Westminster City Partnership

In an increasingly global and fragmented world many people identify strongly with their community and their neighbourhood. Westminster already has a number of unique neighbourhoods with strong individual characters such as Pimlico and Covent Garden.

We have made significant progress tackling deprivation at a neighbourhood level through our Local Area Renewal Partnerships (LARPs) but people experience local services at neighbourhood level wherever they live. So based on the work we have already done we want to give neighbourhoods a greater voice in decision-making and to move towards services that are integrated at a level which is meaningful to local people.

We also want to encourage and enable all our citizens to be more active in making Westminster a better place to live. As well as neighbourhood involvement, volunteering and community action need to be promoted.

Our neighbourhood approach will build on the increasing number of locally focused programmes and initiatives which partners have successfully put in place over recent years. Each of these brings together a range of partners to join up service delivery and improve outcomes for residents within a particular area and with a particular focus such as crime or environmental management. 

They include:

• Six Area Forums which cover the whole city, consulting with and informing residents through regular open meetings.
• Integrated Street Management - which aims to improve liveability by tackling street environment issues in a targeted way.
• Area-based Action Plans that set out detailed development, environmental and renewal proposals for specific areas, aiming to support the individual character and needs of those areas. The plans focusing on areas within the West End have been developed with the ultimate aim of improving the West End, making better and more interesting places to live in, work and visit.  A high priority is ensuring the process includes residents, businesses and other stakeholders.
• CivicWatch and Safer Neighbourhoods programmes which successfully tackle local crime and safety issues, significantly reducing fear of crime and improving community confidence. They focus on local areas’ particular challenges - tackling anti-social behaviour, persistent environmental problems and signposting positive activities for young residents.
• The Civic Streets initiative is designed to improve the environment and strengthen the role of the seven district shopping centres outside the West End. A programme of street enhancements is helping increase the attractiveness of these areas.
• The Building Schools for the Future programme that is now underway will transform secondary education by providing an enhanced secondary infrastructure which positions schools as hubs providing wider services to their neighbourhoods.
• Extended Schools will contribute to raising standards, creating learning opportunities for all ages and strengthening community cohesion.
• Two Healthy Living Centres working with disadvantaged communities to encourage and support healthier living.
• Children’s Centres are ‘virtual’ centres that currently ensure children in areas of deprivation have streamlined access to services. They will be further extended across Westminster.
• Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are one type of neighbourhood management. A BID is where businesses agree through a formal ballot to pay a levy on top of their business rates to generate income that is used to improve their area. There are three BIDs in Westminster: Heart of London, New West End Company and Paddington.