 Mentioned in the Doomsday Book, Hollington means 'the town in the hollow'. Nestling snugly between the high ground of the Ridge and the English Channel, the region is largely green and leafy with woods, water and a farm - not at all the typical picture of a deprived area. Yet Hollington is the most deprived area in the South East and the twenty-seventh most deprived area in Britain.
In 2001 Greater Hollington was chosen by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU) as the only Pathfinder in the South East. Pathfinders are the NRU's way of testing new approaches to neighbourhood management. Greater Hollington certainly has its problems. Neighbourhood Manager Rachael Linton describes it as 'a small pocket of deprivation in the affluent South East'. Poverty is one problem: nearly 60% of the 5,377 households in the area have an income of less than £15,000 a year. There are many out of work lone parents, high unemployment and high incidences of anti-social behaviour. Hollington is in the worst 10% of wards nationally for overall deprivation; specifically for child poverty, income, education and housing. Although Greater Hollington includes four industrial estates which provided 70% of the new jobs available in the Hastings area, between 2000 and 2002, unemployment in Hollington fell by only 15% as a result of these new opportunities - as against a fall of 31% in Hastings itself. One firm even employed weekly commuters from France because Hollington residents lacked the skills they needed. Apathy and perception of failure were commonplace in Greater Hollington. Separating perception from actual evidence was Rachael Linton's first task as Neighbourhood Manager. She had to discover the real state of affairs rather than people's perception of the truth; then rebuild their confidence in themselves, their community and the ability of service providers to meet their needs. Rachael began with the Neighbourhood Management (NM) offices, acquiring two commercial premises in the centre of the area. These were refurbished to give NM a centre to be proud of. An electronic sign above the door notified residents of local news and events. Cynics scoffed: 'Soon be broken, those windows and that sign.' The shop next door was held up and the local pub firebombed during the November week that Rachael and her staff moved into the offices _ but, twenty months later, the windows and sign remain unvandalised. Using the slogan 'if you don't tell us what you need _ nothing will change!' the partnership learnt that residents' concerns focused mainly on providing opportunities for young people, supporting families, improving transport, reducing anti-social behaviour and counteracting the fear of crime. How can you turn a community around when the residents are despairing, young people troublesome and underachieving and the 'supporting' agencies reluctant to change the methods they've used for the last twenty years? All to be achieved on a limited budget of £1.5 million, which must stretch over the next three years, be reviewed for the next three and finally taper out in the seventh and final year. These are Rachael Linton's challenges. 'The budget isn't the main focus in Pathfinders, as it can be in other regeneration programmes', says Rachael. 'The money is used to encourage new ideas to be tried. Pathfinders should pilot new ways of working and delivering services that meet the needs of the community.' One such approach is 'Extended Schools.' They have a range of non-education and family support services in the schools. Knowledge of the children's lives out of school could provide a fuller picture, so community wardens, the police, the housing associations, environmental health and sport and also the youth service are involved in outreach work. Pull this multi-agency team together in fortnightly meetings, and suddenly they're talking -and achieving real progress in their work with young people. Fear of crime and reducing anti-social behaviour called for another 'joined up' approach. Rachael's team produced a quarterly community magazine to unite residents and restore their pride in the community. Anti-social behaviour was partly caused by boredom; the 'nothing to do, nowhere to go' syndrome. The Neighbourhood Management Partnership (NMP) paid for more police - a sergeant and two constables - to patrol the area. They are helping to prevent crime and cut fear of crime. Early intervention in families at risk also prevents future problems damaging young lives. However the environment was still damaged by fly tipping. The partnership approached the residents' associations and encouraged them to work together to solve the problem. Waste ground was cleared of rubbish with the aid of a grant from the partnership and more than 400 vouchers for the free collection of waste goods were issued _ and most households had six items for collection. The residents' associations are quick to praise the work of the partnership: 'We wouldn't be here without the partnership,' says Craig Atkins, the Chairperson of the residents association. 'Partnership carries weight, agrees Richard Weiner, the Secretary of the association and a partnership Board Member. 'We as individuals can't get the information, but the organisation can.' Greater Hollington NMP was evaluated at the end of its first year, part of a national process. 'The Pathfinder has had a very successful first year of operation' says the official report. 'Engagement with the local community has been close and continuous' and 'much progress has been made towards achieving Partnership targets.' Jeremy Birch, the Leader of Hastings Council, is pleased that 'The pilot scheme is now beginning to be run by the residents themselves. We chose Hollington for the Neighbourhood Management pilot scheme as it already had strong roots, with community groups and residents' associations. The real test will be in 12 to 14 months time, to show that it's actually making a difference. It's very interesting that local people are fully aware of the partnership: far more people here know about the scheme than those involved in pilots in other parts of the country.' This awareness is not surprising given the tremendous enthusiasm of Rachael Linton and the Hollington NMP. Resident Chris Kingsman summed it up: 'This has brought power back to the people.' Helen Davis is a freelance journalist. | 
