CONTEXT

Publica was appointed by the London Borough of Newham to produce a Community Facilities Needs Assessment to provide an evidence base and recommendations to inform the Newham Local Plan, enabling Newham to make informed decisions about the strategic approach to the location of new community facilities across the borough.

Community facilities are important social infrastructure that enhance the quality of life by improving health and wellbeing, creating, and strengthening social networks as well as providing a range of advisory and support services.

We mapped community facilities and population data across the borough’s neighbourhoods to understand deficiencies and potential future requirement, mapping a 15-minute walking distance from each to understand how the location and type of community facilities can support the council’s ambition to develop a network of 15-minute neighbourhood.

We experimented with new types of mapping, integrating primary research and GIS data – interviewing facility owners, operators, and tenants to understand their requirements and inform design guidelines for new social infrastructure to enable the co-location of multiple tenants and ensure briefs for new facilities meet community and occupier needs.

PROCESS

Our project included a policy and guidance review, baseline mapping and engagement with both internal LBN stakeholders and wider community stakeholders to form the evidence base.

Policy and guidance review: We undertook a review of existing and emerging policies, strategic documents, and studies. Meetings were also conducted with LBN officers and Neighbourhood Area Managers to understand established knowledge within the council about community facilities and their operation.

Baseline mapping: We used GIS mapping to provide a spatial understanding of the location of community facilities in Newham, how these relate to each of Newham’s neighbourhood areas (and emerging 15 minute neighbourhoods), and the distribution and quantum of facilities in relation to existing and projected population data.

Key areas of research:
– The current provision of community facilities
– Loss, gain and community facilities at risk
– Future growth
– Design of facilities
– Management
– Affordability
– Social integration and participation

Engagement: Publica and LBN conducted six typology workshops with people managing or operating facilities. The workshops aimed to discuss the use of facilities, identify gaps in provision and outline any opportunities, challenges and risks for community services and assets. We also developed an e-questionnaire for people who manage or operate a facility to provide detailed information on the design, use and management of facilities, creating an opportunity for service providers to provide information on need, how they use facilities, as well as those who are looking for space.

Facilities audit: To support the development of the audit, Publica visited ten facilities as part of the assessment, representing the varying facility typologies across different neighbourhoods for detailed on-site conversations with those who manage or work at the facility.

Recommendations: The study concluded in nine recommendations based on the evidence we gathered. The recommendations aim to determine the right policy and spatial approach for reducing identified spatial and facility deficits and guiding future provision. 

You can read the full report here.

You can read the full report here.