About The Bay Anchor Network
The Bay Anchor Network was established in 2020-21 as a community of common interest in which Anchor organisations could collaborate to enable sustainable, prosperous, and healthy communities.
The purpose of the network is to support Anchor organisations to identify, develop and share how they can positively influence and actively contribute to the health and well-being of communities and the wider social, economic, and environmental factors that support healthy living.
The Network achieves this by supporting each organisation to improve and strengthen its own role as an anchor in the community by working through the anchor framework to make progress on each of the domains and identify improvements they can make. It also provides a space in which organisations can collaborate on common aims, objectives, and projects which anchors can work on jointly.
What are Anchor Organisations?
- Anchors are large organisations are unlikely to relocate and have a significant stake in their local area.
- Anchors have sizeable assets that can be used to support local community wealth building and development, through procurement and spending power, workforce and training, and assets such as buildings and land.
- Anchor organisations have a strategic commitment to improving the welfare of the populations they serve.
- They tend to receive (or are significant stewards of) public resources, and often have a responsibility to meet certain standards on impact of value.
- These characteristics mean that anchor institutions are well placed to have a powerful voice in where and how resources are spent and can influence the health and wellbeing of communities by impacting upon the wider social, economic and environmental factors that make us healthy.
The Network enables partners to:
- Increase their understanding of the social value priorities for our communities and how their organisation can best contribute to delivery of these, directly or indirectly.
- Support each other on delivering agreed priorities individually and as a collective, particularly where working across different sectors can encourage complementary fit across projects.
- Share learning and best practice.
- Mobilise collective action as opportunities arise from both internal and external sources, such as funding or research bids, to leverage change.
Geography
The Bay Anchor Network encompasses organisations that have a direct influence on the health and well-being of communities within the wide-reaching Bay footprint, irrespective of where the organisation is geographically based. It was originally formed with a focus on communities within the Morecambe Bay CCG, Barrow Borough Council, South Lakes District Council and Lancaster City Council footprints.
Further to local government reform, our Anchor Network now encompasses Anchor organisations that have a direct influence on the health and well-being of communities within the wide-reaching “Bay footprint”, irrespective of where the organisation is geographically based.
This includes:
- Communities within the Westmorland and Furness Council footprint;
- Communities with the NHS Integrated Care Board “South Cumbria Place” footprint;
- Communities within the Lancaster District Council footprint.
Although hosted by the Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB South Cumbria place team, the collaborative considers members and their contribution to communities in the broadest possible sense. We are working closely with partners in North Cumbria and Lancashire to ensure a joined-up approach county wide.
The map below summarises the geographic footprint of the Network and the communities impacted.
