South Bristol Digital Neighbourhoods

Bristol is a progressive city with major regeneration plans in place for South Bristol.

Working with a wide range of local partners including Bristol City Council, Knowle West Media Centre and the DC10plus digital challenge finalists Connecting Bristol, the South Bristol Digital Neighbourhoods Programme (SBDN) aims to bring economic, social & environmental benefits of increased digital access and innovation to South Bristol. The programme will work with the public, voluntary and commercial sectors to engage the local community in creating a local ‘Digital Footprint’ shaped by the talents, creativity, experience and assets that the community has to offer.

South Bristol has below average levels of connectivity and uptake of digital technologies. While demographics vary considerably, some areas score highly on the national indices of deprivation. In particular South Bristol has high levels of disability benefit claimants, who potentially have much to gain from digital inclusion, and have some of the lowest levels of digital uptake. With low levels of employment and limited local employment opportunities, the community has much to gain from the digital economy and the flexible working it enables.

The vision of the SBDN programme is to create a state-of-the-art digital community, where a thriving digital economy is driven by a digitally skilled community. Project themes will focus on developing internet access through high capacity internet connections, embedding ICT and digital media skills into the community, implementing strategies to provide flexible employment opportunities and enhance service delivery through the use of ICT’s, promote and support ground up community participation and provide a healthy, positive living environment through green ICT initiatives.

Examples of some of the activities the programme aims to provide to support these themes include: internet learning activities and higher digital skills workshops, e-democracy workshops, training and digital mentoring opportunities, workshops to help businesses, and activities to help community groups and service providers to make the most of digital opportunities.