THE Colin Neighbourhood Partnership have been the driving force behind the transformation of the Colin area since it was established in 2004.
Originally set up to address the then Department for Social Development’s Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy, Partnership Manager Annie Armstrong said that it allowed those previously working within the community to really make a difference by establishing a forum made up of community, statutory and voluntary organisations.
“There were many issues within the community at that time. They were mainly related to heath, community safety and education. There had been a number of community consultations and that allowed us to address the issues that the community were telling us that we needed to address,” she said.
“At that time we were in Lisburn City Council and there was only one play park for a massive population of young people. 48 per cent of the population were under-15 and there was very little facilities for them.
“By addressing that we were then able to address the levels of anti-social behaviour in the area. Since then we have been working on a number of projects.
“We decided to work thematically when it came to employing a number of community development workers. Instead of hiring separate community development workers for the likes of Twinbrook, Lagmore and Poleglass, we decided that we would develop thematically and have people employed to address the specific issues within the area.”
Annie said at the moment their work is very much still focused on children and families, young people with disabilities and older people through the Good Morning Colin project which she described as a lifeline for many older people within the community during Covid.
“There are many issues within the community in terms of children with speech and language difficulties,” she continued.
“There were also a high level of children within the area on the child protection register. At one time, over 80 per cent of the children on the South Eastern Health Trust’s child protection register lived within the Colin area.
“This area also has the second highest level of suicide rates within the North. A lot of those are males and as such we have been working on projects that focus on positive mental health in an attempt to lower the suicide rate. As part of that, we set up the Men’s Shed in 2015.”
Annie added that through consultation with the community, residents had said that there was a lack of positive activities going on within the community. From that, they decided that one of their community development workers should be focused on the arts and culture.
Now, the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership have a massive calendar of events throughout the year and are working on a number of history projects to promote the rich history of the area.
The Colin Neighbourhood Partnership also offer a number of training programmes to assist people within the community develop their skills and increase their employability.
“Over the past number of years we have been able to offer training around mental health which goes back to our work tackling the suicide rate. Between March 2010 and July 2011, we had 23 suicides within this community.
“People at that time were coming to us to ask what they could do to help. From that we developed programmes around first aid, mindfulness and other training.”
When the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership was established, there was a major issue in relation to car crime within the area.
“We had a number of innocent residents killed through car crime and also a number of people who died themselves through car crime. The police at the time said that there were over 1,000 stolen cars recovered each year within this community. Thankfully through the work of Brendan, our community safety officer and others, we have a good relationship with the PSNI and car crime rarely happens now within the area.”
For Annie and the team, the biggest issue they are seeing at the moment is poverty and unemployment.
“When we talk about poverty, we are not just talking about those on benefits,” she continued. “We have a lot of working poor as well and the hike in the cost of living is really shaping our work. We are getting support from the Department for Communities to provide gas and electricity vouchers but we will definitely need more than that.
“Some people didn’t lose their jobs during the pandemic but they may have had their hours cut or been put on furlough. When people’s hours have been cut, many have thought if they would be better off on benefits and that is the type of stuff we need to address.”
In addition to this work, the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership have been central to the redevelopment of the area. In recent years, they have been involved in the demolition of the high-rise flats at the entrance to Twinbrook, the relocation of the Twinbrook shops to a more prominent location, the development of the Colin Connect Transport Hub, Brooke Leisure Centre and the future Páirc Nua Chollann, and they are currently working on plans for a new community hub and health centre to be located next to the Colin Connect Transport Hub.
“There are services within the community that people don’t know exist because they are hidden away. We have a business case being developed by Urban Villages for a new Community Hub which we hope will be built within the next two years.
“This is about moving services to a more prominent location. The library will relocate to the new hub, we will have a SureStart, the Education Authority will have an office there alongside People 1st training. The Colin Neighbourhood Partnerhship will also have an office in the new building and the disability day centre will also be relocating to it.”
The Colin Neighbourhood Partnership are also battling with the Department for Education to secure a new post-primary school for the area. A recent bid for the funding was rejected by the department but the Partnership haven’t given up yet and hope that the funding can be secured in the future.
If you would like to find out more about the work of the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership or to volunteer for one of their numerous projects, call 028 9062 3813.
