Local residents develop design principles for Gants Hill Hub site

Forty residents are working hand-in-hand with Redbridge Council on the early stages of planning for the Gants Hill Community Hub site.

The residents were independently selected to represent the area and worked with representatives from charity, health, business, political groups, RCKa architects, and Redbridge Council.

Residents were encouraged to use their networks to feed in wider views, which enabled more than 250 local people to participate. In addition, Redbridge Council held a public webinar to hear about the emerging design principles and feedback during the session and via a survey.

Local residents helped appoint architects and developed ten' design principles' for the Gants Hill Hub site, situated on Cranbrook Road, through five in-depth online workshops.

The group identified green spaces, safety, and services as the most important principles for the site. They agreed the top priority should be that green space is preserved, expanded, or spread across the site.

The group also agreed on how proposals for a number of factors should be approached. These included how library services should be retained, and that sustainability should be highlighted as a key priority. The group felt car parking should be deprioritised, in particular for out of borough commuters.    

Leader of Redbridge Council, Cllr Jas Athwal, said: "It is important that we co-create the Hubs with local people, so from the very beginning,  the Hubs are shaped for the community, by the community. This is a new way of working for Redbridge and across the local government sector as a whole, specifically designed to give residents more power over decisions in their local areas.

"The success of the process is demonstrated by the continued engagement and enthusiasm of residents. Some have chosen to stay involved in planning the next phase of the programme, looking at identifying the activities and services which the Hub could support, and considering how to engage the wider community," added Cllr Athwal. 

Feedback from the co-design group showed 85% agreed the co-design process improved the project brief, with 94% feeling they'd been given an opportunity to express their views. More than 91% also felt they gained new knowledge in the process and wanted to stay involved in the Hub.

Gants Hill resident Manoj Vaidya said: "I got involved in the co-design process as I wanted to shape what was created in my local area. Once it's open, there will be a sense of pride that we helped design an important part of our community."  

The result of the workshops has been drawn together in a report for the Gants Hill Hub site, which includes an overview of the design principles developed, a capacity study of the site, and lessons from the co-design process. The report and the design principles will be built on in the next phase of the process and shape how the scheme is developed.  

To find out more and how you can get involved, please visit: https://letstalkredbridge.uk.engagementhq.com/community-hubs