From idea to practice: what it really takes to make community power work

July 1, 2026 By Mike Barker, Deputy Chief Executive, Oldham Council

There was a time when ‘community power’ and ‘place-based working’ sat at the edge of public service reform.

Not dismissed exactly. But not quite trusted either.

That moment has passed.

Today, these ideas are much closer to the centre. You hear it in national policy, and you see it in the choices local leaders are making every day. The language of neighbourhoods, prevention and participation is now mainstream.

But while the conversation has moved on, the system itself is still catching up.

And if we are honest, we are now in a more demanding phase: not making the case, but making it real.

What experience teaches you

Much of my own thinking has been shaped by the last few years working in Oldham.

This isn’t a place that approached community power as a theory. It was a necessity.

When demand is rising, resources are constrained, and inequalities are deep, you run out of road with traditional models quite quickly. You are forced to ask more fundamental questions about how the system works – and who it works for.

In Oldham, that led us towards a different way of organising:

Starting with neighbourhoods, not organisations

Designing around people’s lives, not service boundaries

Treating relationships – between residents, frontline workers and partners – as the core of the system, not an add-on

Over time, that shifts how you see things.

You stop asking “how do we fix this service?” and start asking “how do we help this community thrive?”

That is a subtle change. But it alters almost everything that follows.

From services to relationships

This is where relational public services come into their own.

At their simplest, they start from a basic insight: people’s lives are complex, and outcomes are shaped as much by relationships as by interventions.

You see it clearly at neighbourhood level.

 The issues people face rarely fit neatly into organisational categories. Housing, health, employment, family – they are all intertwined. Trying to address them through fragmented services will always be partial.

So the work becomes about connection:

Practitioners building trust over time, rather than delivering episodic interventions

Services working together around shared people and places, not separate targets

Communities seen as partners with assets, not just needs

This is not a softer version of public service. It is a more effective one.

But it does require a different kind of system around it.

Where the friction still sits

And this is where most places will recognise the tension because while practice is evolving, the underlying architecture often isn’t.

We still tend to:

Fund by organisation, not place

Measure activity, not outcomes that matter to people

Regulate for compliance, rather than learning

Hold risk tightly at the centre, even when delivery sits locally

The result is a mismatch.

We ask frontline teams to work relationally, collaboratively and preventatively – but surround them with systems that pull in the opposite direction.

In integrated care, for example, there is strong appetite at place level to tackle the root causes of inequality. But progress is often constrained by unclear accountability, partial delegation and resource pressures.

 So the energy is there. But it doesn’t always land as change at scale.

What feels different now

Despite that, something important has shifted.

There is a growing recognition – both locally and nationally – that the old model cannot meet the complexity we now face.

Community power isn’t being positioned as a ‘nice to have’, but as a route to more sustainable, preventative public services.

And perhaps more importantly, many places are no longer waiting for permission.

They are taking the powers they already have and using them differently:

Building neighbourhood teams that cut across organisational boundaries

Creating new ways for communities to influence decisions that affect them

Testing what genuinely local systems might look like in practice

This is often messy, iterative work. But it is real.

What needs to happen next

If we’re serious about moving beyond early adopters, a few priorities feel clear.

1. Be explicit about the shift you are trying to make

One of the lessons from Oldham is that this work needs a strong, shared narrative.

Not a slogan, but a clear articulation of:

What you are trying to change

Why it matters

And how it will feel different for residents and staff

Without that clarity, neighbourhood working can easily become a collection of disconnected initiatives.

With it, it becomes a system.

2. Organise deliberately around neighbourhoods

Neighbourhoods matter because they are where complexity becomes visible and manageable.

But they only work as an organising principle if you design for them:

Aligning services to a shared footprint

Creating integrated, multi-disciplinary teams

Connecting formal services with VCSE organisations and informal community networks

This doesn’t happen by accident. It takes sustained effort to bring different parts of the system together in one place.

3. Share power in a way that is tangible

Community power can sometimes be reduced to better engagement.

That misses the point.

The real question is: what decisions, resources or influence are you prepared to shift?

That might mean:

Participatory approaches to local priorities

Community-led use of assets and spaces

Greater transparency about how decisions are made

Without this, ‘power’ remains with institutions, even if the language suggests otherwise.

4. Rewire the system around relational practice

This is the hardest part.

If relational working is to move beyond pockets of brilliance, it needs to be supported by:

Workforce models that prioritise continuity and trust

Funding that allows for prevention, not just crisis response

Performance and regulatory frameworks that support learning

Otherwise we will continue to rely on exceptional people working against the grain, rather than a system designed to succeed.

5. Hold the line on long-term change

Finally, this work takes time.

In a world of short-term pressures – financial, political, operational – there is always a pull back towards more transactional approaches.

Holding the line on community power and place-based working requires:

Consistency of leadership

Willingness to stick with approaches through early setbacks

Space to learn and adapt, not just deliver

That is as much a test of leadership as it is of policy.

A more honest assessment

We are not starting from scratch.

Across the country, there are real examples of community power and relational practice improving people’s lives and strengthening places. New Local’s work has consistently shown both the appetite for this shift and its potential impact.

But we are also not where we need to be.

The honest assessment is that we are in transition. The ideas are established. The practice is emerging. The system is partially aligned at best.

The question now

So the challenge is no longer whether community power and place-based working matter.

It is whether we are prepared to follow through on what they demand.

Because in the end, this is not about adopting a new model. It is about making a series of choices:

To trust people and communities more

To organise around real life, not organisational convenience

To prioritise relationships over transactions

And to shift power in ways that can be seen and felt locally

Individually, those choices can feel small. Taken together, they amount to a very different kind of public service.

The question is whether we are ready to build it.

About Mike Barker

Mike Barker is an experienced local government leader with a strong track record in financial recovery, modernisation and system improvement. A values-led connector, he brings clarity and momentum to complex environments, building effective partnerships across councils, the NHS and the voluntary sector. He has led major transformation, strengthened governance, improved performance and steered organisations through challenging financial contexts. His approach combines strategic vision with practical delivery, focusing on sustainable finances and better outcomes for residents. Known for his calm, credible and politically astute style, Mike is driven by public service values and a commitment to strong teams, better services and long-term sustainability.

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash.

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