Knowle West

Knowle West. Rich in history and soul. An area of great pride in South Bristol where the community is changing at a pace. Filwood Broadway has been awarded £14.5m through the Levelling Up Fund, bringing housing, a new library, a refreshed and rejuvenated high street and community centre in the next couple of years.

Alongside many generations who have grown up in Knowle West, there are many who are new to the area from across the globe, with local support and intention, we want to make sure it is an area that people want to stay.

The community was shattered earlier this year with the tragic murders of two of its sons Max Dixon and Mason Rist. The community came together to support each other through this trauma, with the hope this will not happen again, by building a stronger more connected community through its many strengths, local people and collective action.

The Community Development Team work hard to connect local residents with the many local organisations, particularly the Knowle West Alliance. We want to ensure the best possible outcomes for everyone who lives and works in the neighbourhood.

Here we tell some stories of what the people and organisations in Knowle West have been doing to build a stronger, safer, more connected and welcoming community.

“To be honest when you first asked if you could come in and ask the children about the park, I don’t think I really believed we would see anything come of it. We’ve been consulted so much over the years. It’s been absolutely brilliant to see the park go in and the children’s designs incorporated, They are all so proud of “their park.” said Matt Condon, Headteacher of Christ the King School.

Pupils from Christ the King School played an important role in designing the first element of £14.5m Levelling Up project for the new improved Filwood Broadway. 

Matt Cordon also said: "What’s exciting is that the school are now  playing an active role in what else will be happening to improve Filwood Broadway and are now a key player Filwood Broadway Stakeholder group."

The old play park by Filwood community centre has been well used over the years but was tired and required a much needed facelift. With support from the High Streets Recovery Fund, Bristol City Council have designed a new play park and kids from years 2 and 6 have played a lead role in deciding on the equipment and have inputted their designs for the play surfaces. 

Lucy Empson Principle Landscape designer from Bristol City Council said “We’ve been made to feel so welcome by the school on every visit, the children have really engaged and given us brilliant ideas to help us with our designs. “ 

"Pupils talked about what sort of equipment they liked to play on and chose their favourite pieces. They also talked about what would make the playground feel safe. The children designed colourful play surfaces featuring rainbows and stars. They were so looking forward to seeing their designs come to life.” 

The park was opened by the children who designed it on Children in Need Day and since it’s opening has been a huge success drawing in children and parents from across Knowle West to come and play and be able to relax on the Broadway. 

Since the park opened the children have helped make designs for the new library and these were presented at Filwood Community Centre with Architects You and Me on world book day. 

Their involvement in LUF has been acknowledged by Ofsted: 

“Pupils benefit from a wide range of trips and external visitors which enrich the curriculum. They contribute to their local community. For example, pupils produced designs for the new community library and shared these with local architects. Pupils recognise the impact their work can have on others beyond their school.”  

Because the park has become a gathering space for many parents it’s been an ideal place to have conversations with local people who might not have previously engaged about what they would like to see as part of the Levelling Up improvements which are planned.  

These include a new library, extensive improvements to the public space and high street,  new Multi-Use Games Area and football pitch floodlights, expansion of Filwood Community Centre, renovation of properties on the west side of Filwood Broadway and revitalisation of the parade of shopfronts on the east side of Filwood Broadway. 

Our Reflection: From a community development perspective we want to ensure residents are at the heart of shaping what happens on Filwood Broadway.

The park has been a game changer. Getting children from the school involved in something tangible from the off that they can enjoy and is theirs. It has built credibility that we want to make sure local people have their voice heard and we are serious about making sure developments are done with local people and not done to. 

The children have grown in confidence knowing that we are interested in their ideas, and seeing them come to fruition.

The park has become THE space to carry out gentle engagement with people who clearly care about the future of the Broadway but wouldn’t necessarily get involved in consultations or going to meetings. 

In June the Community Development Team hosted a group of community builders from Bradford Council to share our practice and show them where and how we work to support communities. This included an invite to meet local people from Knowle West and hear about community action across the city.

As part of the two-day visit, the South team introduced the Bradford group to Springfield Allotments in Knowle West, a local green space being invested in by local people and supported by local organisations. The group heard from local residents Steve, Nina and Jas who are volunteering their time working towards creating an accessible space that supports health and wellbeing by food, volunteer opportunities and community access to nature.

Steve talked about how he has led on the  development of the land, the hard work of himself, Nina and volunteers, shaping it into a usable space including the growing of organic vegetables and the vision for the future. Jas spoke about her lived expertise and how she is helping other mums and families feel welcome.  Talking about her experience of the day, she said

‘I have never spoken to a large group of professionals before, it felt empowering to do that. It was good to share my experience of being a bridge between residents and local organisations. I have been part of the Knowle West working group, and being able to reach out to local people, letting families know that Springfield is for them, that we are part of the community, that our voice should be heard, and they need us. Personally, I have been doing this for a year now and being part of this has helped me get ready for work, it has built my confidence, and on a healing sense, being part of nature has been really amazing.’

The visit continued on to Filwood Broadway to talk about the regeneration of the Broadway through the Levelling Up Fund and how community voice has influenced improving the area.

Hosted by Filwood Community Centre, Lucy Holburn, Network Development Manager for Knowle West Alliance (a group of local organisations and residents collaborating to facilitate positive change in the area) had a Q&A session with the group. Lucy shared her experience and the impact of working together to support and build positive action. It allowed time to learn and reflect on how building relationships and that building trust between community and large institutions is key.

Finally, the group were hosted by Redcatch Community Garden to enjoy a lunch of delicious home-made food that had been grown directly from the gardens, and heard from Heather Peet, previous volunteer and now Engagement Lead about how volunteers have turned a disused bowling green into a vibrant, thriving community asset.

Julia Foligno (Community Development, BCC) reflected, "it has been a great opportunity to share the amazing assets, and the knowledge, expertise and skills of local people in Knowle West."

Jonathan from Bradford said ‘Thank you very much. We took a lot of learning from your team and the site visits.’

Heather Barham (Community Development BCC) added: “The two-pronged approach of hearing Lucy from KWA give her context about how organisations in the same area can successfully co-exist coupled with residents, Jasmine and Steve from Springfield talking about the power they have taken cemented for me how essential it is to have organisations who are rooted in community and genuinely want to hand over the reins to local residents. It’s exciting to be part of this ecosystem!”

“I have really seen a difference in the way we have been able to work alongside the City Council since the Community Development team became involved and helped us to build these relationships with other officers.” Said Tim Jones, a local resident who has been involved from the beginning of the Filwood Broadway working group.

Heather and Julia from the Community Development Team facilitated a session at Filwood Library to foster better collaboration between local residents, groups, and organisations of Knowle West and colleagues of the council. This came in response to local people wanting the vision of Filwood Broadway to align to the 2012 Regeneration Framework and the Local Plan, particularly with Levelling Up and High Street funding being spent in the area and ensuring local voices influenced decision making.

20 people were welcomed into the space, connected over food and a ‘getting to know each other’ activity designed to find out more about the people we are behind our roles. Then they looked at the ‘Ladder of Participation’ removing a natural hierarchy and instead building opportunities for empowerment, thinking about where they were now on the ladder and where they wanted to be and what was stopping them getting there. Insights included:

"Is the power I want being offered?’ ‘Gets very complex with long process and process stalling’, ‘Feel we are making good progress, but community is afraid of losing influence,’ ‘System blocks’ ‘What does the Council want? What do we understand as fair collaboration and empowerment’, ‘Need to keep building trust so people know they can still influence the design after first stages’ ‘ Finding the most productive way I can lead on something as an individual."

The group then split into smaller groups and came up with their visions of Filwood Broadway whilst identifying and recording blocks along the way coming back together to talk through.

Shared visions included having a ‘good business community, mix of retail, offices, and hospitality.’ ‘Creating a more vibrant, welcoming, inviting space, which is communal and nice to stay,’ ‘a destination that celebrates the unique community that enhances wellbeing, enterprise, and connections.’ ‘A thriving local village centre that people are proud of.’ ‘Greenery, space, and attraction for young people and elderly friendly.’

This session led to a group from Filwood Broadway Working Group doing some focussed work alongside Council Officers to work out the scope of community influence for upcoming developments on Filwood Broadway. Another group worked on a collective vision creating a definitive statement for aspirations. The meeting also lead to the elected member for housing coming to visit the local residents who were involved.

The main outcome of this session was the agreement to have less, large unproductive meetings and more joint working (co-design and co-production) happening in smaller working groups. This has led to better collaboration and ways of working together. Trust has grown. The Community Development Team created One Council Knowle West meeting within the Council to bring together all services and colleagues who are linked to the area to enable conversations to join up their work. Our role is to ensure community voices are heard whilst also providing a two way flow of information to stay aligned and improve communication between the community and the council.

Everyone who steps foot on Springfield Community Allotment is immediately blown away. The views, the calm, how hidden away it is yet within a stone’s throw of the busy The Park Centre in Knowle West!

In 2022 Springfield Allotment had been lying fallow for a couple of years, once a thriving community space run by Knowle West Health Association it was a real shame it had gone to seed.

Knowle West Alliance had a vision for how they could work in partnership with local people and other local organisations to bring it back to being a thriving community allotment.

Through a competitive process with Bristol Allotments a KWA partnership bid was awarded the new lease for the community plot and a lease was awarded in October 2022

Steve and Nina were straight out with their spades getting the space dug over and repurposing and patching up the polytunnels ready for growing in again.

Restore, a local organisation, came together with KWA to help plan an open day to encourage getting people living in the community to share their ideas on what they would like to see happening on the space. This is where we first met Jasmine.

Jasmine has 5 children and lives across the road from the allotment. She has wanted to get involved for a long time and has often looked at the space from her house and wondered what goes on there. From coming along to the first open day she is now the resident chair of the steering group, designing posters, co-ordinating activity on the site, organising activities and raising funds. Jasmine's story is amazing! See a story later on to find out more...

A steering group has been established bringing together all the people working to bring the site to life.

Springfield has become a place where things can happen: The space has hosted Unite Students workdays, they have built fencing and a Polytunnel and raised funds for the space. 'We are More' (WAM) afterschool club use the site for their sessions. Families get the chance to play and learn together in an open space and use produce grown here to make their tea alongside Square Food Foundation.

Knowle West Media Centre have used the site for their Eco Labs projects. New shelters, solar panels and cooking areas have been created. Pumpkins grown on site were made available for local families at Halloween.

Grassroots Communities, a local organisation working with young people, used the site to introduce young people to growing for their activator programme. Man Alive have their own micro allotment site for growing and Square Food have taken over a larger space to grow local produce that can be used within their cooking sessions. Wander Gather have hosted solstice evenings

Local organisation Re:Store as the leaseholder have been managing the site. and it is clear from the diversity of groups using and being part of the site that a dedicated resource is needed to manage the coordination of activities. It has been very much a test and learn approach and by saying “Yes” we have learned a lot. Like all community projects it has not been without challenges. Sadly in November 2024 Re:store as an organisation ceased trading - Suzy and Jane had put their heart and soul into the site and we are so grateful for their input. This seismic change and other changes in personnel within the organisations involved means we had to be ready to rethink how the coordination of a partnership project works. We have to be excellent communicators as a steering group and get the right balance of keeping people in the loop without TMI!

So what’s next? Our plan was always to create the conditions as a partnership for the community to take the lead so we are delighted that the after school club We Are More are taking on the leasehold. We are firmly seeing the community take their power! We are now working towards a regular monthly volunteer day to encourage more people to come and experience this truly special place.

Many thanks to everyone who has been part of making this allotment such a joy to work on. Particular thanks go to volunteer site managers Steve and Nina for all the weeding, sowing, watering and unseen things that make the place work. They have stepped back for now and we pay tribute to their amazing work - the allotment gate is always open should they want to come back. And of course Jasmine for her unswerving commitment to Springfield, it's opportunities and hope.

New housing developments are being planned across Knowle West and local people are rightly asking “Affordable? Affordable for who? Who is going to live here? Are the people of Knowle West going to benefit?"

We know from local conversations that some young people have to move out of the area in order to find a place to live. People locally tell us that the lack of affordable social housing means that people might stay in homes that are too big for them– and conversely some families are hugely overcrowded in properties that are too small. Why? Because they don’t know whereabouts in the city they might end up if they bid for the small amount of social housing available through Homechoice Bristol and would rather stay in Knowle West. Leaving Knowle West would mean leaving support networks, friends and family – and for many they would rather stay in inadequate accommodation than risk moving to another part of the city.

If new homes are made available for local people in a development this might result in the knock-on benefits of other homes in a chain being freed up – making a positive choice for more local people. So how can we make this happen?

A Local Lettings Policy (LLP) could address these specific localised issues. For example, LLP criteria can prioritise those with long-standing local residency or employment to enable people to stay in the area.

The Housing Special group headed up by local resident Michele has been vocal in wanting to see a Local Lettings Policy put in place for Filwood and have asked for Community Development team to help in making this happen. The group is small but mighty and Michele has been joined by local residents Ian and Mike to make it happen.

Housing Allocations Manager Andy said the first step was to make the case for the area to have an LLP.

We knew that Lockleaze had already led the way in implementing an LLP through the Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust so the group went to Lockleaze to learn about their process. Alex, from Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust, talked us though what they had done and then shared a questionnaire which they developed to find out community needs. The group adapted this questionnaire and made it Knowle West specific and then went out across the estate gathering views. 100 people were surveyed and 97% were in favour of an LLP.

We learned about people considering converting boats on their drive for their children to live in, such was their reluctance to go on the Housing register. We found out how much people were spending on private rents and how precarious this was for people.

From our results we are now drafting our Policy which will then be informed by data of people waiting for social housing on HomeChoice Bristol. More work needs to be done to provide the evidence of need and it takes time.

Community Development team have continued to be the broker between Housing colleagues and local residents to ensure a resulting policy will represent what local people need to be able to stay in their community.

Since we started working on this its been a slow and often frustrating process – developments will be happening soon and we want to make sure the properties are built of a suitable type to encourage people to make an application through Homechoice and that local people have opportunities to benefit from the new developments. We are gathering more evidence around voids (properties that are empty and not generating income) and are hopeful that the LLP will be developed soon.

In the meantime we keep making connections with Lockleaze who have been extremely helpful; Ambition Lawrence Weston who have developed their own LLP, and local people to evidence their needs and circumstances and continuing to keep the conversations happening with all partners in the Housing Team.

As a community development worker you dream of meeting residents like Jasmine, and when they come around they are golden! Jasmine Tippett is a local mum from Knowle West. We first met Jas at the Springfield open day and since that day she has played an astonishing role in her community. Heather chatted to Jasmine about how getting involved in her community has changed her life:

How did you get involved in Springfield Jas?

"I had spoken to Lucy from Knowle West Alliance at the open day and asked if I could set up an after school club from the allotments. We were all smiles and shared excitement in what the future looked like and the next day I was at the working group with Ira (initially feeling a little out of place) when I suggested a few things while we were having conversations. I felt heard and appreciated in that space, which wasn’t what I was used to."

What did you do?

"Once I was signed up as an Volunteer for Re:Work I decided to go for it. I asked some mums if they’d like to come along afterschool, we would help each other with our children’s homework, look at growing our own fruit and veg and I would bring along a healthy meal - at this point there was no funding in place - but I was assured by Jo from Children’s Kitchen, that I’d be able to apply to Feeding Bristol for the Household Support Fund so continued without anything in place. We celebrated each child’s birthday and it grew week after week."

What things have been significant?

 "At the very beginning, it was seeing people be kind to each other within the professional environment and allowing me to be a part of that even though I was a resident. The fact that people were interested in what I had to say and that my opinion mattered - it grew my confidence and feeling of self worth. The importance of residents' insights was something I had never thought of before."

"Once the group started up, I was just so happy that people were enjoying the time we were spending together, but outside of the site they would talk about Springfield as if it was a magical place, I would have children crying to come to the allotments on the days it doesn’t run and the support that everyone was giving each other through hard times really touched me."

Who has helped you?

"I have had lots of encouragement from Lucy Holburn and you! Both of you have been a huge part of my growth into leading a group. I think the mums from WAM were the people that really helped me to see how important I was, when I never really felt like I mattered anywhere so there’s been a huge change for my self worth and amazing for my children to see and I believe it has a rippling effect."

What has it led to personally and professionally?

"As mentioned above, I think the biggest take away is my self-worth. I feel as if I have been able to make a change in a generational sense - I think before this I just believed that I was a product of my environment, abusive relationships, self hate, worthlessness was my norm. Being in nature has felt so therapeutic, enabling me to reflect on the way I treat myself, others and even the environment. After so much encouragement from Heather and Lucy to apply for jobs, I now feel so privileged to now be working within a Community Development role, where I know I play an important role. I hadn’t worked for eight years previously and had been in a really sad place for the majority of that time. I now get to work with the most amazing people. Heather Williams and Julia Foligno are the first people to let me know my worth when the imposter syndrome kicks in, which is so reassuring. I now have hobbies that I didn’t ever have. I am so interested in environmental change, I am asked to take part in talks, training and often offered work - it feels so amazing to know people want me as part of their team."

What difference have you made?

"I think I have proved to my peers that 'We Are More' than what we think we are. We are able to do just as good a job as professionals when it comes to creating a safe space for all to be vulnerable and have positive conversations after sharing our stories."

"I have opened up Springfield Allotments to residents and also people living in Hartcliffe and Whithywood, which was really beneficial around the murder of Max and Mason. It allowed families that would have hated each other due to the Hartcliffe and Knowle rivalry to have those conversations in a space that is all about love."

"I have been able to help people learn how to cook from fresh and I think my most recent achievement is creating a safe space for people who have suffered from hate crimes, to come together and know that they have so many things in common besides the hate crime. We have been talking about the need to fight when growing up and how we have instilled this into our children, without thinking about detrimental effect when they grow up. How it prevents them from striving, which has been so eye opening for some people within the group, it is a place where people can reflect and be honest without any judgement - which feels huge for me. I think showing up for people that have had no one show up for them is so important. "

Tell us about the Voscurs and your most recent award nomination?

"I have been so lucky to have been shortlisted in the Voscurs Volunteer of the Year award - it was a beautiful event to attend with Lucy. The shortlist and winners in each category are amazing people and organisations. I felt positively overwhelmed to be part of that, to know people had voted for me was a feeling I’ve never felt before. I have also been shortlisted for the BBC Radio Bristol Make a Difference awards community category, which feels insane as I know there are so many people making such massive changes in the community - I feel so proud."

What have you learned since you first came along to the open day?

"I have learned that nature and kindness is a healer, you can be whatever you want to be and connecting in your community can make you understand how it is important by the feeling you get, being heard is not always available to us but when you put yourself in community spaces there is often a worker behind it trying to create a positive outcome. It is all within you and you are always enough! "

 What would you do differently?

"I wouldn’t change a thing, I put myself in some uncomfortable situations at the beginning, I wasn’t used to being in a room full of professionals, CEO’s, Directors and managers but the truth is they are people too and my opinion is just as valid as anyone else. There has been things I haven’t quite understood but I have challenged when needed and felt so much more confident in doing so. I no longer run away when I feel confused or overwhelmed I work through it - professionally and personally. This job has been growing me in both ways, especially developing my own reflective practices."

What’s next?

"I am forever trying to grow, learn and absorb within community development and environmental change. I feel now I am on an amazing career path. I just want to be better. I am constantly checking in with myself, seeking my strengths and weaknesses and feeling for the places I may be needed. I intend to be a CEO or equivalent one day - not only to prove to myself I am worthy but to show my children and anyone like me that we can do it too. The sky's the limit!"

With Love,

Jas x

Thank you to all the amazing people, both residents, local organisations and Bristol City Council Colleagues who have given their time to develop deeper relationships, supporting community action and championing local peoples voice from across Knowle West.

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