Bridge Lincoln North RuralPartnership Board

How it works · 2026/27

Our project plan

Each year the Community Connectors write a plan for the year ahead, built on what partners raise at the gatherings. Here's how that works, and what this year's plan sets out to do.

How project plans work

The Community Connector service is funded by NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). Every area, or lot, writes an annual project plan for it. Lincoln North Rural is part of Lot 2, Lincoln North, so our plan covers Lincoln North Rural and the north of Lincoln.

Each plan sets out a shared picture of where the area wants to get to, at least three local priorities, and how each one helps with the everyday things that shape health, such as having friends and people around you, a secure home, and a job or something meaningful to do.

The priorities come from the gatherings: what partners say is getting in the way, and what they think would help. We report progress every three months, and what happens shows up in You said, we did.

  1. ListenPartners raise needs and gaps at the gatherings
  2. PlanThe most important ones become the year's priorities
  3. ActConnectors and partners work on them together
  4. Report backEvery three months, and in You said, we did

The lenses we use

Job, Home, Friend

A simple way of looking at what keeps people well, and the lens every priority in the plan is looked at through.

Job

Something meaningful to do: paid work where people want it, but also volunteering, learning, training and a routine.

Home

A safe, settled place to live, and the help to keep it: housing problems, repairs, debt and bills.

Friend

People around you: friendships, belonging and regular contact, so fewer people are lonely or cut off.

The six outcomes

The ICB asks every plan to show how its work lines up with six outcomes for mental health, dementia, learning disabilities and autism (MHDLDA). We count what we do; the outcomes themselves come about through the partners and services people are connected to, over a longer time, so we claim a contribution, not the credit.

  1. 1Fewer children and adults with mental ill health
  2. 2Fewer people in mental health crisis
  3. 3People as independent as possible
  4. 4More people with meaningful occupation
  5. 5Better quality of life
  6. 6More people living longer in good health

This year's plan · 2026/27 · written October 2026

Where we want to get to

We want the north of Lincoln and the villages north of the city to be places where people, groups and services know each other well enough to respond together when someone needs support. Help should be easier to find and closer to home, built on what already exists locally. The real test is how much of the local network keeps working when the Community Connectors aren't in the room.

Four priorities

  1. Stronger partnership

    Bring local groups, parish councils and services together regularly, so they know what each other offers and can spot gaps together.

    In our villages

    • Keep the gatherings going round our three village clusters, through to March 2027
    • Bring in more village halls and parish councils, cluster by cluster
    • Keep building relationships village by village

  2. Making support easier to find

    Give partners one clear route to local support and how to refer people, and keep it up to date when services change.

    In our villages

    • Keep the How to refer page current
    • Get more local groups listed on H.A.Y. Lincolnshire, so people can find them

    How to refer →What's on →

  3. Making better use of community spaces

    Match organisations that have something to offer with spaces and groups that are happy to host, so support happens where people already gather. We check six months later that it's still running.

  4. Peer support that lasts

    Help people with lived experience who want to support others to get training and start peer-led groups that can keep going without a Community Connector.

Looking ahead

Next year's plan (2027/28)

We'll write next year's plan from what partners raise at the gatherings. One thing is already likely to be in it:

Likely priority

Volunteers and successors for village halls and groups

Village halls and community groups struggle to find volunteers, committee members and people to take over when someone steps down. It came up at both the Cherry and the Welton and Dunholme gatherings.

See it in You said, we did →

Help shape next year's plan

The best way is to come along to a gathering and say what you're seeing locally.

See meeting dates