About the Foundation

When businesses and communities take matters into their own hands, the results can be life-changing. That’s what we’ve discovered in our home town of Alfreton. By creating local jobs, reinvigorating schools, and giving a voice to the people that live here, we’ve empowered Alfreton’s residents to seek a brighter future. 

The Christopher Nieper Foundation was established to share and build upon this work, gathering all our tried and tested ideas, initiatives, and resources into one repeatable roadmap designed to rejuvenate forgotten towns nationwide. We call it the Alfreton Blueprint.

What’s a forgotten town?

‘Forgotten’ or ‘left-behind towns’ are terms used to describe more than 200 disadvantaged communities across Britain. Clustered around once thriving industrial regions and coastal towns — typically in the North and Midlands — these places show high worklessness, underperforming schools, inadequate healthcare, few social and community spaces, and poor housing. 

Residents in these towns face higher than average likelihood of debt, poor health, crime, family breakdown and addiction. And with little to keep them at home, talented young people usually move away from towns like these in search of better lives, taking their potential — and their appetite for change — with them.