William Perrin TAL

Empowered communities fighting decayInnovate to Save WorkshopSessions House Lecture TheatreMaidstone, Kent

18 December 2009

William Perrin - william@talkaboutlocal.org

Talk About Local (West Midlands) Ltdhttp://talkaboutlocal.org

Abandoned cars and weekly arsonBingfield Park, Rufford Street 2002Gas cylinders often in cars for extra ooomph Pics – Mark Bailey

Stolen moped Grand Prixs c2002Bingfield ParkKings CrossMost Saturdays when Arsenal at homeEnd with traditional moped bonfire Pics – Mark Bailey

The ‘Crackavan’Rufford Street c2002 Pics – Mark Bailey

Caledonian Ward Safer Neighbourhood Panel

North King Cross Environmental Taskforce

West Area Committee

West Area Planning Committee

CYP Management committee

Kings Cross Development Forum

Gifford, Rufford and Randells Residents Association

Team Cally

Sparkplug Management Committee

Planning Applications (dozens)

....but found huge information burden mostly from council and local public services

We used the web to streamline all this

Got stuck in to these local exercises over several years........

‘Strategic plans’ - many

www.kingscrossenvironment.comover 700 articlesFour volunteer writers – aged 40-65Small number of authorsCampaigns, information, wildlife, events etcImportant part of wider regeneration – crime down, streets cleaner, public services more responsive

£1 million for community under S106Web-led campaign drove people into traditional comms channels required for statutory processesOut-manoeuvred Network Rail

Translate council planning documents into locally relevant language 400 people per day

Stoke-on-Trent www.pitsnpots.co.ukCampaigning, challenging styleReflects local frustration at political scene3 writers, 30,000 comments on local politicsWordpress site£20 a month

www.digbeth.org

Digbeth gritty industrial area of South B’ham

Arts, events, positive stories

Digbeth is Good redefined image of Digbeth on line

Costs - £10/month

Wordpress blog

Team of 5 people400 pv a dayThousands of articlesVillage population 500Wordpress.comC£10/month

www.harringayonline.com2,000 membersHarringay Town and Green LanesChatty informal feelWide range of local issues£15 month

Very small town ningChatty informal feelWide range of local issuesOver 50 membersFree

Kent has rich civic subculture online in some areas – mainly Thanet

• Partnership with UfI/UK online centres

• Help people create community sites in over 150 places across England

• Engage 3,000 people• Give people confidence and

support to create local sites using free tools

• Online support network and website http://talkaboutlocal.org.uk

• Funded by Channel4, Screen West Midlands and Advantage West Midlands

• Bespoke intensive interventions and consulting available to clients

http://Kingtonblackboard.orgUK online centre – Marches Access PointStarted August 2009 with TALRural town life and newsWordpress site

http://W14london.ning.comDeprived area of West LondonStarted August 2009 – with TAL and local NDCLocal discussion and informationNearly 200 members alreadyNing.com site – cost £zero

http://letstalkb8.ning.comLate October 2009 from TAL sessionEvolution Centre, Washwood Heath, Birmingham

•Empower people who live and work in an area to speak about it

•Web allows new voices to emerge beyond usual suspects

•C21st face on C19th democratic systems

•TAL can stimulate local independent web sites that talk about an area, are self sustaining an owned by community, not the Council

•TAL approach gives air gap for LAs (and citizens) leading to better result

•TAL low cost – probably cheaper than printing and distributing colour booklet

Want talk about local in your area?

Short, simple process

1 Get in touch william@talkaboutlocal.org, info@talkaboutlocal.org2 Work together to identify training outlet/approach – ideally a uk online or similar centre on the ground3 We train trainers who get grant of £1,000 reach out to 20 or so participants4 Participants create websites, TAL and trainers support them

http://talkaboutlocal.org