A quality of life monitoring strategy for Harlow and Gilston Garden Town

Client: Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Partnership

Project type: Stewardship planning

Location: Harlow and Gilston and the surrounding area

Funding: DLUHC Proptech 3 Fund via HGGT

Timeline: April 2023 – August 2024

What was the project?

At a time when community wellbeing is increasingly recognised as a crucial aspect of urban development, the Quality of Life Foundation partnered with the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town Partnership (HGGT) to create a transformative Quality of Life monitoring strategy. This initiative not only aimed to enhance the quality of life for residents but also serves as a scalable model for future projects across the country.

Building on our quality of life mapping project with Harlow and Gilston Garden Town partnership, we were commissioned to help shape their placemaking strategies. Our goal was to create key tools to measure changes in quality of life over time. This led to the development of a Quality of Life monitoring strategy, Quality of Life Indicators, a digital dashboard and a digital user guide.

The key objectives of the project were to:

  • align Quality of Life Indicators with HGGT’s metrics of success
  • help HGGT understand how stewardship is informed by the local authorities’  community engagement
  • build on HGGT’s vision for public health and social value by connecting their six stewardship charter principles with the broader Quality of Life Framework, within the LA’s placemaking efforts.
  • engage stakeholders to clarify expectations and offer flexible ways to measure quality of life
  • increase the impact and scale of this type of project beyond HGGT

What did we do?

We used the data collected through the earlier Your Quality of Life consultation to establish a solid baseline for measuring quality of life in Harlow and Gilston and the surrounding areas. To ensure a comprehensive and useful approach, we aligned the Quality of Life monitoring strategy with HGGT’s existing Stewardship Charter and the Thriving Together public health strategy. This not only connected quality of life indicators to key strategic goals but also integrated the work of different teams within HGGT.

We reviewed and refined the Quality of Life monitoring strategy, updating the methodology from our previous project. We mapped out Quality of Life indicators against the Stewardship Charter and Thriving Together strategy, showing how stewardship can be used as a model for tracking and improving quality of life. Throughout the process, we provided clear guidance on how to use these indicators to track Quality of Life (QoL) scores, which were informed by resident and community feedback, ultimately creating a user-friendly QoL tracker for ongoing measurement.

To support council officers, we delivered workshops and engagement materials, gathering insights into their priorities and ensuring the QoL indicators reflected their needs. These insights helped refine the strategy, making it more relevant and practical for long-term use whilst preventing any double-work in any similar workstreams within teams at HGGT.

We tested and provided recommendations for a digital platform to centralise and manage the data. The platform offers easy access to the data captured in the QoL Tracker, which organises data from various sources, enabling a continuous review of community wellbeing. We also created a supporting user guide, complete with instructions on monitoring, updating the strategy, and using KPIs to ensure the system’s flexibility and adaptability.

Through surveys, workshops, and collaborative sessions, we gathered valuable feedback to fine-tune the strategy and digital platform. We also advised HGGT on research methodologies, engagement approaches, and communication strategies, making sure stakeholders understood the benefits of the QoL monitoring system and how it could be applied effectively to support HGGT’s vision for a thriving community.

What is a quality of life monitoring strategy?

A Quality of Life monitoring strategy is a structured approach to regularly measuring and assessing community wellbeing over time. It uses specific indicators based on the Quality of Life Framework to track changes and identify trends. The strategy helps decision-makers understand how different factors – such as housing, public spaces, and services – impact overall quality of life.

Ultimately, it is designed not just to measure but actively enhance the wellbeing of residents through informed planning and community engagement. By integrating with other key plans, like public health or placemaking strategies, it offers practical tools, such as KPIs and digital dashboards, to simplify ongoing monitoring and reporting.

What was the impact?

Short term impact

This project has created a scalable framework for monitoring stewardship, placemaking, and quality of life. Initially tested locally, the approach can be applied across various initiatives, providing a consistent way to measure quality of life. This benefits all stakeholders—local authorities, developers, members and communities—by offering a shared, data-driven method to track wellbeing. It also fills a gap by providing a system to measure key stewardship outcomes where none previously existed.

Long term impacts

The aim of the Quality of Life (QoL) monitoring strategy is to empower communities by making their wellbeing central to planning decisions. By ensuring accessible and transparent information, the strategy encourages equitable participation, particularly from underrepresented groups. This should lead to planning decisions that reflect community needs and values, while fostering trust through increased transparency. 

For developers and councils (members and officers), the strategy strengthens community relationships, enhances accountability, and supports more informed decision-making. It also opens the door for future projects and funding, while offering a scalable model for others to adopt, promoting leadership in social value and community development.

What did they say?

“Beginning with our Your Quality of Life Consultation in 2022, and now finalising the HGGT Quality of Life Monitoring Strategy, the project has delivered several positive outcomes already; and will help secure enhancements to quality and social equity for the long term, through scalable, inclusive, data-driven approaches.

“With Quality of Life Monitoring embedded in the HGGT Stewardship Charter, the Garden Town is able to measure stewardship outcomes and, crucially, to help secure positive changes to quality of life for generations of residents of the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town. 

“The Quality of Life team’s openness to exploring new and creative approaches to problem-solving, and their technical knowledge and skill in this emerging field has elevated both the project itself, and the Garden Town’s own approaches to quality placemaking. 

“An enormous thanks to their talented team who supported us to deliver this innovative and impactful project, that will continue to ripple positive outcomes for years to come.”

 – Molly Stroyman, former East Herts District Council Stewardship & Community Development Officer, HGGT Quality of Life Project Lead