This June, we produced our second co-edited edition of Riverside News in partnership with Thames Ward Community Project (TWCP).

The newsletter had previously been written and produced in-house by our Placemaking and Communications Team, with contributions from our partners including TfL and Barking and Dagenham Council.

In late 2020, a member of the TWCP steering group, local resident Yasir Imran, approached BRL about the possibility of incorporating more resident-led content into the newsletter, a project we were keen to support and prioritise. As demonstrated by our work on the CIC and our award-winning Thames Futures project, one of our big ambitions is to create more opportunities for residents to shape and lead community life. These projects ensure that we provide a legacy after BRL has finished the development.

Together with TWCP, we have created a Resident Editorial Board. The vision is for the Resident Editorial Board to eventually take over the production and distribution of Riverside News, creating a community newspaper that is made by and for local people, as well as visitors and prospective residents. In the future, we hope Riverside News will become a new social business that reinvests into the community and captures the voices of residents, providing helpful information for anyone who lives in the area or is visiting.

We are looking forward to our third co-edited issue of Riverside News in December 2021, led more independently by TWCP and the Riverside Editorial Board.

The latest issue of Riverside News can be viewed here.