Bright Culture was commissioned in 2022 by the Wildlife Trust Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire to undertake audience research and consultation for their Peatland Progress Project.
Peatland Progress: Is a 5-year National Lottery Heritage Fund project bringing hope for wildlife, the climate, farming and communities in the Cambridgeshire Fens. It is the UK’s first major experiment in wet farming, which will keep carbon locked up, improve water quality, transform the landscape for people, peat soils and wildlife in the Fens.
In this development phase of the Peatland Progress Project, we planned, led, and delivered an innovative community consultation programme in various settings to help the WTBCN build connections with people living locally in the Great Fen. The consultation emphasised engaging with and understanding the perspectives of young people aged 11 -24 in the local area (Peterborough and Huntingdon) and other underrepresented communities. Our methods were varied and designed with local community organisations, stakeholders and youth provisions.
Delivery included:
- Engaging, training & mentoring WTBCN staff and volunteers to assist with consultation.
- On-the-ground delivery of five nature-themed interactive consultation sessions with young people aged 11-24, which included working with The Kite Trust, a charity which supports the wellbeing and creativity of LGBTQ+ young people in Cambridgeshire; High Heritage, a local charity based in Peterborough which works with young black people aged 6-18yrs. Creative sessions were delivered on-site and used den building, pottery making, campfire building, bug hunting, fabric dying, crafting, and stick whittling to engage and consult with the young people.
- Led an in-school consultation session with John Fisher Catholic High School’s (a school in the centre of Peterborough) Eco-Warrior group(aged 11-18), who meet regularly as part of an extra-curricular club.
- Providing support and resources to the team and the youth group leaders at The Young People’s Counselling Service (YPCS) and Centre 33, a Young Carers support charity. Including an online Youth survey (12-18 yrs) for leaders to use with their groups.
- An online community survey for local adults aged 18+ which had 245 responses.
- Consultation with the local agricultural community.
- An Online Teachers Focus group using digital software Collabito.
- One:one interviews with Youth Leaders.
We analysed the consultation results and produced a report identifying opportunities for engagement, local training, countryside skills development needs (for young people), and health and wellbeing needs. Presenting the barriers, real or perceived, to accessing the natural world in general and the Great Fen in particular, and suggested strategies whereby these can be dissolved or mitigated. The report also explored EDI barriers that prevent people’s access to nature and suggested strategies to overcome these, providing best practice examples of engaging young people and underrepresented audiences.
The findings and report informed WTBCN’s planning and were submitted as part of their successful second-phase funding submission to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Bright Culture is now leading the external evaluation for the delivery phase of WTCBN’s four-year Peatland Progress project.
Lisa and Catherine at Bright Culture have been a fantastic source of support and expertise for our Lottery funded project and were an absolute joy to work with. Their approaches and understanding of working with young people helped us push forward our project and gain the feedback we needed to design the next phase. We hope to work with them again in the future and would definitely recommend them to other projects working with young people or lottery funding.
Rebekah O’Driscoll, Communities and Wildlife Officer Wildlife Trust Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire