Directors at The Riverside Group have signed a contract worth £15.6m to regenerate neighbourhoods across England.

The social housing and regeneration organisation has teamed up with Places for People and the Peabody Trust to begin work on the Green Spaces for People project – the first national project of its kind – after scooping a £15.6m Big Lottery Fund ‘Changing Spaces’ grant last year.

The official agreement with lead organisation Places for People means that The Riverside Group can start work on the first of its 12 projects to regenerate neighbourhoods across the country.
The Riverside Group has earmarked £2m to transform neighbourhoods in Merseyside, the Midlands and Cheshire.

Dave Jepson, The Riverside Group deputy chief executive said: “We are pleased to be one of the key players in this pioneering environmental project to be carried out by the housing sector to connect people with their local land. We are looking forward to working with residents and tenants to provide high quality and innovative play, community and youth facilities. More importantly, people will have ownership of their green spaces, as we will be creating opportunities to learn new skills through training, volunteering and employment.”

£450,000 has been set aside for the first project, Steps to Sustainability, based in the Tranmere and Rock Ferry areas of Wirral. The three-year programme will include eco-gardening schemes for schools, horticultural training, a junior warden scheme and allotments projects and training for adults.

Paul Booth is the Changing Spaces project manager for The Riverside Group. He said: “We are really keen to get people involved in environmental improvements to their neighbourhoods. The aim is to generate and sustain green spaces for residents beyond the timespan of this project. Connecting people with local green spaces can have a positive impact on health, as well as contributing to tackling anti-social behaviour and impacting on climate change.”

Steps to Sustainability will add value to the work that the Together partnership* is doing in the area to improve the lives of Tranmere and Rock Ferry residents.
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Notes to Editors:
• *Together is the neighbourhood management pathfinder in Tranmere and Rock Ferry, supported by Riverside Housing.
• Established in 1928 as Liverpool Improved Houses, Riverside started out with 15 houses with rents of just 15 shillings (30p) per week. The organisation expanded rapidly in the 1970s in the wake of 1974 Housing Act, and in 1996, following growth outside of the original Merseyside heartland, the association was renamed Riverside Housing Association. The Riverside Group was formed in 2001 and is recognised today as one of the largest and most dynamic housing and regeneration organisations in Britain, managing and owning more than 50,000 homes from Carlisle to Kent.
• The Big Lottery Fund’s £234 million Changing Spaces programme helps communities access and improve their local environments. The programme will fund a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers’ markets, to education projects teaching people about the environment.
• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, awarding grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.
• For further press information about the Riverside Group contact:
Roisin Rowley-Smith: 0151 295 6180 or 07976412558
• Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Full details of the work of the Big Lottery Fund, its programmes and awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk