Maximising the benefit of a stewardship vehicle

Stewardship vehicles can add more than 'the sum of their parts' to a new community by combining the management of community assets and the provision of services with building strong engagement with local residents.

Canal in HackneyThe most effective stewardship organisationsGlossary: are organisations, sometime charitable, that have a specific role to manage community assets into the long-term for the benefit of the local population as a whole will be able to combine:

  • effective management of assets and approach to social enterpriseGlossary: A social enterprise is a profit-making businesses set up to tackle a social or environmental need to ensure that they produce an income year on year
  • open and participative decision-making processes
  • flexibility to respond to the changing needs of the community

Stewardship organisationsGlossary: are organisations, sometime charitable, that have a specific role to manage community assets into the long-term for the benefit of the local population as a whole that are able to generate a profit might be able to fund local initiatives, which could include local skills training schemes, community art projects or extra support services for more vulnerable residents. Existing organisations, like development trusts, already fund similar types of initiatives across the country. Some of these extra initiatives could potentially be set up as social enterprisesGlossary: Social enterprises are profit-making businesses set up to tackle a social or environmental need, and could provide training opportunities, work placements, apprenticeships and jobs for local people.

Effective organisations can build on the engagement with residents that has been built up throughout the planning and construction phases of new settlements, and help encourage a culture of participation for local people in the wider community.