Witchford Council

Tricolor was hired to create a comprehensive research and engagement programme to audit the local provision of community facilities and then gather information from the community itself on the type of provision they actually needed.

Witchford is a large village in Cambridgeshire that has seen its population grow significantly in the past ten years. Facilities available to the community are numerous and range in size, quality and capacity. Witchford Council had the opportunity to secure funding to develop community facilities but first wanted to have a thorough understanding of existing facilities, the opinions of their current users and the broader needs of the community. Tricolor was appointed to carry out this very detailed and vital research to help the council decide on the best way to proceed – improve existing facilities or look to develop a new one-stop facility that would meet all the needs of the community in one location

Facilities audit

Firstly Tricolor carried out a searching audit of the thirteen existing community facilities. Existing research data and reports were assimilated. Desk research was carried out to supplement the findings to clarify the regional and sector contexts using external sources including the local council, The Office for National Statistics etc. Visits were then scheduled for each facility and meetings arranged with the owner /operators to gather information about usage levels, types of uses, users and to perform a general appraisal of the condition and standard of the facility. Past users were consulted for their views about the specific facility. Photography was undertaken where appropriate. This provided all the information needed to produce a definitive, qualitative, factual appraisal of the existing facilities, their use, and how they are developed and promoted.

Assessing local needs
i – Groups
The facilities audit was comprehensive but could not by its nature tell us about the feelings, needs or perceptions of local people as far as community facilities are concerned. There was only one way to gather this qualitative information and that was by talking to them face to face in groups and as individuals. To achieve this Tricolor made arrangements to meet with a cross section of local groups and undertook short informal sessions to gather their thoughts and perceptions about the facilities and any perceived gaps in provision. The results were an exploration of attitudes, feelings, opinions and experiences rather than fact. These sessions not only provided the locals’ emotional response but also give a sense of ownership and engagement to the participants. It was difficult to statistically analyse the results of these groups sessions because they are based on opinions, however, we interpreted them by creating an evaluation matrix and a coding system to produce headline findings.

ii – Individuals
In parallel with the group meetings, Tricolor undertook market research on individuals within the village to get general quantitative data related to locals’ knowledge of existing facilities. We organised interviewers to catch people after dropping children off at school, as they were leaving the local shops or waiting for the local football matches to begin. We also inserted an incentivised self-completion questionnaire in the local magazine and made provision for drop-off points throughout the village. An online version of the form was also spread “virally” by community and group leaders to their contacts and could be saved via a link and completed online for maximum ease. We also ensured a press release appeared in the local media too so the community knew this was their chance to have their say. Almost 12% of the adult population of Witchford completed forms which gave us a very representative research sample.

We delivered a comprehensive and definitive up-to-date report of the provision of community facilities in Witchford. Crucially, it also captured the views of local residents and an assessment of any barriers that stop people from getting involved/accessing existing facilities including physical, organisational, intellectual, financial, social and cultural barriers. We also, as required, made recommendations on how facilities could be improved in the short term as well as recommendation for a long-term facilities strategy together with outline plans and fundraising proposals.