Roman Road Trust is a community and economic development organisation working to revitalise the high street of Roman Road in Bow and Globe Town, and to strengthen the communities it serves.
Roman Road Trust was formed at a time when Roman Road was in sharp decline – a third of businesses on the high street closed in 2011. Too small to attract investment from local authorities or BIDs, Roman Road was left to languish. This resulted in high vacancy rates, high levels of business churn, low footfall and a lack of engagement from the local community. The local economy – and by extension the community it served – became stagnant and invisible. Yet like all neighbourhoods, Roman Road was rich with history, heritage, local heroes, historic shops, culture, art, community groups, architecture and, most importantly, community spirit.
Roman Road Trust was set up by local residents who realised the only way to revive the high street and the community it serves, was for the community to organise itself and to develop a strong local governance with the skills and networks to attract inward investment, and to work in partnership with the local authority and other community stakeholders on projects that improve the local economy and strengthen the community.
Roman Road Trust’s Theory of Change is a graphic representation of the change process that guides our work. It defines the building blocks used to reach our goals and summarises the approach, process and impact our organisation is trying to achieve.
Our overall objective is one of urban regeneration. We believe long term and sustainable regeneration of the local economy can only be achieved with strong local governance that represents the needs of the whole community. We work to help organise the community, to build community capacity, to create empowering networks within the community, and to help attract inward investment.