Today, millions of pounds of capital and social investment have poured into the borough from innovative thinking and doing. Guardian Public Service Awards 2016 Public Servant of the Year winner: Helen Backus Read moreThe transformation has been led by a taskforce from Poplar’s Housing and Regeneration Community Association (Harca), which owns and manages 9,000 homes in east London. The six-person Arts, Culture, Community, Enterprise and Sustainability (Accents) team is self-funding and has worked with organisations within and beyond Poplar to deliver the extraordinary achievements. There is also a monthly film group, the Poplar Peddlers cycle group, an environmental network, a music collective and some community gardens. Guardian Public Service Awards 2016 overall winner: Sevenoaks district council Read moreOne project – also achieved through a partnership with the fashion college – is transforming 81 mostly disused garages into FashionHub (pdf), a £3.9m manufacturing and training space incorporating a “makery” for local artisan-style businesses.

Source: The Guardian November 30, 2016 07:04 UTC