Bankside Residents Forum in London made a direct approach to developer Land Securities. Land Securities was developing an office block and retaining the freehold of the property, so had an incentive to invest in the surrounding area to ensure that the offices remained attractive to potential tenants.

The key ingredients to success for the Forum were knowing a key representative at Land Securities through local business forum ‘Better Bankside’, and having Forum members able to ‘speak the developer’s language’. The Forum negotiated a package of contributions with the developer who then took the agreed package to the council as part of its planning obligations offer.

The package included a contribution of £50,000 for works to community space, £15,000 to pay for public consultation on open spaces, £400,000 towards street lighting, and the establishment of a community fund that will help local organisations with small grants of around £5,000.