Stories: Loughborough Junction Action Group and LJ Works
Improved wellbeing and opportunities for local residents
In Lambeth, the Loughborough Junction Action Group (LJAG) has been delivering community-led projects for over ten years. Since 2016, it has been working with Lambeth Council and the social enterprise Meanwhile Space CIC to use neglected land in Loughborough Junction to improve wellbeing and provide opportunities for local residents. We sat down with Anthea Masey, Chair of the LJAG, to discuss their work.
By Aman Sahota, volunteer
In the centre of Loughborough Junction, just east of Brixton, a network of projects is supporting residents by providing community growing space, healthy food options and affordable workspace. At the heart of these is the Loughborough Junction Action Group (LJAG), a local charity that has been working together with Lambeth Council and Meanwhile Space to support residents amid council cutbacks.
Loughborough Farm and The Platform Cafe are a community growing space and cafe located on council-owned land either side of Loughborough Road and were established by LJAG in 2013 and 2017 respectively. Loughborough Farm is now part of an affordable workspace project called LJ Works and is leased from Meanwhile Space, a social enterprise that operates nationally to occupy vacant or underused spaces for social purposes. Meanwhile Space also manages and lets out LJ Works, which was delivered by Lambeth Council in 2023 with funding from the Mayor of London’s Growth Fund.
Together, these organisations and projects demonstrate the potential of partnerships between charities, social enterprises and local authorities. But how do they work together to impact the lives of residents, how were these projects established, and how are they managed?
Loughborough Works
These projects deliver substantial benefits to residents, both by developing the skills of those who help run them and by serving local needs. As Anthea puts it, LJAG ‘grows people as well as plants’—and there are many examples of this, including the architect of the Loughborough Farm’s ‘Plant Room’ who went on to design LJ Works, and volunteers who have gone on to host cookery workshops and to set up a kombucha fermentation business at The Platform Cafe.
The farm acts as a community hub where people get together to socialise, drink tea, and grow and harvest fruit and vegetables grown without the intervention of chemicals or pesticides. From its beginning, it addressed an unmet need and quickly became popular, serving the green-fingered, as well as those who are new to gardening, and providing a valuable space for vulnerable individuals to learn new skills and connect with nature. Food growing areas are also of environmental and ecological value, helping to reduce the additional heat generated in urban areas and providing a home for wildlife and insects.
The Platform Cafe provides nutritious vegetarian and vegan food at an affordable price. Much of what is sold at the cafe is sourced locally, including bread, pastries, coffee and kimchi. Embracing circularity, it uses waste food from City Harvest and its own food waste is composted at Loughborough Farm. Profits are reinvested into social impact work, including events, workshops and free meals for those in need.
The activities of The Platform Cafe complement those of the newly opened LJ Works, which is similarly dedicated to providing opportunities for local residents and businesses. The distinctive structure offers below-market rate studios, offices, meeting rooms and desk space to residents of the adjacent Loughborough Estate. The impact of the affordable workspace is extended through ‘community giveback’ events, which are skill- and knowledge-sharing events run by LJ Works’ tenants. This relationship is set to strengthen, as LJAG and Meanwhile Space are planning to install equipment (an anaerobic digester) to convert biodegradable waste into power for LJ Works
Working together to set up community projects
A key part of LJAG’s success in setting up its projects has been through constructive engagement with Lambeth Council, including in the co-commissioning of the 2013 Loughborough Junction Plan. Two of the sites identified in the plan as being for community projects would eventually become home to Loughborough Farm and The Platform Cafe.
Loughborough Farm was originally set up on a ‘meanwhile’ (temporary) basis, with no formal lease. It quickly became a vital and popular community space, leading Lambeth Council to seek alternative ways to finance the development of the site rather than sell it for commercial development.
Following its original establishment as a temporary project, LJAG worked with Lambeth Council to develop a long-term solution for Loughborough Farm, resulting in proposals to co-locate affordable workspace on the site in the form of LJ Works. The project, completed in 2023, was awarded £1.6m from the Mayor of London’s Growth Fund, with £900,000 provided by Lambeth Council.
Loughborough Farm now has a 20-year sub-lease from Meanwhile Space, who lease the land from Lambeth Council. The Platform Cafe, which opened in 2017, is leased separately from Lambeth Council.
As well as setting up their own projects, LJAG has been involved in taking on existing community assets. Nearby is the Grove Adventure Playground, which was established in 1969 and historically relied on support from Lambeth Council. When this funding was discontinued in 2018, the future of the playground was uncertain. LJAG stepped in and now raises funds for and manages the playground.
Key to delivering LJAG’s projects is a well-organised governance structure that gives a voice to volunteers. LJAG is a charity run by a board of trustees who make key management decisions, with input from the volunteer-run management committee. Securing funding is one of the main challenges for the organisation and LJAG’s fundraising committee, which meets weekly, applies to trusts and foundations for both project and core funding. Through grant applications and appeal letters it applies to and works with large national charities such as The National Lottery; London-wide charities such as City Bridge Foundation and Go London; local Lambeth based funders such as Lambeth Council and the Lambeth Wellbeing Fund; and smaller charitable trusts.
Succeeding at this requires LJAG to be alert to opportunities, whether taking on existing community assets or adapting their activities to align with specific grants. Operating in the voluntary sector can present challenges, especially in terms of securing funding, and LJAG has benefitted from knowledge sharing with other local charities, including Building Young Brixton, a partnership of 10 play and youth organisations working in and around Brixton and Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP).
LJ Works has a different operating model. As Meanwhile Space is a social enterprise, a share of the profits from LJ Works are reinvested or used to improve skills locally. Eventually, the intention is for management of LJ Works to pass to a local steering group through a Community Asset Transfer.
Loughborough Junction is an area faced with challenges, but it benefits from a close-knit network of organisations and projects that have succeeded by working well together and forging relationships with Lambeth Council. The collective impact of these projects is greater than the sum of their parts. The work of LJAG, Meanwhile Space and Lambeth Council is helping to improve health and wellbeing while also presenting opportunities for residents and businesses to gain skills and pay this forward.