Case studies

Since its set-up in 2000, the NewcastleGateshead Initiative has spearheaded strategic project delivery and marketing to visitors and investors, with cultural activity at the heart of this work.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council appointed a Heritage Champion to lead a successful bid for a Heritage Action Zone, which is helping to encourage residents to move back into Longton town centre.

An example of how a council gave voluntary groups and individuals a different way to engage the wider community and a framework for ongoing engagement through events to share food.

Sunderland City Council worked with Sunderland North Community Business Centre to significantly enhance the visitor and commercial offer of the Bowles Railway Museum.

Tees Active is a charitable leisure trust established by Stockton-onTees Borough Council in 2004. As well as providing cost-efficient management of council facilities, it delivers a range of commissioned services that contribute to the local health strategy.

Oldham Community Leisure was formed as an industrial and provident society in 2002. Its partnership with Oldham Council is successfully delivering on a range of community outcomes. The leisure trust delivers health interventions and services as well as running leisure centres and sports facilities.

Broxbourne Borough Council runs its own sports provision through the Broxbourne Sport service. Over the last 10 years the service has gone from an operating loss to a trading budget surplus, which is used to improve the facilities and increase participation. This has already saved more than £700,000 from the council’s capital programme budget.

Wirral Council runs its own sport and leisure provision and has an ambition for the service to be selfsufficient by 2020. Ahead of that, investment is underway to improve the facilities, increase participation, improve the health of local people and generate greater income from the sports facilities.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council provides its sport, play and arts service and its leisure service inhouse. Other models have been considered and trialled in the past, such as outsourcing, but the services demonstrate high levels of success under the in-house mechanism.

Oxford City Council’s awardwinning sport and physical activity team works with a broad range of partners, including an external provider which operates the city’s sport and leisure facilities. Targeted programmes, projects and events are helping to increase participation among key community groups.