On Thursday 5th June, local leaders and special guests, including Mayor Andy Burnham, joined the BIG GM Live Well Bus Tour. The Bus drove guests to different community led Live Well centres, highlighting the amazing work of local community organisations and the crucial role they play in shaping a happier, healthier and fairer future.
The tour was run by GM Live Well, Locality, and We’re Right Here. It highlighted the work that is being done locally to tackle social, and economic inequalities locally. The Live Well project has just received a £10 million investment from GMCA and NHS GM to continue their work. You can read more on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority website.
Why are community projects important?
Recent research has shown that people across the UK feel shut out of decisions that shape their neighbourhoods. The ‘We’re Right Here’ campaign found that 84% of the UK feel they have ‘no or not much’ say over the important decisions that affect their areas.
Community organisations understand the needs of local people, but a lack of resources and too much red tape can make things difficult. Greater Manchester is showing a different way forward. Projects like GM Live Well allow public services and communities to work together. These projects create economic growth, social connection, and improved health.
Bus Tour
The Live Well bus tour showed senior leaders from across Greater Manchester’s health and community sectors how community spaces have improved the health and wellbeing of local residents.
The hubs can help people into work, offer debt advice and create spaces of belonging. They can completely reimagine local life, tackling health, social, and economic inequalities.
Mark Fisher, Chief Executive at NHS Greater Manchester said:
“The Live Well Programme is fundamental to the future of the NHS in Greater Manchester because only by working in communities, with communities utilising the power of communities, can we reduce demand on the health service.”
The tour visited several community hubs. They were Sale West Community Centre in Trafford, CommUNITY Little Hulton and Peel Park Pavilion in Salford. Other hubs included All Souls in Bolton and CommUnity Corner in Wigan.
Diane, who visits Sale West Community Centre’s FoodShare scheme, said:
“I come here for FoodShare. The smallest thing can make a big difference to someone’s life. Just by listening. Just by being there. It’s really important. It’s something I look forward to every Friday. It’s like a little goal that I get up and go out. It’s the only day I go out in the week.”
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:
“Community-powered spaces like those we visited today are redefining how we put meaningful, everyday support back at the heart of every neighbourhood.
“They’re showing what’s possible when communities are empowered to lead. These are welcoming spaces that are delivering that help and support with, not simply at, local people. This is our vision for GM Live Well – joined-up public services that lift people up, instead of tick-box systems that knock them down.”
During the journey attendees chatted with friends from Chatty Bus. Chatty Bus is an initiative that helps to reduce loneliness felt in communities. They also took part in learning and reflection with Local Trust and the We’re Right Here campaign.
The insights from the tour will inform how Greater Manchester builds future community services. It will also influence how public services and funding operate.
