Why Thornhill?

We may all know that Thornhill is a New Deal for Communities area, but do we realise how was it selected?

In December 1999, Southampton City Council co-ordinated a neighbourhood selection event. The event involved a democratic and transparent approach to the selection of the NDC area and was held at Southampton Institute.

Over 85 delegates attended from a wide range of the community, business and voluntary sector and statutory organisations from across the city. The session considered a number of competing New Deal for Communities (and SRB6) areas in parallel both in terms of need and opportunities for intervention.

Workshops were held to consider statistical data and the full range of other issues that delegates wished to raise. As a result of these discussions, and following a vote, three priority areas emerged: Thornhill, Millbrook and Weston.

The delegates agreed that all three areas shared multiple problems of deprivation and social exclusion and were asked to nominate an area. Three of five workshops placed Thornhill as their preferred choice (one of these jointly with Millbrook).

The reasons quoted for the selection of Thornhill included:

• Strong sense of community
• Highest level of deprivation outside the City Centre (over 9 on Index of Local Deprivation for Bitterne Ward - higher still in Thornhill)
• That it was the area most appropriate to meeting the New Deal for Communities criteria.

All delegates were then asked to approve the selection of Thornhill as the chosen New Deal for Communities area and a clear majority of those present did so. Incidentally, Millbrook and Weston were selected as the future SRB6 areas.