Top Award for Partnership and Strategic Working in Howdenshire

Pictured with Rita Lawson (Economic Development Manager North Yorks Council)

and Leigh Johnson (Howdenshire Forward's renaissance co-ordinator)

At the Yorkshire and Humber Market Town Awards held in Thirsk this week, Howdenshire Forward’s Wallingfen Way (B1230) Working Group won the top award in the ‘Partnership and Strategic Working’ category.

This is a visionary project aimed at removing a scar on the landscape the road represents and replacing it with a distinct rural community corridor. The aim is to create community/village boundary delineation and focal points (possibly iconic, gateways), and to improve the visual appearance of the environs of the road by creating a ‘soft’ pathway for movement between villages; e.g. continuous footpaths, cycleways and bridleways by narrowing the road between Newport and Gilberdyke, and through to North Cave.

To also include de-cluttering of both signage and paint and encouraging residents and landowners to participate in the visual enhancement of their properties and boundaries in an environmentally friendly way e.g. by tree planting to help create a ‘sense’ of village community and identity by enabling ‘Shared Spaces’

The local parishes of Gilberdyke, North Cave and Newport worked together, along with many other individuals and groups, including the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team, which played a leading role, and students from both Hull and Leeds Metropolitan universities, to support Howdenshire Forward.

Funding was obtained from Yorkshire Forward to carry out a feasibility study and produce a 25-year plan for the B1230.

The judges commented: “A project that is trying to solve a 'real' community issue. Involving three separate communities the project shows that people can work together with one ultimate aim. Innovative and transferable, the next challenge will be to raise sufficient funds to make the vision a reality”

I am proud to be a member of working group as well as Chair of Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team, and I feel the partnership approach brought the best out of everyone’s talents and knowledge and we have worked across boundaries to promote a long-term plan that reflects the community’s aspirations.

I would like to recognise in particular Dr Gordon Shields for championing and taking the lead on the project, Tania Pells the Goole and Howdenshire LAT officer, Leigh Johnson Howdenshire Forward's Renaissance co-ordinator, and all other partners and team members whose efforts have ensured we have succeeded so far.

Hugh Roberts, Chairman of Howdenshire Forward, said: "I’m absolutely delighted that the innovative approach taken on the Wallingfen Way Project has been regionally recognised for its excellence in strategic partnership working. The commitment shown by all members of the working group, including all three parishes, Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team, and Leeds Metropolitan University has proved to be a true winner for Howdenshire."

For more information on Howdenshire Forward’s activities, please visit the website: http://www.howdenshireforward.co.uk/ or contact Renaissance co-ordinator Leigh Johnson on (01482) 391689, email leigh.Johnson@eastriding.gov.uk

Howdenshire Forward Learning Lab Project

To work with young people and local sport was selected as a lead priority by Howdenshire Forward. Paul Robinson, Chairman of Howdenshire Forward’s Leisure, Recreation and Culture programme says, “This area was prioritised by the organisation, as it is in tune with what people are telling us, and issues concerning young people have been highlighted in many surveys and Parish Plans conducted in Gilberdyke, Newport, and other Howdenshire villages”.
Paul Continues, “We must consult the young people of our communities and the schools are best placed to facilitate this. We must determine what the young people want, what motivates them, what doesn't etc. Any survey questions or research needs to be well thought through to get under the skin of what they are really thinking and presented to them in a format that is fun. The learning Lab project Soundscape project fitted neatly into what Howdenshire Forward is trying to achieve”.

The Learning Lab Soundscape project carried out at Howden School aimed to provide ten students from Year 10 with the technical and creative skills with which to build a soundscape of their town.

Howden, and more particularly the students’ perception of Howden, formed the starting point for the soundscape itself. It should be emphasised that the 5 – 10 minute soundscape is a creative work of sound art. The focus of the piece is the sounds themselves; it was dependant on choice of clips made by the students and how they were fragmented, repeated or layered. The exercise was concerned with dynamics, ambience, rhythm, tension and release, rather than conveying a particular meaning or specific statement about the town. The project included introducing the students to mini disc field recording, along with exposure to ideas about public and private spaces, and a listening walk, which encouraged a heightened awareness of everyday sounds that our brain usually relegates to the background. Field recording provided the bulk of recorded material for the soundscape, in addition to this, two student groups made use of the mini disk recorders after school, in order to capture more of the sounds that they experience in Howden during evening hours, as well as in their home environment.

Finally the students selected and combined the sounds recorded; by the end of the project the students had created a visual plan of their soundscape.

With regard to how the project will contribute to Howdenshire Forward initiatives, it is hoped to use recorded material, which is left in a less edited format to present alongside the more abstract soundscape. This material includes interviews of the students giving their impressions of Howden and some of their suggestions about how the town environment and facilities might be improved.

“I was struck by the students’ engagement with the soundscape project, as well as by their overwhelmingly positive view of their town and community. The students have contributed intelligent and well articulated views, and with a wide range of interests within the group - from drama and music to sport and outdoor activities – these students would make an essential contribution to any debate about the future of Howden. Hopefully, the soundscape project will be the start of a longer process of consultation with the young people of the town”.

The Learning Lab is a programme of Integreat Yorkshire, part funded by the Academy for Sustainable Communities, to work alongside Howden as part of Yorkshire Forwards Renaissance Programme.