About Future Ambition
We are passionate about Bath & North East Somerset. Future Ambition is a commitment to working together for the collective good of our people and our place.
As large public institutions anchored in our communities, we have often worked together. However, in recent years we have individually and jointly responded to the collective impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate and ecological emergency, the cost of living crisis, and the inequalities that these challenges have shone a light on.
Our collective responses to these challenges have demonstrated that we can work better together, be more community-focused, and that we can do more by consolidating our strengths and jointly supporting initiatives to succeed that are important to our community.
We will continuously listen to, and take input from, our communities to help us understand the needs of the region in more detail. This will mean we can really prioritise our efforts to support what is important to our communities and consequently deliver more relevant and valuable activities and initiatives together.
Meet our organisations
Four local organisations have signed the Future Ambition Civic Agreement, making a commitment to our local region. Find out a bit more about each of them.
Bath & North East Somerset Council
Bath and North East Somerset Council is the local council for the district of Bath and North East Somerset in Somerset, England. We aim to provide an extensive and meaningful programme of community engagement and have a Community Engagement Charter that sets out how we achieve this. We work with our community partners to develop reciprocal expectations, ensuring that we provide a genuine opportunity to work in partnership with the local community. We also run a Connecting Communities programme which is designed to help public services, community organisations and residents work together to identify and address areas of concern in our local communities.
Bath Spa University
Bath Spa University currently holds 2023/24 Sunday Times Inclusive University of Year Award, is one of five Adobe Creative Campuses in the UK, and one of five Gold Mark Universities for Social Enterprise. It is ranked 18th amongst British Universities for Sustainability and is nationally leading as a provider of educational training, both for teachers via its School of Education or for vocational reskilling and upskilling through its Short Course Unit. The University is currently developing a vibrant campus at BSU London. Driven by a dedication to creative professionalism, Bath Spa’s core values of ‘curiosity, creativity, and confidence’ underpin deep commitments to inclusive practice, sustainability, and equity’. We believe in the application of vision, harnessing all aspects of education to transform community locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. We co-create learning and teaching, research and innovation for this purpose.
Royal United Hospitals, Bath
At the RUH we aim to put people at the heart of what we do, striving to create an environment where everyone matters. Everyone means the people we care for, the people we work with and the people in our community. We are particularly motivated to understand and help address health inequalities and the many wider determinants of health and wellbeing within our shared place. We also work closely with other health and care organisations as members of the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care System. We believe that by working together we can build one of the healthiest places to live and work.
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a globally leading university with an excellent reputation for teaching and research excellence. Our research and teaching are changing the world for the better, and our local area. We aim to contribute to the economic, social, environmental and cultural life of Bath and North East Somerset, benefitting residents, schools and businesses. Our staff and students regularly get involved with the community in and around Bath, developing partnerships with community groups and collaborations with local organisations. We support local students to prepare for their future, working with their schools and colleges to inspire them to pursue further study and careers. Our home within the city of Bath is core to our success.
The Future Ambition Board
We will work through the Future Ambition Board and other stand-alone initiatives to deliver on this commitment. The Future Ambition Board is a voluntary partnership that has developed through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic based on co-creating and realising a shared vision for the region. It is a framework which enables partners and stakeholders to further develop our shared vision and to work collaboratively on projects and programmes to realise it. By working together, we will steer the activity of the Future Ambition Board and its associated workstreams.
The Future Ambition Board has identified five key themes to inform its work, with staff from all partner organisations working together, alongside other local stakeholders, to contribute to the theme working groups.
Download the Civic Agreement
Click the button below to download a PDF version of the Civic Agreement.