presented the opportunity for these groups to address a wider audience within the local community about their projects, and to seed ideas for collaboration for projects and community events to support the high street. We met personally with a series of community organisations in and around Roman Road to gather their opinion on the needs of the high street and to discuss future collaboration possibilities. We built strong links with over 20 local groups: Rich Mix. School & Outreach Officer Tracy Barbe. Tracy attended all our events and has helped bring about collaboration between Rich Mix, RRT and New London Architecture on a youth engagement project about the built environment. Rich Mix New Creatives group attended and participated in our arts and culture workshop. Tracy also acts as an advisor on schools and parents engagement to the newly formed steering committee.
Local Schools. Morpeth Secondary School involved us in their Pledge Afternoon Initiative with Year 8 students. A second workshop was held with Morpeth 6th form students who developed activity ideas and promotional material for the Christmas event on Globe Town Square in December 2018. Jemima Riley. We met with the Principle of Morpeth Secondary School regarding antisocial behaviour on the Market Square and discussed how their students can be involved in our future activities.iour on the Market Square and discussed how their students can be involved in our future activities. Aysha Khanom. We met Assistant Headteacher for Equalities at Bangabandhu Primary School to introduce her to Kerry, the GTA’s engagement office to establish a relationship for the group to work with the school’s parents and students in the future. Globe Primary School. GTA members reached out to Globe Primary School to establish a relationship for future collaboration. East End Pinwheels and East End Garlands last Bonner Primary School. STudents create tree decorations for the Christmas event on Globe Town Square. in December 2018.
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Morpeth Secondary School â&#x20AC;¢ Year 8s
St. Margaret’s House. They hosted our public realm workshop free of charge. Four Corners. They hosted our arts & culture workshop free of charge. Balik Arts. We helped them generate relations with Four Corners, who offers them space to screens some of their cinema. Tower Hamlets Homes. THH owns the blocks overlooking the square. We are in discussion about community supported events in the Market Square. Have delivered joint Christmas event with LBTH in December 2018 that was facilitated by RRT. London Waterways Project. They are helping us explore how we can encourage access to the road from Regents Canal. Oxford House. Met with Oxford House to shared learnings. Make:Good. Collaborated with Make:Good to deliver East End Garlands and East End Pinwheels project on high street. Queen Mary University London. Students from Queen Mary Universities geography department carried out a Plastic Free Roman Road audit. Art Represent. They hosted all Globe Town
Assembly’s steering committee meetings. East End History Society. We met with Saif Osmani to discuss how steering group can be more inclusive specifically how to engage with Bengali community. Cranbrook Community Food Garden. RRT worked in collaboration with CCFG to develop RR Plastic Free Campaign and foster relationship with QMUL. Friends of Meath Gardens. RRT worked in collaboration with FoMG to develop Opening underpass between Meath Gardens and QMUL Campaign. Cranbrook Community Centre. They hosted LBTH’s Globe Town Branding Workshop. Roman Road CLT. Supported by RRT’s online coverage. Cranbrook Somali Women’s Group. We meet with the Women’s group to invite them to Globe Town Assembly meetings. Globe Community Food Garden. Introduced Globe Community Food Garden to our community engagement intern for their research into the Common Room. Poets’ Corner Community Garden. Introduced them to Edible Bow to be part of an exhibition at Design Museum.
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St. Margaret’s House • The Gallery Cafe
Tower Hamlets Homes • Back of Globe Town Square
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Place-making workshops We managed five workshop events each themed to discuss aspects of improving the high street. Workshops were creative and playful to encourage positive messaging and conversations. This included showing local films, inviting experienced guest speakers, offering food and drink, and having Q&A games. The workshops then opened up into round table discussions where everybody could voice their opinion, sometimes partnering different types of people into smaller groups to work on ideas together.
“It brings people together and promotes initiatives” (Dario Garcia de Viedma, local UCL student)
The guest speakers were experts in ‘place’ in a variety of ways depending on the workshop theme, and provided inspiration and advice to the group. Our guest speakers included: Sandra Scotting Stairway to Heaven Memorial
Kerry Mounsey Verry Kerry at Bamboo & Bee
Diane Cunningham Chatsworth Market
Andrew Kay LDA Design
Victoria Stewart London Street Foodie
Carla Mitchell Four Corners
Kay Richardson Well Street Market
Srivati Skelton London Buddhist Arts Centre
Tunde Morakinyo & Julia Miller Friends of Meath Gardens Lee Wilshire London Waterways Project Eleanor Image Play Association Tower Hamlets
Baiqu Gonkar Art Represent Margot Pryzmierska & New Creatives Rich Mix Andras Horvath Balik Arts
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Bamboo & Bee â&#x20AC;¢ Identity & Heritage Workshop
Identity & Heritage workshop Our first workshop explored the area’s identity, history and heritage and attracted 20 attendees. We invited two guest speakers: Sandra Scotting from Stairway to Heaven memorial and Tim Band, a local artist. We showed two documentaries of the artist. The first one, ‘Sheltered Lives’, was about the the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster of 1943.
Date 3rd October 2017 Time 6-9pm Guest speakers 3 Attendees 20 Business 2 Resident 8 Community groups 3
Food & Markets workshop Our second workshop explored the area’s food offering, evening economy and how the market square could be expanded. We had three guest speakers: Diane Cunningham (Chatsworth Market), Victoria Steward (London Street Foodie) and Kay Richardson (Well Street Market). We had 21 attendees in total and two local businesses, Mehmet Guzel (Simply Fresh) and Francesco Ragazzi (Quarantacinque) contributed as well.
Date 7th November 2017 Time 6-9pm Guest speakers 3 Attendees 21 Business 7 Resident 12 Community groups 3
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Public Realm workshop Our third workshop explored how the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s public realm can be improved, looking at wayfaring, green spaces, lighting & seating and re-designing the market square. The workshop attracted 33 attendees. We invited five guest speakers: Tunde Morakinyo and Julia Miller from Friends of Meath Gardens, Lee Wilshire from London Waterways Project, Eleanor Image from Play Association Tower Hamlets, Kerry Mounsey from Verry Kerry and Andrew Kay from LDA Design. Date 5th December 2017 Time 6-10pm Guest speakers 4 Attendees 33 Business 4 Resident 10 Community groups 5
Arts & Culture workshop Our final workshop explored the existing arts and culture offering in Globe Town as well as discussing what it is missing. The event attracted 34 attendees and we had 5 guest speakers: Carla Mitchell from Four Corners, Srivati Skelton from London Buddhist Arts Centre, Baiqu Gonkar from Art Represent, Margot Pryzmierska and New Creatives from Rich Mix and Andras Horvath from Balik Arts.
Date 7th January 2018 Time 6-9pm Guest speakers 5 Attendees 34 Business 3 Resident 24 Community groups 5
Morpeth Pledge Afternoon Roman Road Trust took part in Morpeth Secondary School’s Pledge Afternoon with 18 pupils from their Year 8. Most of the students live locally and pass the square on at least two occasions during the day. After watching a video summary of the public realm workshop, the young people were asked to share their thoughts on what improvements should happen on Globe Town Market Square.
Morpeth Volunteering Project RRT worked with Year 12 students from Morpeth Sixth Form as part of the Sixth Form’s community volunteering programme. The students volunteered for three sessions over six weeks where they designed posters to promote the event. The winning design was displayed on the day of the event. Students also designed a treasure hunt trail around Globe Town Market Square and held a bake sale prior to the event to raise funds to purchase prizes for children who completed the treasure hunt on the day.
East End Garlands East End Garlands was a collaboration between RRT and Make:good, funded by the local authority, to design and install bespoke, seasonal window decorations into businesses in Roman Road West. Businesses were visited to share the ‘tools of their trade’ before the garlands were designed to combine these unique items with traditional Christmas foliage.The result brought unique but uniformed window decorations to 11 businesses to create a sense of festive community along the high street.
East End Spring Pinwheels Following from the success of the festive East End Garlands, RRT and make:good have continued to work together to bring a new set of seasonal window decorations to businesses in Roman Road. This time the nine decorations celebrate the beginning of spring and take the form of pinwheels. Each pinwheel has been etched with unique designs that were inspired by Year 5’s from Globe Primary School.
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Globe Town Common Vision Community Voices Film To document our work during this first phase of the project, we created a short film. This featured local school children, residents, traders and community groups, voicing their vision to promote Globe Town as a destination. The short film featured a variety of ideas for the Common Vision from the community about how to develop the identity and location of Roman Road West. We worked with young volunteers to help produce the video at no cost and to provide real-life work experience for recent graduates and students. The videographers were Janet Onabanjo and Calum Somerville from Rich Mix New Creative program; Ryan Bowen from Balik Arts, and the local videographer George Watson.
Music on the Square Music on the Square was a pilot Christmas event on Roman Road Market Square to animate the usually empty market square with festive music from Stepney Salvation Army’s Brass Band and the Musical Santas as well as free marshmallows and chestnuts for all 200 attendees. RRT had a consultation stall to discuss plans for the market square and Hui’s Kitchen provided Malaysian street food.
Roman Road E2 Hamper The Roman Road E2 Hamper showcased and celebrated the range of shops and services available on Roman Road West high street. A total of 24 businesses took part across both Christmas and Valentine’s hampers and a total of 1,100 entries to win the prizes worth over £1000. Entrants signed up by subscribing to our Friends of Roman Road newsletter or filling in a hamper flyer that was sent to 10,000 local residents and returning to Simply Fresh.
Globe Town Knees Up This was the final event for this stage of the Globe Town Common Vision. Not only did the event provide an opportunity for us to thank all those who have been involved and to celebrate the efforts made during the last six months, but it also provided an opportunity for more connections to be made within the community. Most importantly we invited Deputy Mayor Sirajul Islam. Part of the community capacity work is to facilitate introductions between local residents and businesses to people of influence. This is an important part of empowering local communities and ensuring legacy is created. Fifty one people attended the event including Father Alan Green from St Johns Church, and thirteen local business owners including owners of Globe Town’s newest businesses, Ben from Nola and Michael from EP Lifestyle. Deputy Mayor and Cllr Sirajul Islam spoke to the businesses and residents about their ideas for the future of the high street. Finally, the Globe Town Community Voices short film was screened and thank-yous were made.
Date 22/03/18 Time 6-22pm Attendees 47 Business 13 Resident 17 Community groups 8
Partnership events Branding workshop. RRT organised the Globe Town Branding Workshop which was held on 14th May at Cranbrook Community Centre which brought businesses and community organisations together to discuss the area’s identity. The evening was led by creative agency Workroom who are commissioned by LBTH to research the identity of Globe Town, its high street, and community initiatives. Xmas event on Globe Town Square. RRT managed conversations with businesses and community organisations regarding plans for a Christmas event on Globe Town Square in December 2018 that was lead bei THH and LBTH. This included, i) outreach to nine local schools, ii) workshop with Morpeth sixth form students to plan event and design poster organising Bonner School to provide decorations, iii) organising Morpeth 6th Form students to hold a stall and offered activities, iv) organising Morpeth School music department to perform Drumworks and choir performances, v) organising Old Ford Primary to make decorations and to perform choir performance and vi) organising three local community stalls including Globe Town Assembly, Cranbrook Community Food and Roman Road Trust.
Date Time Attendees Business Resident Community groups Facilitators
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62
Regents Canal • Towbath
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Impact It is clear from our time spent in the neighbourhood that the Globe Town community is highly invested in the future of their neighbourhood. Before starting our work, there were a number of groups were active in the area. For example, Friends of Meath Gardens had planted trees on the high street and Mehmet from Simply Fresh had also planted tomatoes in one of the planters outside of his shop. However, these people did not have an opportunity to come together, support each other and secure long-lasting sustainability and legacy. During our six-month programme, we have brought together key businesses, resident groups and cultural organisations and given them the space and opportunity to meet each other and exchange ideas. This has seeded a number of new connections, collaborations and projects.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was really glad to be invited to the Arts & Culture workshop. It made me realise how much is really going on around here that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even know about; and to meet new people who got a similar passion for community cohesion and improvement of our area.â&#x20AC;? (Srivati Skelton, London Buddhist Arts Centre, local cultural centre)
4
Projects seeded
1
Plastic Bag Free Globe Town Lizzy Mace from the Cranbrook Community Food Garden together with local artist Tarishvari Robinson from the Buddhist community want to create a plastic-bag free high street. We are working closely with them on funding applications. Re-opening the railway underpass
2
During the Public Realm workshop Tunde Morakinyo from Friends of Meath Gardens suggested that the railway underpass between Meath Gardens and Queen Mary University should be reopened to encourage footfall from south of the railway line. With our support and connections, this is now being investigated by the Council who has established that the underpass is owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Limited. Roman Road green corridor
3
Tunde Morakinyo also raised the idea of a green corridor to connect the many green spaces around Roman Road including Meath Gardens, Cranbrook Estate, Bethnal Green Gardens and Mile End Park. This could potentially be of connected to Roman Road Trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Common project proving even bigger impact. Clean up Canal Day Kerry Mounsey would like to hold a Clean up the Canal Day in the summer, inspired by the Clean Up Australia Day from her home. The event happens yearly on a Sunday and encourages people to clean up their local areas. Any person can register a place they plan to clean up on the Clean Up Australia website, and others can join them there.
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Collaborations & Networks During the Globe Town Common Vision project Roman Road Trust has successfully established excellent relationships with a number of local businesses and community groups, that could foster potential collaborations, opportunities as well as facilitate connections between them. Juliet McNelly from Clear Village would like to partner with RRT on community development projects London Buddhist Arts Centre would like RRT to support its campaign to save Eastbourne House Kevin Siaw and Eleanor Image from Play Tower Hamlets would like to collaborate on potential children play spaces Morpeth Secondary School student representatives are keen to join more workshops and future activities on Globe Town Square Tower Hamlet Homes would like to work with RRT on arts & crafts projects on Globe Town Market that would involve its residents St. Margaretâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s House event manager George Paris would like to collaborate with RRT on future events QMUL students would like to work with RRT on a digital art project in collaboration with other art groups as well as continue to work on Plastic Free Roman Road research Parris Langridge from Camden Council would like to support the RRT Board by offering expertise in street market.
Rich Mix + New London Architecture + Mulberry UTC Our work has activated a project between Tracy Barbe from Rich Mix, Lettie Mckie from New London Architecture and David Hobbs from Mulberry UTC. As part of the Culture for Changing City programme a group of students from Mulberry UTC in Bow will have the opportunity to get acquainted with architecture and design skills through visiting important sites in Roman Road and attending workshops led by the NLA team. Business to businesses Businesses are recommending RRT to other businesses. As a result, a number of new businesses have reached out to us. These include hairdresser Lydia Keen, Nola and EP lifestyle Tattoo who attended our networking event. East End Trades Guild We introduced 13 local businesses to East End Trades Guild at our networking event. East End Trades Guild supports independent local businesses’ interests by bringing them together. Tower Hamlet’s High Streets and Town Centre We introduced local business, community groups and residents to the council’s HS and TC team at our public realm workshop. Cllr and Deputy Mayor Sirajul Islam We introduced Cllr Sirajul Islam to many businesses and organisations at our networking event including Friends of Meath Gardens, Quarantacinque, Nola, Peckovers, Simply Fresh and local architect Sarah Bland. Introducing the community to a person of influence is a key component of community capacity building. Friends of Meath Gardens (FoMG) We introduced FoMG to Chater House Resident’s Association, Cranbroook Community Food Garden and Parkview Community Estate. They plan to work with LBTH on the Roman Road Green Corridor project.
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Eastbourne House â&#x20AC;˘ London Buddhist Arts Centre & Globe Town Community Association
Insights
Square is key to animating road Attracting more small, independent businesses to the square (market traders and surrounding shops) is key to improving public life to the high street. This is clearly evidenced on Saturday mornings at the Market Square. Shoppers come from as far as Stratford and Hackney to buy fruit and vegetables from Marc at Lesley and Herbert Fruit & Veg or buy their fresh fish at Downeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Attracting more street life to this space will have a ripple effect on the wider high street.
Clear place identity needed Many people do not identify with the name Globe Town or Roman Road West. Many people refer to the location as Bethnal Green or Bethnal Green East. The older democratic refer to the high street as Green Street. At our Food and Markets workshop, the consensus was that if Market Square were re-branded, Green Street Market might be a good way to refer to the era when the market was thriving and Roman Road was called Green Street. The colour green was also identified as the colour for the area due to the Cranbrook Estate facade and green projects.
Better signposting to funding During our outreach and engagement work, many community groups asked Roman Road Trust to assist with funds for their activities. In our future work, we need to find a way of managing those expectations and providing signposting to funding. One of the tasks of the Steering Committee could involve organising focus groups to build community fundraising skills.
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Vistor parking to attract shoppers? Some shop keepers mentioned a decline in customers since parking along Roman Road has changed and suggested schemes like shop and park.
Identify & protect local heritage At the Identity & Heritage workshop, the group discussed what should be celebrated, cherished and saved in their local area. Attendees valued: - Multiculturalism - a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Globalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; place - Green networks such as Meath Gardens, Cranbrook Community Food Garden, Museum Gardens and Paradise Gardens - East End heritage such as Bethnal Green Library and Museum, The Camel - Cultural heritage such as The London Buddhist Centre and The Tramshed - Architectural heritage such as Cranbrook Estate and the blind beggar statue, Sulkin House/Usk St Estate
Continued outreach needed The priority for the first stage of the Globe Town Common Vision was to engage with local businesses. The businesses who have attended our events come from a wide variety of backgrounds reflecting the multi-cultural nature of the business community. However the residents who have attended are less representative. This is often the case at the beginning of a community development project. During initial stages of outreach, those with the most community capacity - typi cally those from an educated, middle class background - are the quickest to make the most of the opportunity. During the next stage, the priority will be to increase the representation of the group by deepening relationships with the schools and faith groups and holding activities in community centres. This will ensure that the high street improvements are informed by a true representation of the local community.
More youth activities to reduce ASB Upon thorough research, it was found that few major youth projects have been done in the Tower Hamlets borough. We are pleased to hear about plans to turn the Tramshed community centre into a youth centre.
The Market Square is the heart of the Globe Town community Everybody agreed the Market Square is in need of improvement. This could be investing in trees and greenery or shop front improvements. More stalls. The idea of increasing the number of market stalls was approved, however existing traders were concerned they may be evicted or their fees increased. It was also suggested that the rates are reduced for new local traders looking to begin trading on the Market Square, and that making stalls available for one-off uses would increase pop-up or additional activities to the square. At the moment stalls can only be rented from the local supplier on a long term basis. Greenery. FoMG said that planting substantial, tall trees on the square will be important to provide shade and a canopy for activities in the square including a market and other community activities. This would also provide essential scale to help soften the visual dominance of the surrounding housing blocks. Visually beautiful. Rainbow Square is a proposed project from a local business, Verry Kerry, that transforms the grey space into a lit, colourful, green space that will inspire the school children, involve residents in the blocks and increase eco credentials. Lighting and colour. Morpeth Secondary School students also suggested adding playful or colourful light to the square as well as sweet smelling flowers to make the space more welcoming and safe in the evenings. Events & pop up market. There was support for activities that involved local school children including a Teenage Market. Addressing large scale. Local architect Sarah Bland is concerned that the designs for improving the square must address the scale of space.
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Globe Town Market Square
Make arts & culture more visible
Topics raised at our Arts & Culture workshop focused on the general shortage of all-year community space to host public events, community meetings and other activities in Globe Town as well as the difficulty to find out about upcoming events. Display board Install a display board on the square showing whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on in the local area. Events on market The central location, high visibility and accessibility of the square to surrounding residents makes it an ideal venue for outdoor festivals, performances and other creative events. Diversity Attendees stressed the need to celebrate the diversity of the area. This could be achieved through inter-faith events on Sundays or a language board.
More evening economy needed One particular discussion at our Food & Market workshop was around balancing different peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. Antisocial behaviour One or two local residents were concerned that increased evening activities would cause noise and antisocial behaviour. On the other hand businesses such as Quarantacinque and Simply Fresh supported the evening economy saying it would bring in footfall and make the high street more inviting and safe during the evenings. Food market Attendees including Gavin from Peckover Butchers stated that if a food market were to happen, it should support and not compete with local food businesses, perhaps by using local produce in the street food stalls. The suggestion of encouraging young people to run their own market stall was popular. Nola During the project new business Nola opened its doors in Globe Town. This restaurant and late night bar is aiming to get a licence until 3am.
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Food & evening economy map
Case study What was it about the GTCV that interested you? I picked up a leaflet about the GTCV place-making workshop at Four Corners on the high street. I was in there to discuss possible collaborations with the Cranbrook Community Food Garden. We’ve struggled to raise awareness of the community garden to the local community. Despite being here for nearly 10 years, many local residents don’t know about us unless they take a detour through the estate.
We speak to local Globe Town resident Lizzy Mace about taking part in Roman Road Trust’s Globe Town Common Vision.
I think a lot of this is due to the poor communications and lack of community networks in the area. There is no means to advertise events or reach out to the community. The community in Globe Town is so diverse that it’s even more of a challenge to connect with other cultural groups. We need to engage with minority and vulnerable groups to strengthen our community. When I heard about the GTCV monthly workshops, I thought this was an amazing opportunity to meet local people, help raise awareness of the food garden and connect with other community initiatives. I was also interested in having a say about the high street improvement plans being proposed by the Council. Often the local community is the last to hear about the Council’s plans and important decisions about the neighbourhood are made with insufficient input from local residents and businesses. The GTCV was an opportunity to discuss the plans and put forward our own ideas for our community.
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New Flats overlooking Mile End Park & Regents Canal
Performance Indicator Feedback Survey In December 2018, RRT carried out a feedback survey with local businesses and community groups with the aim of assessing how the partnership work between RRT and LBTH’s Town Centre team had improved the town centre’s performance indicator results set out in the Council’s 2016 audit. Events Thanks to events delivered by the RRW Partnership, 30% of respondents have discovered a new venue in the town centre including Four Corners, St. Margaret’s House and Cranbrook Community Centre. Large public events and networking events were the most popular types of events. The results of this show the appetite and support for events to continue in Globe Town Crime & Safety Most people felt that Anti Social Behaviour was the most common concern in Globe Town, with many commenting on vulnerable individuals, homelessness and drug abuse. Residents rather than businesses were more likely to say that crime was an issue in RRW. When asked about tackling crime, most respondents felt the priority was to engage with the young people who congregate on the square every day to and from school. Street Markets Following the programme of activities that have taken place on the market square during the last 18 months, 82% of the community now feel very positive for the future of the square. However 30% said that they were not aware of the plans for improving the square. Twenty percent of respondents said they might be interested in running a stall on the market in the future.
Visitor Satisfaction & Retail Offer When asked which of the activities and initiatives delivered over the last 18 months had most improved visitor satisfaction and the retail offer in RRW town centre, respondents felt that public events and a sense of community spirit had the most impact in improving overall visitor experience. Indeed, 44% of respondents said they felt much more part of the community. Attractiveness/Public Spaces When asked which of the activities and initiatives delivered over the last 18 months had most improved the attractiveness of the public spaces in RRW Town Centre, most respondents said improvements to shopfronts including graffiti removal and the pinwheel/garland decorations had made the most impact on improving the attractiveness of the public space. Partnership working When the RRW Partnership began there was no formal partnership structure in place and limited joint working with the Council to support place promotion and management of the town centre. Over the last 18 months, RRT has organised the community to become a constituted group with a diverse committee that represents the businesses, residents and community groups. See below for more on constituting a steering committee for the high street. Seventy nine percent (79%) of respondents said that, following the engagement activities lead by RRT over the last 18 months, they feel they have had an opportunity to have their say about the future of Globe Town. However, 51% of respondents still say they do not know who to contact in the Council regarding town centre issues and 48% don’t know their local councillor by name.
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97%
Would you like to see more events in Globe Town? Maybe Yes
3%
97%
Would you support a project that encourages less plastic on the high street? Yes No
3%
97%
Would you support a project Would you support project that encourages lessaplastic that encourages less plastic on the high street? on the high street?
Have you been aware of or Would you likeaware to seeof more Have you been or been engaged in any events events in Globe been in Town? any events on theengaged high street? on the high street? Yes Maybe Yes No Yes No
3% 14% 14%
Yes Yes No No
3% 3%
97% 97%
86%97% 86%
I have made new connections I have Imade new which expect to connections continue to whichuse I expect to continue to make of make use of
28% 28%
Would you like to see more Would in you like to see more events Globe Town? events in Globe Town? No No N/A N/A Yes Yes
3% 3%
3% 3%
69% 69%
97% 97%
1 1
Maybe Maybe Yes Yes
Community Projects
Next steps: The Plastic-free Roman Road project has since had its first meeting where the group have begun drafting plans to raise awareness of the campaign. Their first project will be to help businesses who are already becoming plastic-free to register as “champion” which will provide them with a plaque to display in their shop. In summer 2019, the group are aiming to hold a series of knowledge-sharing workshops for different business types to discuss progress made, share information on alternatives and establish potential for working together.
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Plastic Free Roman Road During our outreach with the Globe Town community Roman Road Trust met with local residents Lizzy Mace and Tareshvari Robinson who were both independently passionate about sustainable cities. Lizzy Mace is Chair of the Cranbrook Community Food Garden and a member of Transition Towns. Tish Robinson is an artist and green activist who organises tree guardians in her estate. Through our engagement events (at our workshop events in November 2017, December 2017 and March 2018) Lizzy and Tish deepened their connection and the project started to form. Roman Road Trust helped Lizzy and Tish to formulate their ideas into a project called Plastic Free Roman Road and helped put together a funding application to Esme Fairbairn on 18th January 2018 and Welcome Trust on 28th February 2018 on their behalf. Both applications were unsuccessful. On 4th July 2018, Roman Road Trust organised a meeting to introduce members of the Plastic-free Roman Road project and Friends of Meath Gardens to several key members of Queen Mary University Geography Department with the aim of building empowering connections and seeding a collaboration.
and ascertain appetite for the project, both of which will help strengthen future funding applications. During the week of 24th - 27th September 2018, 200 students visited 83 businesses. At the introduction presentations, the group enjoyed inspirational talks from the QM Geography Department focusing on Green London. Ellie Mackay from The Plastic Tide gave an insight into the impact of single-use plastics on our oceans. In the closing presentation on Friday, Roman Road Trust arranged for key members of the Globe Town business community to take questions from students which was led by Lizzy Mace. Mehmet Guzel from Simply Fresh and Kerry Mounsey from Verry Kerry (part of Bamboo & Bee) spoke to students about the ways in which their businesses are already paving the way of reducing singleuse plastics and increasing sustainability as a business. To help promote the event Roman Road Trust helped Lizzy set up and manage a Twitter account. Following from the audit, Lizzy Mace has attended meetings with LBTH Waste Department, local Place Experts, and has joined â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Surfers Against Sewageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to help develop the project.
Attending were Prof. Alastair Owens (Head of Dept. of Geography), Prof. Alison Blunt, and Dr Olivia Sheringham. Also attending were Lizzy and Tunde Morakinyo (chair of Friends of Meath Gardens.)
Senior lecturers Prof. Alastair Owens and Dr Stephen Taylor from the Geography Dept at QMUL have produced a final report of the audit findings, including their recommendations.
The result of this scoping meeting was an agreement for Geography undergraduate students to work with Roman Road Trust on an audit of single-use plastics in businesses in Roman Road.
Now that Globe Town Assembly has been constituted and have opened a bank account, the Globe Town Assembly and not Roman Road Trust will be the lead partner for funding application. Lizzy, who is not a core member of the Globe Town Assembly, will be the delivery partner.
The aim of the audit was to provide a benchmark for future impact measurement
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Re-opening the railway underpass Roman Road Trust had an existing relationship with Friends of Meath Gardens. Friends of Meath Gardens are a group of local residents who volunteer to maintain Meath Gardens through planting, watering, and pruning events. The community group is led by Tunde Morakinyo (local resident and forrester) and Joanna Mileskwa (local resident and architect.) The group is already active on Facebook and Twitter which it uses to recruits volunteers and raise awareness of their regular planting/ watering days. Friends of Meath Gardens also regularly enlists the help of ‘Good Gym’ to assist with planting/watering. Friends of Meath Gardens attended our engagement activities in December 2017, January 2018, and March 2018. At these meetings Roman Road Trust became aware of the group’s ambition to open up the railway underpass underneath the railway that separates Meath Gardens and Queen Mary University campus. The aim is for the underpass between Meath Gardens and QMUL to be opened, allowing students and staff from the university to directly access Roman Road West from their campus. Currently, students are required to walk along the canal or through Bancroft Road to access Roman Road. The opening of the underpass would allow easier access between the university campus and the high street.
In May 2018, an event was held in Meath Gardens to commemorate the death of legendary indigenous Australian Cricketer Bripumyarrimin (also known as King Cole) who was laid to rest 150 years ago in Meath Gardens which used to be known as Victoria Park Cemetery. At the event, a new information board was revealed to provide visitors to Meath Gardens with an understanding of its history. The event was well attended by John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets. In May 2018, Roman Road Trust advised Friends of Meath Gardens to create an online petition to gain signatures to re-open the underpass. Roman Road Trust held a consultation stall at QMUL’s Festival of Communities on 13th May to demonstrate to visitors the plans for the underpass to be reopened. The petition gained almost 25,000 signatures. Also in May 2018, Roman Road Trust invited Friends of Meath Gardens to be the guest local cause at our monthly Do Good Thursday volunteer meet-ups. At the meetup, Tunde and Joanna spoke about Meath Gardens and the ways in which people could get involved. On October 2018 Roman Road Trust organised for Joanne and Tunde to talk to 200 students taking part in the Plastic Free Roman Road audit to raise awareness of Meath Gardens and highlight need to reopen underpass between Meath Gardens and QMUL.
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Next steps: Currently, LBTH are in conversation with TfL who own the railway arch. The Council is taking the lead in managing the talks with TfL. The underpass is now part of wider green vision being proposed by Roman Road Trust to connect green spaces in the area around Roman Road with the aim of improving public health.
Next steps: There are plans from LBTH to improve the facilities at Cranbrook Community Centre such as kitchen and furniture. Cranbrook Community Food Garden continue to hold regular events with the aim to recruit more volunteers and increase visitors to the garden. Cranbrook Community Food Garden is now part of wider green vision being proposed by Roman Road Trust to connect green spaces in the area around Roman Road with the aim of improving public health.
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Cranbrook Community Food Garden
Cranbrook Community Food Garden is the garden space attached to Cranbrook Community Centre in Mace Street. Cranbrook Community Centre and Cranbrook Community Food Garden are part of the Cranbrook Estate. The community centre holds regular groups, meet-ups and events such as a Brazilian Group and toddlers group. Cranbrook Community Food Garden is managed by a team of local, dedicated volunteers who are mainly residents. The chair of Cranbrook Community Food Garden is Lizzy Mace. She is a local resident who lives on Cranbrook Estate as well as being a green campaigner and eco-activist. Roman Road Trust first met Lizzy Mace at one of our engagement activities about Food and Markets. At the workshop, Lizzy expressed how Cranbrook Community Food Garden regularly makes and sells food made from the produce grown in the garden. Lizzy was one of the most engaged participants in our activities and it was through these that Lizzy was able to meet other local residents and green campaigners to share her idea for a ‘Plastic-free City’ project.
During the Roman Road West partnership, Roman Road Trust has supported Cranbrook Community Food Garden by promoting its events and volunteer recruiting activities via our digital platforms. In March 2018, Roman Road Trust published a case study on Lizzy Mace to be shared across our digital platforms to 2,000 Friends of Roman Road. The case study focused on how Lizzy became involved with RRT through the Globe Town Common Vision as well as her hopes for the future including her idea for a ‘Plastic-free City.’ See above. In May 2018, Roman Road Trust selected Cranbrook Community Centre as the venue for the Branding Workshop with Workroom as part of LBTH’s research into the identity of Globe Town, its high street, and community initiatives. The evidence and learning gathered is to be used at a later stage to help develop a brand for Globe Town. In November 2018, Cranbrook Community Food Garden was invited to take part in an exhibition on community gardens as part of a project with Public Works. Cranbrook Community Food Garden attend the Roman Road Market Christmas Celebration to provide an info stall and to showcase/sell produce and products made from the garden.
Kerry and Mem • Globe Town Assembly
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Globe Town Assembly Creation of local steering group Having successfully identified and engaged with key business owners and community organisations during the first phase, RRT’s work in the second stage was to facilitate the constitution of a steering committee for the Globe Town area, enabling the group to become sustainable beyond the funding cycle.
RRT continued to hold monthly meetings that involved providing advice and assistance about constituting the group e.g. aims, activities, remit, geographic boundary and job roles. The work also involved furthering projects and engaging with high street regeneration activities. Links with local stakeholders such as Morpeth, Globe and Bangabandhu schools were established. New members joined the GTA during the second phase of RRT’s work. Several of these members drew on their own professional expertise to provide crucial skills to the group. One member with a background in community capacity building ran a ‘Theory of Change’ workshop to help the group establish its overarching aims. Another member with legal training assisted the group with legal matters concerning the finalising the constitution. Two members worked in community outreach with schools and parents and advised on methods of working with schools. The group was officially constituted in November 2018 and now has nine core members of which four are local business owners. Our main work involved the following delivering community capacity workshops in the form of monthly meetings with the emerging members of the GTA.
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During the meetings RRT guided the group on methods of organisation and best practice. The main ambitions were to: - - - - - -
Establish committee member roles and responsibilities Create a constitution with an agreed vision Create a bank account allowing the group to fund raise Develop social media presence including a website, Facebook page, email address and mailing list Establish roles & responsibilities
To ensure a smooth handover to the Council, RRT helped the emerging community group to establish clear roles and responsibilities:
Kate Minns, Chair
Zoe Claire Chick, Secretary
Kerry Mounsey, Engagement officer
Mehmet Guzel, Business representative
Margherita De-Cristofano, Business representative
Baiqu Gonkar, Media officer
Shane Moynihan, Treasurer
Ned Younger, Core member
Keith Jenkins, Core member
A series of key ‘community members’ form part of the wider group including Tareshvari Robinson, Tracy Barbe, Paul Baxter, Tunde Morakinyo, Lizzy Mace, Frances Everingham and Sarah Bland. During this process two core members of the GTA announced they will step back from their committee roles in 2019. Zoe Clair Chick is expecting a child and will most likely step down from her position and Baiqu Gonkar will be taking sabbatical leave in the new year. We surveyed local businesses to ask if they would be interested in joining the Globe Town Assembly or if they know someone who would be. The results showed that 34% of the business community are interested in being part of the GTA’s steering group but have yet to join due to lack of free-time. Businesses who are interested in joining the GTA include Harsha Patel from Massinghams Chemist, Marc Herbert from Herbert Fruit & Veg, and Robert Waeland from Mr Bulls Butchers.
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Constituting the group An initial draft constitution was written by RRT and then discussed with members of the GTA in May 2018. The group then had the opportunity to comment and amend the constitution at following GTA meetings. A constitution working group meeting took place in November 2018 to finalise the constitution with the help of newest GTA member and local resident and lawyer Keith Jenkins. In November 2018, the GTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constitution was signed by three core members, the chair, secretary and treasurer. A constituted group will provide the community with greater influence when communicating with the local authority and funding bodies. GTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next steps: We recommend that the GTA establishes an outreach and engagement methodology. This is to ensure that the steering committee is representative of the community so that improvements to the high street reflect the needs of the local community. The group will also need to create a vision and roadmap for the future and it will be crucial that the GTA secures funding to make their vision a reality. Finally, it is important that links between steering groups members and influential local stakeholders such as the local authority, local councillors and local community leaders from schools and cultural organisations are created and sustained. The RRT is well placed to act as a node to keep these links active.
Meath Gardens • Playground
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Recommendations After building up momentum and enthusiasm within the community during the outreach and engagement process, it is crucial to convert this energy into sustainable activities to secure legacy beyond the partnership work with LBTH. The main focus of the RRW Partnership and the Globe Town Common Vision project has been to help constitute a local high street steering committee and to provide its members with the skills to continue working in partnership with community stakeholders, including the local authority. Globe Town high street now has the local governance structure to be able to deliver the next stage of high street management. Our recommendations for this next stage include the following.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;One of the things I found really exciting about the meetings was that lots and lots of people are excited about bringing new energy and revitalisation back to the area. So it would be really exciting to see that momentum continue through all the connections that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve made.â&#x20AC;? (Tunde Morakinyo, Friends of Meath Gardens, local environmental group)
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Continued community engagement We recommend further outreach to the large amount of BAME groups, Muslim groups or those from a range of economic situations. This needs to be addressed as a priority to ensure the Globe Town Assemblyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s steering committee is representative. In the next stage it is recommended to extend and deepen relationships with a wider range of community groups to ensure the high street develops to serve the needs of the multicultural community.
Parter with schools to engage youth We recommend further engagement with local young people and help develop projects and initiatives that will involve and inspire local children, provide opportunities for local young people, and harness the creative talents from local students. Our study of the younger demographic revealed that, compared to other town centres in Tower Hamlets, Globe Townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s community has a young demographic, and the high street strategy should reflect this to develop in line with the needs of its community. Forty percent of the Globe Town community is under the age of 25. Morpeth School is a large secondary school at the heart of the community attracting children from surrounding neighbourhoods. Globe Town high street is the closest high street to Queen Mary University and many students find temporary accommodation in the area during their studies. There is also a need to address the stark statistic that 50% of children in the area live in income-deprived households. (See more in our Youth Engagement Report)
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Digital marketing for high street We recommend a programme of digital marketing for the high street. During the partnership we assessed business appetite for digital marketing. A high street website was the top priority for local businesses according to the Town Centre strategy survey in July 2017. Social media training was the number two priority for local businesses according to the Town Centre Strategy survey.Promote business skills & support schemes The third highest request from businesses according to the Town Centre Strategy survey was for business skills training to help local traders feel more confident and empowered to improve their shopâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economic performance. The digital profile of local businesses was low, with many businesses without social media presence. When one-toone social media training was offered to local businesses update for the training was high. Further work can be done to help empower businesses digitally.
Continue to listen to businesses Businesses made specific requests for further help and these should be integrated by the Globe Town Assemblyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Vision and Activities. Ideas to discuss include campaigns to reduce the cost of licences to use the pavement; more greenery; digital marketing training, and support from an online platform promoting the high street. We recommend one-to-one conversations with businesses under threat of closure. When RRT started work, some businesses were under threat of closure including Green Truffle and Flowerescent. Flowerescent has since closed but Green Truffle would benefit from one-on-one sessions to help identify the nature of the threat and gain learnings that may help other businesses.
High street improvements Create a green and pleasant area According to the initial Visitor Survey undertaken at the beginning of the RRW Partnership, most respondents thought making the public realm greener and more pleasant was a high priority. We recommend a programme of shopfront improvements. Most respondents to our survey about Globe Town’s attractiveness said improvements to shop fronts including graffiti removal and the pinwheel/garland decorations had made the most impact on improving the attractiveness of the public space. We recommend animating the square and shopfronts with lighting During the placemaking workshops, there were frequent requests to ‘animate’ the main square with year round festive street lighting. There was also support for a seasonal high street shop lighting scheme where external string lights are provided to be hung above shops during festive seasons, though some businesses were reluctant to have these in their shops as it would disrupt their window displays.
Encourage night time economy We recommend improvement to the night time street scene by installing grilled shutters on shops and evening lighting in the square, both of which were specifically requested by the owner of Simply Fresh. With Globe Town’s young population and proximity to evening economy hotspots in Paradise Gardens and Cambridge Heath Road, there is opportunity to successfully stimulate Globe Town evening economy. The arrival of new bar Nola is indicative of this trend. Local residents said that improving the night street scene would make the area feel safer.
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Globe Town High Street â&#x20AC;¢ Hairdresser
Activate vacant shops We recommend activating a number of empty units that we highlighted as being key to the health of the high street in our Shop Front and Vacancy Use Audit.
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120 Roman Road, E2 0RN Formerly a florist and now empty, this unit enjoys a central position on the market square. This unit is easily accessible and highly visible making it ideal for a small community hub offering a programme of cultural activities that could spill out onto the market square. The space is small enough to be affordable and convenient enough to provide storage necessary for events. The owner has been identified as Richard Arthur of Amadis Properties LTD. It is recommended that the Council and RRT works together on an offer to the landlord for five-year lease in the name of RRT but run by the RRT’s Globe Town Steering Committee.
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Angel & Crown, 170 Roman Rd, E2 0RY Angel & Crown pub had long standing issues with noise and drug dealing, which had a major negative impact on the life of residents living above at Chater House. The pub has now closed. The space has great potential to be kept in communities’ hands. It could be used as a community centre on the high street. Suggestions were made to keep operating it as a pub, run by local people. This could tie in with the campaign to save East End pubs as part of local heritage.
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191 Roman Rd, E2 0QY The vacant properties’ owner at 191 Roman Road has been identified as Mehmet Guzel. The owner was keen to let out the space to a well known food-chain such as Papa Jones as he argues that this part of the high street would benefit from the animation that such a business would bring.
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A space for GTA The local steering group is considering to look into how to transfer the local Angel & Crown Pub to a community asset. They have a also discussed to raise funds to buy the pub to offer community activities and have a presence on the high street.
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Globe Town Market Square
Eastbourne House
Animate Globe Town Market Square
We recommend a programme of special events and markets on Globe Town Square. According to survey at the end of the project, respondents felt that public events and a sense of community spirit have had the most impact in improving overall visitor experience during the Partnership.
It is recommended that a cultural programme builds on the existing â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;mind, body and soulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; offering set by the London Buddhist Centre with a focus on cultural and religious festivities, mindfulness and green or eco events. Additionally it is recommended that special events and pop-up or semi-regular markets address the local youth, with an emphasis on collaborations with local schools. This could include arts and crafts workshops, youth arts groups, and a teenage market: - - - - - - - -
Morpeth School Cranbrook Community Food Garden Chisenhale Gallery Rich Mix Verry Kerry Art Represent Balik Arts Teenage Market
It is recommend that the Market Square incorporates a strong element of greening eg with large trees, green planting and seating will be an important aspect of making the square a more conducive space for commercial and cultural activities. This would support the emergence of a green, eco theme for Globe Town and is strongly supported by local community and grassroots groups, including the Roman Road Trust. It is recommended that the Council partners with an specialist market operator who has the experience and resources to support the growth of the market with a series of special events and a well-resourced marketing campaign. The initial Visitor Survey revealed that people want the high street to offer more fresh produce, hot food and arts and crafts. This would indicate a similar desire for the market offering on the square. Their preferred day for a market was Saturday. Roman Road Trust has developed many contacts with experienced market operators and could help broker this deal. We strongly recommend continued discussions with the community about designs for the square. The appetite for community involvement in high street initiatives is particularly pronounced in Globe Town. Businesses and residents are keen to stay involved with proposed plans for the improvement of the Market Square. Any proposed plans for Globe Town Market should be discussed with local businesses and residents and other key community stakeholders and have the scope to be amended in response to feedback.
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Globe Town Market â&#x20AC;˘ Music on the Square December 2017
Learnings 18 enjoyable months 7 key learnings In this final chapter of Roman Road Trustâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Globe Town Common Vision Report, we collate learnings and lessons from our activities over the past 16 months with the hope of informing and offering advice to future community engagement projects both in Globe Town and in similar communities elsewhere. What we believe worked particularly well during the project was engagement with local stakeholders; developing networks between local stakeholders to work on projects together; constituting local steering group, and creating valuable relationships with local schools.
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1
Time is the most important ingredient for successful community development Looking back at our six-step engagement methodology, it is evident that it takes at least three meetings to establish trust with an individual and another two meetings to create a connection with other community members. Additional time may be needed for community members with consultation fatigue who, understandably, react with high levels of skepticism and distrust. Six months is the minimum time needed to establish high trust relationships. Once this has been established another six to nine months is needed to organise the community into effective groups, constituted or otherwise. Regular emails help to maintain contact, but face-to-face visits are recommended on a monthly or bi-monthly basis to maintain good relationships.
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Developing networks is key to the success of community projects Connecting people and organisations to each other who have a common agenda dramatically increases the likelihood for grassroots campaigns and projects to thrive, and indeed to be seeded in the first place. A good example of this during our work in Globe Town was Roman Road Plastic Free Campaign, which was initiated when local members with similar interests in the environment met each other at one of our workshops. RRT then helped create links between the emerging campaign and the Geography department at Queen Mary University which resulted in 200 students conducting an audit of plastic use on the high street. The campaign now has the evidence needed to apply for further funding for the plastic-free project.
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Community groups need to be constituted to get a seat at the table As a constituted group, local residents and businesses from the community have a better chance to make their voices heard with those in power. Practically speaking, the local authority do not have the capacity to handle multiple community voices. Politically, the local authority needs assurance that the requests from the community are democratically reached and representative. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also the most effective way to ensure work between the local authority and the community can continue beyond the funding cycle. A constituted group with a bank account will allow also the group to apply for grants and receive funding.
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Schools are one of the best ways to reach minority groups Partnerships with local schools and other organisations are extremely valuable to reach hard-to-reach community members such as young people or minority groups. Creating those links requires considerable time due to constraints of teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time and the advance notice needed to build community activities into the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curriculum. However, once a relationship is established this will prove to be strong connection enabling various opportunities for collaboration.
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What we believe didn’t worked well: i) inclusiveness of events & activities and thus representation within local steering groups, ii) partnership working and transparency, iii) building on existing skills & knowledge within community
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Effective high street groups must represent the wider community Improving the high street requires engagement not just from local businesses but from the people who use the high street, including its residents, large employers, schools, faith groups, charities and community groups. To ensure a high street group is representative of the wider neighbourhood, and that the high street develops in a way that serves the needs of its community, it is essential to spend time reaching out to all members of the community, not just the businesses on the high street. Due to restrictions imposed by the client, the RRT was required to focus mostly on engagement with businesses. This meant that the steering committee was not as representative as it could have been.
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Transparency and trust are essential for a long term partnership Distrust and consultation apathy is compounded when community groups are consulted on a one-off basis as part of what is commonly known as ‘box ticking’ exercises. It is crucial to share the outcomes of consultation and workshop activities with the community members who took part in them. If this courtesy is not observed, community members are likely to feel that they do not have any real power to impact decisions about local developments, dissuading them from engagement in the future. Out of three consultation events organised on behalf of the Council - the Public realm workshop in December 2017; the RRW Branding workshop in May 2018, and the RRW Good Goth Bid in October 2018 - concrete outcomes and results have yet to be shared with the community members involved. There seems to be a failure of the local authority to be truly transparent about plans for local developments despite their rhetoric otherwise.
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Local experts should be engaged as collaborators Local skills and knowledge are often forgotten when bringing in external experts to carry out consultation and regeneration activities. This was evident at the Globe Town Branding workshop where members of the Globe Town Assembly demonstrated that they had the ‘in-community’ skills to develop a brand for their neighbourhood. Building and using existing research and knowledge with help ensure the community are invested in local regeneration projects. A good way of doing this is to involve a local community representative in new initiatives and projects from the local authority at the earliest stage, inviting local representatives to meeting betweens the local authority and commissioned third party suppliers. Collaboration and coproduction should be the future approach of partnership work between local groups and local authority.
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Bethnal Green Station â&#x20AC;¢ St John on Bethnal Green Church
Legacy The Partnership between Roman Road Trust and the local Council has generated an appetite within the community for further engagement in community projects. It has also developed strong local governance with the skills and capacity to work effectively and positively with key community stakeholders, including the local authority. However, it must not be forgotten that those who have engaged with this project do so on a voluntary basis, balancing their time and resources with jobs and family. The energy that has been generated over the last 18 months will languish if it is not supported. As the Partnership drew to a close the RRT invited key members of the community to a scoping meeting for a potential new project that would unite key local community groups, projects and campaigns. The working title for this umbrella project is Green Lines, a green vision for the Roman Road area that has the potential to unite and support a broad range of individual community groups, projects and campaigns in Globe Town. This type of overarching project will provide the structure, support, inspiration and opportunity for community groups to continue collaborating and supporting each other, building sustainability into the community.
Green Lines RRT Green Lines is an idea to bring together multiple community groups with a sustainable ethos who work together on a green vision for Roman Road and its environment. In December 2018 RRT held two scoping meetings with relevant community stakeholders to establish the aims of the project. Community members and organisations involved in the scoping meetings included Globe Town Assembly, Friends of Meath Gardens, Public Works, Cranbrook Community Food Garden, Roman Road and Bow NF Forum, Roman Road Community Land Trust, Thinking Cities, Tower Hamletâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wheelers, Friends of Victoria Park, Plastic Free Roman Road, Edible Bow and Social Streets. Green Lines is now seeking support from the Council and the Mayor of Tower Hamlets to ensure this opportunities presented by this consortium of community groups, both for the local authority and the community, are realised.
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Nansons â&#x20AC;˘ Globe Town Market Square
Testimonials “
I feel confident that Globe Town Assembly and other local groups, working in partnership with them, will be successful in engaging local communities for the long haul. It will take time, it always does, to build real loyalty, trust and camaraderie between people. This happens though shared aims and a vision for a better and fairer opportunity / environment for us all. To me it isn’t about a small group deciding on the desired end result at the beginning but finding it along the journey, knowing who we travel it with and who leads, follows or walks side by side will be key to success. The ‘road’ doesn’t have a beginning and end, and isn’t confined / defined by a council brief or a social media platform etc. Those ‘frames’ capture a glimpse of the truth although the sterilising formulas just give a very unsatisfying impression or feeling that something is being ticked off for someone else’s agenda. I’ve experienced real engagement over many years in this patch, often going unnoticed but just embedded and not ‘shouted out’ on social media. It’s the sincerity of real neighbourliness and risking really sticking your neck out for others that has real outcomes. I like the way that Neba from Roman Road Trust was prepared to try things out, testing out, meeting new and challenging obstacles, working out what might work in a given situation with a given person or concept. Real people and real relationships are what are needed. Sincerity is a universal language and I believe that Neba has this in spades. It saw her through with people who I think trust her, when some of the efforts made by Roman Road Trust as a ‘brand’, in my view could be perceived as driven for their own aims. I feel workshops and activities were promoted and packaged to send a message to the intended ‘audience’ who would be vocal and ‘get the jobs’ done within the set time scales. A Globe Town knees up inviting a certain demographic through its imagining the ‘good old black and white days in a cheeky chappy cockney pub’ invitations. That is not my Globe Town. That is perhaps not many other Globe Towners Globe Town. What is ours and our own distinctive character will be the vehicle of our future endeavours, exploring how that together will drive improvements, changes needed and celebration of what we have that is very good already and worth cherishing. A healthy high street will be more than just a few trendy shops with organic produce or gentrifying services but the well being and health that comes from community cohesion, shared values of how we behave though our faiths, politics (with a small p) and aspirations for Globe Town. Thank you to Roman Road Trust for shaking things up, getting people talking, suggesting and supporting mechanisms for certain groups to connect and grow. Lighting fires under some almost burnt out dreams. Now it’s for us to fuel the fire, sharing the stoking!
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Tracy Barbe, Local Resident, Museum House Tenants Association, Rich Mix Schools & Outreach Officer
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I first encountered Roman Road Trust at the Globe Town Vision events in late 2017. These were really well-coordinated events which brought together local residents, community groups and businesses in a positive space. It has helped me to make more links in the community both on a personal level and for some of the projects that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m involved in. RRT have been an enormous help in setting up the Plastic-free Roman Road campaign, in fact we definitely would not have had the same kind of launch without them. They arranged for residents to attend a meeting with them and QMUL Geography department, and from this we ended up working together to carry out a survey of current plastic use and attitudes to plastic waste among businesses - with the help of 200 first year students. We simply would not have been able to do that without RRT brokering that relationship and planning the logistics based on their knowledge of local businesses. With this data we will be able to attract funding, plan our activities to have the biggest impact while considering the needs of the area, and also have a baseline against which to measure the impact of the campaign on behaviours and attitudes. Roman Road Trust are excellent at engaging with communities. They understand completely how to create events that bring people together, as well as how to build relationships over time with key groups and individuals. They know the pressures that volunteers are under and the difficulties of balancing personal, professional and volunteer life and they are always respectful of the time and expectations involved in this sort of work.
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Lizzy Mace, Local Resident, Chair of Cranbrook Community Food Garden, Plastic-free Roman Road
Regents Canal • Towbath
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Thanks Roman Road Trust would like to thank the amazing network of volunteers who collectively provided over 150 hours to support our activities. Without their generosity, our work would not have been possible:
Amarah Khan, Birgit Huseklepp, Calum Somerville, Chloe McFarlane, Dario Ferreras, Emma Cosmao, George Watson, Janet Onabanjo, Laura Kavanagh, Naimah Khatun, Rong Jin, Rowan Lowe, Ryan Bowen and Yujie Gao. Special thanks to Janet Onabanjo who took most of the pictures for this report. Also we would like to thank all the community members who took time out of busy lives to attend our place making workshops, contribute ideas, share knowledge and help develop a Common Vision for their high street. Special thanks to the members of The Globe Town Assembly who created legacy for the work to continue.
Thank you to fellow community development practitioners Make:Good. It was a pleasure to work with them on delivering their inspirational shop-front art work projects. And a special thanks to Deputy Mayor and local councillor Sirajul Islam for his generous support of our work. Finally many thanks to the local authority for enabling us to carry out this outreach our engagement work that is crucial for the development of a thriving high street, in particular Fiona Crehan, Maria Gerring and Abirahim Artan from Town Centres and High Streets.
Thank you to everyone who hosted our activities, including Bamboo & Bee, St. Margaret’s House, Four Corners, The Larder and Art Represent, and to all our guest speakers who helped facilitate the events including Sandra Scotting, Diane Cunningham, Victoria Stewart and LDA Design.
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Team Tabitha Stapely is founder and CEO of Roman Road Trust, she left her career in publishing to follow her passion for local community. Tabitha wanted to do something to help revitalise her local high street and realised that developing strong local governance was key to long term, citizen-led regeneration. She has since helped constitute several local community groups including the Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Forum. Tabitha is also the founder and director of Social Streets, a publishing company for hyper local magazines.
Neba Sere is an architectural designer and graduate of Central Saint Martins. She previously worked at Studio Weave and Citymine(d) and is now a co-founder of WUH Architecture, a design collective that seeks to create interactive and socially-engaged art and architecture installations. She is also part of the Architecture Foundation’s Young Trustees. Neba is passionate about the intersection of building with community involvement and currently works with Build Up Foundation as a Youth Construction Leader.
Rosie Vincent is a local resident who graduated from Queen Mary University in 2017 with a BA Hons in Drama. Towards the end of her degree Rosie became focused on urban studies and the urban body. She facilitates drama classes at Half Moon Children’s Theatre alongside delivering Dramatic Maths classes to local primary school children. Originally from Suffolk, many of Rosie’s family members have their own businesses giving her a genuine passion for smaller high streets, independent shops, and local markets.
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Globe Town Common Vision Report â&#x20AC;˘ December 2019