Report transcript in: Wigan Deal: "There are people there to provide you with advice and guidance"

Please Report the Errrors?

and you can see that time going. That's when you can ask your question.

OK, Ian, So can you tell me what your experience of the deal is?

I've had quite a few experiences of working with the deal team

because I've run quite a few projects across the

borough.

I'd say, on the whole the experiences have all been positive.

Uh,

when you apply for the deal,

it's not just,

uh,

you know, you fill in your application,

you get your money, and off you go and deliver your project.

And then you you you know, you report back on it.

You you do your monitoring and evaluation at the end of it,

and that's the end of it.

You do get a lot of support during the process.

So if you have any hiccups along the way, there's a There's a team of people there

who can provide you with advice and guidance,

especially if things go off track because you say you're going to deliver one thing

and you might need to

make a variation on your project. Something like Covid might come along,

so you've got to go back to them and say I was going to deliver this.

But this has happened,

so they will. They are flexible in what they want. At the end of the day, they want

the best,

the best for the borough out of it.

And, uh,

if they can help people like me and you to deliver these projects,

people from the community delivering projects to the community,

then I think it's a better use of their finances

and a better use of the resources.

So the concept behind the deal, I think, is brilliant,

and you find the whole process straightforward.

You

Yeah, I've I've been writing bids for over 20 years, so I do find it straightforward.

One thing that I did find a little bit annoying during the pandemic was

that it was easier to write a £10,000 bid for

the lottery than it was to write a £2000 bid

for for the wig and deal. When they had the little bit of funding knocking around

it was only five. It was five pages to write a bid,

uh, for the lottery, and that first page is what's your name and what's your address,

you know, and then when when you come to write a £2000 bid for the deal.

They wanted a hell of a lot more administration behind it.

Uh,

and I know at the beginning,

uh, the I think the deal has been going about 10 years now.

At the beginning, the form was very simple.

And, uh, I think they came was stuck a couple of times,

Uh, because the form was very basic,

and so they had to tighten up, you know, through due diligence over the years.

But I think it might have gone a little bit too far the other way now.

And I think that, you know,

it should be a proportionate depending on how much funding you're going for.

But, you know, I'm not knocking it. You know, the deal has been

great for the projects I've worked on, and I'm very grateful that we've been able to

deliver some of these projects and and and and bring,

you know, community transport to the borough

and also,

you know, develop fix it into what it's become today,

uh, helping a lot of young and vulnerable people. So basically, the deals funded two

amazing projects, one that's working with young and vulnerable people,

uh, at the start of their career and the start of their adult life,

and then we've got driven That predominantly

works with vulnerable people and older people

who are really struggling to get out and about to engage with the community.

And both those projects for me personally have been very rewarding, you know,

And I've got you know,

I'm very proud of what we've created and what we've been able to deliver

You

just sent.

Read my mind then because I was just going to ask you which was your favourite.

If you've

both done different things, haven't we?

You know,

one's worked with young people and I've got some lovely

stories about the young people that I've worked with,

uh, and and again working with the old people,

older people and vulnerable and isolated people at home

and taking them out and about that are

grateful when you take them somewhere and drop them off,

even if it's just to the hairdressers or the shops,

or to day care or even the flipping dentist.

You know,

I think the journey to the dentist and the journey back is

just as important to them as having or whatever treatment it is because

they they're getting out for the day for a short,

short time,

you know? And the thing with the with the with with, uh

with fix. It was the young people at the time didn't always realise

what we were trying to do for them and with them.

And it's only when I bump into him the pope. Now, when they're in the late twenties,

you know, and they go. Oh,

do you remember me from fix it?

I says no. Because you're like, 20 odd year old got a bald head and lots of tattoos.

You look nothing like he did when he was 16. What's your name?

And when they tell me the name I go, Yeah, Now I remember you.

So just tell me a little bit more about fix it,

fix it.

Uh, well, fix it was

a bit of a transitional project for me because

of my background was in the motor industry and fleet Management

and I stumbled into youth work. Uh, when I was about 40

as a volunteer,

uh, and I needed to get out in the motor trade because my body was packing up

so I decided the only skills I had was as the motor mechanic. Really?

Uh,

and manager.

So I put the two skills together and and decided to use them,

uh,

to help the young people that were either excluded from school at risk of exclusion

and wanted a more vocational pathway into into a career choice.

So that's where the idea for driven for sorry for fix it came along.

Uh,

regeneration fund.

Uh,

sorry. Coalfield Regeneration Trust funded that to start with,

uh, but then when the deal came along, we looked into the deal,

and the and the deal continued to fund it

as it grew and developed into, uh, the projects it is today,

but

yeah, so that's what driven.

That's what fix it was and that lead into driven as well, further down the line.

Uh, because we opened a workshop and we thought,

if we start the community transport project,

all the volunteer drivers can bring their vehicles

to fix it and have them repaired at a discounted cost and bring some revenue in.

So there was another revenue stream for fix it then as well.

Yeah,

you're a bit of an entrepreneur then.

Aren't you really serial social entrepreneur.

You look for a problem and try to fix it.

So have you any have you any other ideas in the pipeline

of projects going on?

Uh, one that's just,

uh, started Well started two years ago was the,

uh, urban regeneration project that's been funded

by historic England. And that's doing up my own high street.

Uh, there was 69 projects funded by this, and only two of them are community led.

The rest of them are led by the local authority.

And even though the local authority haven't

put any cash into this, the deal values were still relevant

because the deal,

because the local authority supported my application

and if they hadn't have supported it,

then I wouldn't have been able to get the funding to do till

High Street,

which is where I live. Uh, but luckily

for us and for the local authority,

we secured both our applications so we can council

put one at the same time for King Street.

And I put one in for tills.

And we're the only borough

to actually have two house projects funded by historic England,

uh, in the in in England, at the moment, so

that's quite an accolade for the town as well.

Uh,

and they came to Wigan to launch it right at the start of the project two years ago.

Just pre covid. So that was great. So I'm involved in that.

I'm

running that

and, uh, something that's bubbled up, Uh, like a,

uh, an unintended outcome

as part of the community engagement strategy is we started a radio station for

as well,

and, uh,

I've got some money from the deal

to support that. So that was quite good. We got brighter borrow money,

Uh, for that. So that's to help with our

community cohesion and community recovery following

following, uh,

the covid pandemic.

Uh, and that goes live in March,

Properly live in March Or be it'll be transmitting every Saturday, then

with a brilliant team of local volunteers

who are keen to, uh, let me just make a difference in the community

and try and help us develop the town into, uh,

into a leisure and pleasure destination. Really?

And last question, What advice would you give to somebody who's got, um,

an idea?

Um, and the thinking about the deal, What would be your advice.

Ring them up

to ring them up and speak to them. You can have a

like, an off the record. Just casual conversation with them.

Speak to them about your idea, and they will help you. They got a team of people there.

Uh, Tracy, Worm

old helps with the funding too. So

if your idea can't be funded by the deal by the deal,

they will put you in touch with the other

potential funders who might be able to help you.

Uh, and obviously there's loads of other beneficiaries like me and you.

We're happy to share our stories and and and provide

some advice and guidance if it's needed as well.

But the first thing to do is just have a chat.

No one's going. No one's going to laugh at your idea.

They're just gonna listen to you.

And if they can't help you themselves or find someone else who will

If it benefits the borrower, they'll be all over it.

Brilliant. Thank you very much.

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Author

Georgia Davenport

Post date

21/03/2022