Published before February 2009
Gill Harrison, Press and PR Manager with Sustrans, tells Barney Jeffries how the transport charity grabbed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
For any charity, getting a £50 million grant is like winning the lottery. For Sustrans, that’s exactly what it was. The sustainable transport organisation scooped the jackpot in The People’s 50 Million from the Big Lottery Fund. The appeal was for their Connect2 project, which aims to reconnect communities and revitalise walking and cycling by creating new routes in 79 areas across the UK. Lorraine Kelly and local Southwark community at Photocall for Connect2 scheme in South Bermondsey, Disused Rail Bridge Links- one of the 79 projects throughout the UK.
With the winning bid decided by a public vote, communications was always going to have a vital role to play – particularly since other short-listed projects included high profile names like the Eden Project, Christian Aid and Sherwood Forest.
The other challenge was that few people had heard of Sustrans although millions of us use the National Cycle Network the charity runs.
Credit: 'T Walker/Southwalk CC'
Lorraine Kelly and local Southwark community at Photocall for Connect2 scheme in South Bermondsey, Disused Rail Bridge Links- one of the 79 projects throughout the UK.
Thinking local
“Our USP was that the project was UK-wide, so we set about maximising local coverage,” says Press and PR Manager Gill Harrison. “We have a small central communications team in Bristol, and we targeted the national media from here, and the cycling press, who were really supportive.
“But we also focused on working with the press offices of all our project partners, including local authorities and organisations like British Waterways and the National Trust. We created template press releases, sent out standard texts, checked copy and provided whatever resources they needed to circulate the story.”
A schedule of activity was planned to keep the momentum going
“There was a conference in Chester, chaired by Charles Clarke, which was a chance to discuss PR strategy and get people talking to each other,” recalls Gill. “We got projects in the same area to approach regional media together, rather than competing for coverage.
This was followed by Connect2 Day in September 2007, where 45 publicity stunts took place in various project areas.
“We provided balloons, flags, stickers or whatever was needed to provide a good photo opportunity,” says Gill. “The aim of doing everything on the same day was to show that this was happening on your doorstep and countrywide.”
Keeping in touch
Communicating with the project partners was also a high priority.
“We sent out a newsletter every week, with an update on what new celebrities had come on board or with new information from the Lottery,” says Gill. “Some of the local authorities got really involved – Leicester were fantastic, they seemed to be doing something every week – but we were also able to identify areas where less was going on, and help them out too.”
Add to this countrywide coverage a hugely popular Facebook campaign and snowballing celebrity support, and Connect2’s success begins to look inevitable – but did it feel like that at the time? Credit: 'J Bewley/Sustrans' Sustrans Connect2 wins The Peoples 50 million! Mark Cotton of the Big Lottery Fund(L) presents Sustrans Chief Exec, John Grimshaw with the winning cheque.
Credit: 'J Bewley/Sustrans'
Sustrans Connect2 wins The Peoples 50 million! Mark Cotton of the Big Lottery Fund(L) presents Sustrans Chief Exec, John Grimshaw with the winning cheque.
“It was an odd situation,” says Gill. “It was important to be confident and positive, but we couldn’t be complacent. We did have a few sleepless nights.”
In the event, Connect2 won by a landslide – their 119,348 votes making up 41.69% of the total, 12.5% more than their closest rival, the Black Country Urban Park.
The only downside to Sustrans’ victory is that the other worthy projects won’t go ahead in their planned form. Gill isn’t convinced this sort of competition is the best way of deciding how funding should be allocated, but believes the Lottery’s intentions were good.
“It’s a fashionable thing, to let the people decide,” she says, “and for us it was too good an opportunity to miss.”
“It was just a fantastic communications exercise,” says Gill of the two-year project. “We’ve done some analysis and worked out the press coverage reached a combined circulation of 60 million.”
What happens next?
With £50 million in the bank and a small library’s worth of cuttings, Gill and her team might be forgiven for wanting to put their feet up for a while. No chance.
“Some of the projects are ready to go in the spring, and the rest will be rolled out over the next five years. We’ve really got to keep the interest and positives going, to keep the story out there and make sure the public knows it will be money well spent and votes well cast. We also want to keep in touch with all our partners and keep those relationships going, because they’re really important for Sustrans’ other work.”
After being so close to the project for so long, Gill is only just getting the chance to step back and see what she’s helped achieve.
“It’s going to benefit so many people – 114 bridges are going to be rebuilt or built from scratch. I have to keep reminding myself that all these things are really going to happen.”
Visulisation of the Ely bridge which will be known as 'Pont y Werin', part of the Connect2 scheme in Cardiff