Bury
Enabling people to be their best
Our development partner, John Southworth, has created has gone beyond house building to support seven community projects in the area.
Through the Onward Community Fund, we have gone beyond housing by granting over £43.9k to 23 local projects across Greater Manchester and Cheshire East since March this year. For further details about how you could get a grant for up to £2,500 and to apply, please email socialinvestment@onward.co.uk.
Thanks to a grant from the Fund, Bury Council’s Adult Learning service are delivering work and skills engagement sessions with adults, connecting local people with employment partners and providing a space for training providers to raise awareness of learning opportunities in the area.
Our partnership work with St Andrews Community Hub in Whitefield has continued, and we’ve worked with Social Prescribing and Live Well Teams alongside Calico to support residents with housing, employment and health needs.
We’ve also launched a Digital Skills Class in partnership with Bury Adult Learning Services and Trust House Food Pantry. Participants from the local area are learning about how to get online safely and use the My Onward Portal, and will also get a free tablet once the course has finished.
Providing homes our customers love
On the former site of Wheatfields Day Centre in Bury, our development of 30 new homes is nearly complete. Through Onward Living’s Shared Ownership scheme 14 of the new homes will be helping people onto the property ladder, with 16 homes available via Affordable Rent through Bury Home Options. Customers will be moving into their new homes from early December.
Since April this year, we have made improvements to our existing homes across Greater Manchester and Cheshire East, including 218 new kitchens, 212 new bathrooms, 70 new roofs, 321 new doors, 42 new boilers and the installation of new windows in 210 homes.
Creating places people are proud of
When customers at Hilton Lodge told us about antisocial behaviour taking place outside of their scheme, we arranged a visit with our Safer Neighbourhoods Team to understand what we could do to address the issue. We are now working with a contractor to install additional lighting and CCTV at the scheme.
In partnership with the local council, we hosted a skip day in our Rivers neighbourhood and alongside customers, helped to clear fly tipping and clean up the area. We have also continued to support the Eden Gardens Allotment in the neighbourhood.
As part of our development in Whitefield, we’ve recently worked in partnership with our community in Rivers alongside contractors John Southworth and Connollys on a clean-up day. We also worked with the area’s councillors, a local litter picking group and employees and students from St Michaels and Ribble Drive Primary Schools to clean the neighbourhood.
Connollys worked with volunteers from our Legal, Neighbourhoods and Safer Neighbourhoods teams to develop an outside space at St Michaels Primary School for early years students. We have also supported the school with a grant from the Onward Community Fund and will be working with them to transform another outside space into a growing and reading area for students.
We also supported an open day at Eden Garden Allotments in Rivers, bringing local services, community groups, the Mayor and Councillors to showcase their work.