Since Autumn 2022, Grapevine’s community organisers have worked in Ball Hill helping residents, local leaders and businesses to identify their priorities for change and enabling the community to advocate for itself and influence those with power. Air pollution is one of five strands of community action (Air Pollution, Environment, Creativity, Business and Community Hub) overseen by Destination Ball Hill’s central strategy group in its plan to build a better Ball Hill for everyone. Following exploratory conversations between Grapevine and the University of Warwick, the organisations secured University Participatory Research funding for community-led citizen science and community empowerment collaboration. They approached Destination Ball Hill to identify environmental topics of concern for residents and the Air Pollution Team recommended investigating air quality.

Led by the community, the Air Pollution Citizen Science Project was shaped by the need of the community to understanding of the impact of pollution in the area and for the Destination Ball Hill to gain policymaker support for initiatives to reduce pollution. The Project plan included measuring pollution levels around Stoke Primary School and the high street at different times of day, to understand air quality, and to advocate for policy change, through organising Citizens’ Jury and Assembly. Warwick researchers led workshops and education sessions within the community, introducing groups to research methods, survey design, and data collection and interpretation. Residents and pupils recorded the air quality measurements, using portable and classroom air pollution monitors and engineered outdoor monitors, provided by the University.

Over the summer of 2023, the community monitored air pollution, and when school restarted in September, they recorded increases for particulate pollution to levels higher than UK recommendations. With this new understanding of air quality, the Air Pollution team organized a Citizens’ Jury with six jurors from the wider community and six expert witnesses to provide testimony and discuss recommendations. Sharing the Jury’s findings and recommendations at a follow-up Citizens’ Assembly provided the wider community with evidence-based recommendations and, through a show of hands, they passed the “People-powered Green Spaces & Transport Plan for Ball Hill”.Bringing together a representative group of jurors and Assembly guests was possible because of the trust established during the programme of outreach and network building.

The project partners have seen tangible benefits from collaborating, Grapevine is including citizen science, Assembly and Jury methodologies into their future projects and funding applications; the Wider Destination Ball Hill group has greater confidence when engaging with local Councillors and City Officials – they have links with the Council’s Climate Change Team and Biodiversity Team and were invited to present their work at the Clean Air Summit by Coventry City Council. For Warwick project managers and researchers, the collaboration has been a remarkable showcase of how community engagement and participatory research, based on needs clearly articulated by the community, can deliver a high-impact project of mutual knowledge exchange, community organizing and community support.

“It was great that Grapevine and the University of Warwick shared a desire to run a Citizens’ Jury and subsequent Citizens’ Assembly on air pollution in Ball Hill, discussing the evidence and deciding on a set of final recommendations with which to move forward. Finding the right jurors and witnesses was exciting and the Destination Ball Hill team seized the opportunity to bring in as broad a representation of people as possible. Talking it through, weighing up the evidence and making decisions together further amplified the team’s belief that change could happen. Deliberative democracy in action!

Leonie Schmid, Community Organiser, Grapevine

“All of the workshops built on each other… in the end everything came together like jigsaw puzzles. This preparatory work ensured the success of our citizens assembly and jury. We also really appreciated that even though we are not experts we never felt patronised but rather supported in our quest. All the researchers really made sure that their workshops were accessible for us.”

Mat Ascroft, Headteacher, Stoke Primary School