Our Priorities

Big Local is an exciting opportunity for residents in 150 areas, including Farley Hill, around England to use at least £1m each to make a massive and lasting positive difference to their communities.

Big Local brings together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make their area an even better place to live.

Local Trust administers the programme nationwide. Local Trust are an invaluable resource, in terms of advice and support, to each of the 150 areas around the country.

The Big Lottery Fund is the main funder of the Big Local programme

A partnership is a resident-led initiative and every Big Local must have a partnership made up of local residents and representatives from local groups/organisations active in the area. There is a requirement that a majority (at least 51%) of partnership members should be local residents. Farley Big Local is the name of our partnership.

The role of the partnership is to:

• bring together the community’s views, and make the overall decisions about how Big Local will work in Farley and how to use the £1m
• ensure Big Local is resident-led and that people across the Big Local area have a genuine and continuing opportunity to be involved
• work with the locally trusted organisation to ensure the Big Local plan is carried out
• review the plan, in order to create a follow-on plan for future years
• connect with local organisations, businesses, public agencies,councillors and others who can deliver activities and help make Big Local a success
• work with the Local Trust rep and locally trusted organisation to achieve change

All Big Local areas are required to develop a community plan that builds on what is good about the area; provides community-wide benefits; responds to local priorities; and satisfies Big Local outcomes.

The Big Local partnership is responsible for making the decisions about how best to spend or invest the funds based on the agreed vision and plan for the local area. The vision and plan are created by local residents and is reviewed annually. The partnership is supported by a locally trusted organisation which is responsible for administering the funding in line with the plan. The locally trusted organisation for Farley Big Local is Age Concern Luton.

Age Concern Luton is the town’s biggest charity supporting older people and their families. The charity provides care in the community enabling independent living for many. A key priority for the charity is to make Luton a wonderful place to live and grow old. As such supporting local communities to make improvements to their areas is a natural extension of the charity’s day to day work and strategic vision. Age Concern Luton is delighted to support community causes and foster ever lasting change.

Age Concern Luton was chosen by the partnership from a number of possible organisations. Age Concern Luton acts as the accountable body and administers the funds on behalf of Farley Big Local, ensuring that the proper financial controls are in place.

Since the Partnership is not a formal organisation with its own constitution, Age Concern Luton performs a number of functions on behalf of the partnership, notably employing staff.

Local Trust does not expect partnerships to have a bank account, process invoices or deliver lots of activities. This is why partnerships work with organisations that they trust and who have the appropriate skills and structures in place to assist.