Wakefield District Partnership held a two day event in Wakefield’s Cathedral precinct on 24th and 25th June.  The event centred around a marquee housing information about the new Local Area Partnerships and activities within the four Constituency areas.  People were able to find out what has been happening where they live and have the chance to identify ways in which we can improve the way we work by sharing information more effectively and linking into meetings and events within local communities.

During the two days citizens had the opportunity to learn more about the work of the Wakefield District Partnership, meet some of the Partners and see some of the projects that the partnership has been supporting through Neighbourhood Renewal Funding. (See 'Related Downloads' for the exhibition guide and information).

The central location of the event was extremely successful with record attendance over the two days.  The independent pedestrian counting camera located in the Cathedral precinct recorded 36,867 pedestrians on 24 June and 65,526 pedestrians on the Saturday - the highest recorded this year.  The average number of pedestrians on Saturdays during 2004 being just 36,617.

During the event a questionnaire was completed and people were able to identify some of the key priorities in their area - this will be evaluated and then shared both with Partners, the voluntary and community sector and District-wide to all Citizens.

In terms of the things that people said needed to be improved - here is a flavour of the responses received:

• a significant need to invest and develop activities for the young.  This would improve their quality of life by improving skills, and in developing leisure opportunities.
• people welcomed the joint approach to community policing and wanted to see continued development in this area to tackle anti social behaviour.
• cleaner streets was a key priority for improvement, many people identified major problems relating to littering district-wide.

Those interviewed during the two days preferred to receive information from the Partnership about what’s happening in their area through a raft of communication mechanisms, the most popular including the Partnerships website, through the development of a localised newsletter and through local events.

Engaging and involving young people to direct the work of the Partnership is key.  The Youth Mix Van was used as the base for young people to interview and film Partnership Board Members.  The central location on the precinct provided an ideal location for young people to find out how they can get involved.  Resulting in young people being recruited to Wakieswatchdog which is an innovative programme that brings the experience and enthusiasm of the young people who have been involved in various Involving Young People activities since 2000.  In addition a number of young people also signed up to participate and get involved in the Mix It project taking place in Luspet, Eastmoor and Agbrigg - this is a project which enables young people from the three areas to come together and work on art based projects around music, video and dance leading to the creation of strong friendships and more cohesive communities.

The results and evaluation will be used to contribute towards the delivery of the community strategy.

Details of the next Partnership event will be posted here shortly, for further information contact the Community Engagement Team on Wakefield 01924 305347. 

Lisa Ward
Community Engagement Coordinator
Tel 01924 305347