Community Groups, Residents Associations and Friends of Groups

Local people, living in a community and who have a community interest, are best placed to identify what is needed in their community. Tapping into local skills and knowledge has a proven track record for developing projects or solutions that meet the real needs of communities that would not necessarily be addressed by statutory services.  

If you are a group of volunteers looking to come together to do something good in your community, there are some initial things to think about to help you form and organise the group. This may include thinking about the type of group you want to set up or join, your aims and any legal structure you may need now or in the future. Some groups are created to take on a project like improving a community space, some groups focus upon an area to care for like Friends of a park and some residents come together as a more formal body to seek representation for their area and their concerns.

Different types of community groups

Community groups

Residents who want to run small events or simple projects can work together as a community group, without any formal structure.  It is important to take a balanced approach to risk and take advice about what level of formality is necessary to protect yourselves as individuals and the community who are involved.

Community groups are groups of people who want to work together to organise small or informal community activities, using a small budget, with no employed staff or leased premises. Some examples of community groups include:

• Litter picking
• Community gardens
• Fun days
• Coffee mornings

Friend of groups

If you have a passion for your local green space, have ideas on how to improve it or want to see more people use it, you might want to find out if there’s an active Friends Group which you could join. 

Reigate & Banstead has more than 70 parks in the borough. You can find out more information on our parks and countryside pages including lots of opportunities for volunteering in a number of greenspaces including parks, woodlands, allotments, countryside and running guided walks. More details of these can be found on our Greenspaces volunteering pages. 

More information and support on how to set up and run a Friends of group can be found from  Parks Community UK  whose aim is to help UK friends group thrive, or speak to the councils greenspaces team.

Resident Associations and Groups

These are formed by a group of people who live in a neighbourhood and decide that they want to get together to deal with concerns that affect their local community. The group can include tenants, shared owners, leaseholders and homeowners who live in the area.

Tenants Associations

These are a type of resident’s association that specifically work together to represent the views of tenants, leaseholders and residents and in particular, their aim is usually to improve housing and environmental standards in their neighbourhood and improve the sense of community. They can work closely with their landlord or management company to help make improvements to the local area.

Further information

Before setting up an association or group, it’s a good idea to see what exists locally already, as there may be a group that you can join. You can get in contact with one of our Community Development Workers to find out more about what groups are established in your area, or help to get started.

If you are a tenant or leaseholder you may want to contact your housing provider or landlord, who may be able to tell you if a group exists or provide some guidance on how to get started.