Introduction

This third UK case study looks at how officers from the Braunstone Community Association (BCA) and Leicester City Council secured two new local bus routes to enable the people living in Braunstone to access key services in the wider area. The scheme was borne out of a series of government-funded case studies, which identified that commercially run and tendered bus services were severely inadequate in addressing the transport needs of the resident community. Local people were actively involved in identifying the type of services they would like to see for their area.

In particular, this chapter shows how dreams must often be tempered to match legislation, funding and institutional realities. It offers some powerful lessons for any organisation aspiring to secure and manage their own transport service.

Background

Based on the south western edge of Leicester, Braunstone is a New Deal for Communities (NDC) Pathfinder area which, along with 17 other deprived neighbourhoods across Britain, received central government funding in 2000 to help the community tackle a range of issues associated with social deprivation. Braunstone received £49.5 million.

Braunstone is a 70-year-old estate, which is home to some 15,000 people, the vast majority of whom live either in council housing or houses they have bought from the council. The rest of the housing is mostly owned by housing associations to which, like council tenants, residents pay less than a market rent. Half of the estate, South Braunstone, was built as a garden suburb with high ideals and design specification; this part of the estate still retains a distinct feel of its former glory. The second half, built slightly later and to a much lower specification, was built to facilitate inner-city slum clearance and still retains the feel of a community apart, that has long since given up asking for an equal slice of the pie.

Braunstone Community Association was formed as the company to deliver the New Deal programme. It is important to be aware that the evolution of BCA and the delivery of the Braunstone New Deal programme since that time has been a troubled one. Perhaps more energy has been expended on politics and recrimination than on getting the job done and solving the very real problems the people of Braunstone face.