Southmead Selected as a Community-Led High Street Innovator

We are so proud to share that we have been selected as one of just five organisations in England to join Power to Change’s Community-Led High Street Innovators programme. This national initiative brings together pioneering community organisations like ours to test how communities can lead the renewal of their own high streets and town centres.

Our place in the programme recognises the commitment and collaborative work already happening on Arnside and Glencoyne Square. Being chosen means that Southmead will help to influence how communities everywhere can take charge of their local high streets. This could be from helping to fill empty spaces with local businesses, bringing forward empty or derelict sites, to having a stronger voice in decision-making.

Over this year, we have been working with other community innovators from Dewsbury, Stockport, and Birkenhead. Together, we have been exploring practical models for community involvement, and creative approaches to breathing life into local high streets.

We were so lucky to visit Stockport last week where we had a powerful reminder of what is possible. From street art, new cafes, and a library, to co-working space, we were left buzzing with ideas about what could be included in the new community spaces planned for Glencoyne Square in Southmead.

If you would like to find out more about Southmead’s part in the High Street Innovators programme do contact me, email: amykinnear@southmead.org, or telephone: 0117 950 3335.