Homes England has recruited 3 North West agencies to deliver a community relations campaign in Cambridgeshire.
PR Agency One, Sensu Insight and Paper Films worked together on the brief for Northstowe, which is the country’s largest new town under development.
“Northstowe Neighbours” was designed and project-managed by PR Agency One in Manchester and features a resident research study, carried out by MediaCity’s Sensu Insights.
Paper Films in Manchester has produced a documentary about the development, which is located on brownfield land, 8 miles outside of Cambridge. It’s currently home to 3,000 people and 1,400 homes, but over the next twenty years, it will grow in size to 25k people.
The film, which is central to the campaign, follows some of those who’ve already made the town their home.
“We wanted to create a campaign which would capture the imaginations of existing and future residents and give the people of Northstowe a voice. The town has so many strengths which are too often overlooked and our campaign shines a light on those strengths,” explained Stephen Sanders, Associate Director at PR Agency One.
“The Neighbours film captures a moment in time beautifully but the whole campaign can continue into the future as Northstowe grows.”
Alongside Sensu’s survey, the film explores why people have decided to move to the town and their experiences since.
“The survey has provided us with a detailed baseline of residents’ feelings about their quality of life living in the town’s early phases,” said Dean Harris, Senior Planning and Enabling Manager at Homes England.
“There were some surprising and some anticipated findings, but this is the first time residents have been surveyed in this way and it was a very worthwhile exercise.”
Paper Films shot the film between March and April this year.
“In our experience, if you look for richness and community spirit, you find it and Northstowe was no exception,” said Film director, Daniel Kennedy from Paper Films.
“We were struck with the get up and go in the town and the overall impression we were left with was that there are many, many people who care deeply about the town’s future.”
