Brookside, Telford

On the Brookside estate, all the roads leading off Brookside Avenue (except Mount Pleasant Drive which is part of the parish of Little Dawley), Stirchley Park and most of Stirchley Village are part of the Brookside ward for both Telford and Wrekin Council and Stirchley and Brookside parish council. Following a review of local government boundaries, a new single member ward for Holmer Lake for the parish council was created in 2015.^[6]

There are currently 7 parish councillors representing Brookside ward and 2 borough councillors, both of whom were also elected as parish councillors in the 2015 local election.

A number of community groups operate in Brookside, almost all of them confined to the parts of the ward inside Brookside Avenue. The Brookside (Telford) Community Interest Company which was originally formed to run the Brookside Community Café^[7] (currently suspended whilst regeneration of the community centre takes place^[8]) has assisted the formation of some local groups by providing public liability insurance and limited funding. Further support and motivation for the formation of community groups has been provided by the Locality Community Organiser for Brookside.^[9]

Brookside Improvement Group (BIG) was the first residents' group in Brookside and is recognised by Telford and Wrekin Council as the representative group of the residents of Brookside. BIG is represented on the Brookside Co-operative Board, the pilot scheme for Telford & Wrekin Council's Co-operative Council policy.^[10] BIG runs the Street Champions scheme in Brookside in conjunction with the borough council and a BIG Juniors group is organised by one of the two primary schools in Brookside, Windmill Primary School.

Brookside Big Local is the name for the lottery-funded social regeneration programme run by a steering group made up of Brookside residents which will oversee the spending of £1m of seed funding over 10 years once its plan is approved and adopted. The group has already made a small number of grants in advance of the main £1m funding pot becoming available.

Brookside Events Group (BEG) was set up in 2013 by local mothers who were motivated by a lack of events for local youngsters to form a group to put on events primarily for the benefit of local children but also for other residents. As of 2014, BEG have organised a coffee morning,^[11] children's Halloween party,^[12] an Easter party^[13] and a ladies night and organised a summer fair for July 2014.

Telford Bikes is a social enterprise set up to recycle bikes which are sold at low cost or donated to local residents^[14] with the objective of helping them reduce their reliance on public transport and private car journeys. The group also provide training and coaching on bike maintenance to local residents^[15] and have used the profits to support events in the area.