Turning shared ambition into action: The Gathering looks to the future

Councillor Jackie Dad, deputy leader of Hull City Council, led The Gathering

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Hull, its people and their shared future were at the heart of a city-wide conversation bringing together organisations, businesses and community leaders to focus on how they can work collectively to make a positive difference.

Representatives from across the city gathered at Hull City Hall in September for the second annual The Gathering event, reviewing progress over the past year and, crucially, looking at what needs to happen next.

The Gathering was launched last year as a focal point for Hull’s Community Plan and the partnerships which will be essential to delivering it.

It provides an opportunity for people representing a diverse range of sectors and communities to come together in one place, share what is already happening across Hull and explore where greater collaboration could help turn the city’s ambitions into reality.

At the heart of that conversation is the Community Plan, launched in 2024 following extensive engagement with Hull people and organisations.

Rather than being a plan belonging to any one organisation, it sets out a shared vision for the city through to 2034 and beyond, based around the priorities local people and communities identified as their key hopes, concerns and commitments.

Those priorities have been brought together into six ambitions:

• Safe and welcoming neighbourhoods

• A healthier and fairer Hull

• Reaching our potential

• Economic growth that works for all

• Responding to the climate and nature emergency

• Our culture, our heritage, our city.

Running through them are three commitments:

• Engagement of all residents and communities

• Strong, united leadership committed to improving outcomes

• A focus on inclusion.

Debra Gray CBE, principal and CEO of Hull College, was one of the speakers at The Gathering

The Gathering was designed to move the conversation beyond those ambitions themselves and focus on what organisations across Hull can do, individually and collectively, to achieve them.

Councillor Jackie Dad, deputy leader of Hull City Council, led the event.

She said: “What I asked, and continue to ask of our city partners is that we come together, complement each other, and also stretch each other.

“We’ve already seen so much bravery and generosity from those involved with the Community Plan, in their commitment to delivering it, and the detail they’ve shared on how that is happening.

“The people in the room for The Gathering are experts in their fields – and what a range of fields they draw from. Our collective aim is to pool that expertise and passion and put it into making local people’s lives better.

“At a personal level, that looks like health, physical safety, and being able to afford necessities. Living lives on clean and peaceful streets. At a city level, it’s good jobs, clean streets, and affordable housing.

“We have so much strength in joint working. The Community Plan sets out where we want to be, and we know we have the right people involved to make that happen. Joint working is what gives us the rock-solid foundation from which to achieve our ambitions within the ten-year timeframe of the Plan, and to keep growing beyond that”.

That emphasis on turning shared ambition into practical action was reflected throughout the day.

Workshop discussions involved 12 tables of ten invited guests from organisations and communities across Hull, giving people with different backgrounds, responsibilities and areas of expertise the opportunity to consider where they could make the greatest contribution.

Participants focused on the two or three Community Plan ambitions most relevant to them, discussing the work already taking place and identifying opportunities to work more closely together.

Janthi Mills-Ward, executive director of Hull Truck Theatre, spoke about the importance of partnerships

Importantly, the discussions were intended to lead to tangible outcomes.

Partners were asked to identify priorities which were evidence-based, with a clear understanding of who would take responsibility for delivering them. They were also challenged to consider what success would look like and how progress towards achieving an ambition could be measured.

The aim was not simply to generate ideas on the day, but to establish clear forward plans which organisations could take away and continue to develop together.

Following feedback from the workshops, attention turned to some of the work already under way across Hull and the role individual organisations are playing in supporting the city’s wider ambitions.

Debra Gray CBE, principal and CEO of Hull College, outlined how the college had responded to the launch of the Community Plan.

Its approach centres on seven key priorities, reflecting both its role as an education provider and its wider civic responsibilities to Hull and its communities:

• Social mobility

• Good work

• Place

• Belonging

• Future

• Voice

• Partnership.

Debra said: “We want to make sure that, when businesses want to invest, Hull people can take those jobs, and that, when businesses grow, Hull people drive that growth. We want to create growth-makers and the employers of the future, not just the employees.

“Our civic mission is about how we serve this city, because it’s an incredible place to be and I don’t think we value that half as much as we should.

“We’re all working together for the same thing and I believe that, when we work together, particularly in Hull, we are unbeatable.”

A group of young actors performed at The Gathering

Another key theme was ensuring the people who will inherit Hull’s future have a meaningful role in determining it.

That message was delivered directly to the room by Hull’s Young Mayor Eunice, who used a video address to make the case for young people being involved in decision-making from the outset, rather than being consulted only after decisions have already begun to take shape.

She said: “As young people, we know things that adults might not, so involving us from the very beginning is so important.

“Young people are the heart and driving force of change. I believe that, as young people, we don’t just deserve a seat round the table, we have a responsibility to demand one.

“The decisions made around our future are being made in rooms that we are rarely invited to, and that has change, starting from today – starting now.

“Being a changemaker isn’t optional, it’s our obligation. If not now, then when?”

Culture and the contribution it can make to wider change in the city also formed part of the discussion.

The Community Plan deliberately places culture and heritage among its six ambitions, but the conversation at The Gathering also explored how culture can connect with other priorities and offer different ways of reaching and engaging communities.

Janthi Mills-Ward, executive director of Hull Truck Theatre, emphasised that achieving meaningful change across an entire city could never be the responsibility of a single organisation.

She said: “We can’t create city-wide change on our own – none of us can in the room.

Event host Andy Train told attendees at The Gathering that wonderful things are happening across the city

“The difference comes through partnership, so I want to leave you with three questions because I want to be connected with all the people in this room.

“Who are the communities and partners that we don’t know yet? Where is the challenge in Hull where culture might be able to help us approach it differently? And how could we collaborate together, achieve something greater than our parts, that no organisations have achieved on their own?”

The role of culture was also demonstrated rather than simply discussed, with a group of young actors performing a scene from an upcoming Hull Truck production for the audience.

Those attending the event represented the public, private and voluntary sectors, reflecting the principle behind both The Gathering and the Community Plan that achieving long-term change for Hull will depend on contributions from across the city.

It also provided an opportunity to recognise work which is already taking place, sometimes away from the spotlight, while encouraging those involved to make new connections and consider where working together could increase their impact.

Event host Andy Train, Pride in Hull chair of trustees, told the gathered attendees: “What’s happening here today is really, really special, and it’s really important. As many of you have said, it’s about collaboration, and it’s about sharing those wonderful things that people are doing on a regular basis, often without any fanfare.

“We need to work together. This is our plan, this is our city, and this is our opportunity.”

With the Community Plan looking towards 2034, the focus is increasingly on demonstrating progress, identifying where more needs to be done and ensuring the partnerships required to deliver lasting change continue to develop.

For Councillor Mike Ross, leader of Hull City Council, bringing together people from different sectors to review progress and agree the next steps is central to making sure the plan continues to translate into action.

He said: “The gathering is an important moment for organisations and people from across the city to come together and go through what action has been taken to deliver the Community Plan and what steps they will be taking next for the communities of the city.

“This is important as the plan is one devised by the people of Hull for the people of Hull. It sets out where we want to be as a city in the next ten years.

“I was pleased to see so many people, from the private, public and voluntary sectors committing to playing their part in working together to make the city a better place.”

• You can read the Community Plan here: https://www.hull.gov.uk/strategies-policies-plans-performance/community-plan