Whitley Bay Big Local is a Big Lottery funded, community-led initiative to enable all who live or work in the Big Local area to get together to improve the community and make the town a place to be proud of. Whitley Bay Big Local (WBBL) is one of 150 community-led groups throughout England and Wales who have been granted £1 million to be spent over 10 years. The grant is overseen by a national body called Local Trust and used to support people living in a targeted geographical community to identify issues of concern, propose solutions and resource those ideas. The overall national programme 'outcomes' that we are working towards are:​

  • Communities will be better able to identify local needs and take action in response to them
  • People will have increased skills and confidence, so that they continue to identify and respond to needs in the future
  • The community will make a difference to the needs it prioritises
  • People will feel that their area is an even better place to live

The WBBL area has been granted Big Local Lottery funding because it is a “pocket of deprivation within an affluent area”. Areas like ours missed out on funding in the past, and the WBBL Partnership Board are committed to making the best possible use of this funding to benefit our whole community.

Our work focuses on three key 'themes':

  1. Environment — helping to improve how Whitley Bay looks for residents and visitors
  2. People and Wellbeing — supporting members of our community that need it and improving people's day-to-day lives
  3. Premises and Engagement — managing activities at our building and reaching out to all parts of our community

WBBL will continue to engage with a wide range of community members and partners to enable people to work together to unlock resources, strengthen our collective belief and pride in Whitley Bay and change the way we do things so that we can become an even more positive, inclusive, supportive, creative, vibrant, beautiful, fun and happy community. For a flavour of some of the activities WBBL has been involved in to date, please visit the Our Bigger Story web page which highlights some aspects of our work.

We are members of the Mental Health Alliance. You can read more about it here.