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Our latest blogs, long-reads, videos and podcasts about all-things community power, local government, public services, and more.
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Rural areas are England’s ‘land of opportunity’
The North-South divide is the trope most commonly used by policy-makers to highlight the problems of regional inequality in England, but it is by no means the country’s only...
15th January, 2020
Australia is burning: so is it time for a new environmental politics?
So, the new decade begins with Australia literally on fire. Unsurprisingly, many of us are feeling the moral imperative for climate action more strongly than ever, and yet a...
By Luca Tiratelli, Policy Researcher, NLGN
6th January, 2020
The low paid need power as well as money
The PM may have given minimum wage earners a cash boost but Adam Lent argues only bringing the low paid into the heart of power will make a long-term...
By Adam Lent, Director
31st December, 2019
Democracy • Economy and business • Employment • Public Services
The Conservatives are victorious – but their blindness to reform may undo them
In theory, a Conservative government with a very strong mandate should prove a tasty prospect for the local government sector. The party’s manifesto commits the government to a devolution...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
13th December, 2019
Community Power • Conservatives • Democracy • Public Services
Can budgeting be a transformation tool? Three Tips from our Innovation Exchange
Many of us in the local government sector are all too well acquainted with you the negative side of the budgeting process. As demand seems to consistently rise, money...
By Rich Nelmes, Head of Network and Events, NLGN
4th December, 2019
Budgeting • Commissioning and Procurement • Strategy and leadership
With budgeting, the only certainty is that nothing is certain
Local authorities experience considerable difficulties as they budget to keep vital services going whilst facing uncertainty about their future finances, and this is exacerbated when they are unsure when...
By Martin Forbes, Strategic Director (Local Government), Local Partnerships
4th December, 2019
Budgeting • Commissioning and Procurement • Public Services • Strategy and leadership
Manifesto analysis: what do they say about local power?
With this Community Paradigm front and centre in our minds, here’s our take on the highlights from each party’s manifesto and what these say about their vision for local...
By Grace Pollard, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
27th November, 2019
Our Response: Community Power Act is Unavoidable if We Really Want to Shift the System
In response to the debate about a Community Power Act, Adam Lent argues that culture change is vital but alone it is not enough to transform a highly centralised,...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
26th November, 2019
How councils can think bigger about climate change
The environment has been skyrocketing up councils’ agendas in recent years, but local government still faces significant challenges in how to respond.
By Luca Tiratelli, Policy Researcher, NLGN.
25th November, 2019
How looking abroad could help tackle the crisis on our streets
The number of people spending the night on the streets is increasing all over the world, as nations struggle with their own housing crises or have difficulties funding the...
By Charlotte Morgan, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
25th November, 2019
How are councils future-proofing through prototyping?
Given the increasingly stretched resources in councils, prototyping provides a sensible and low-cost approach to test new ideas and obtain buy-in along the way.
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Policy Researcher
22nd November, 2019
Learning through Prototyping
In this briefing, we’re exploring the benefits and opportunities that arise when we create the time and space to bring prototyping practices into our work.
By Rob Bates, Creative Director, FutureGov
22nd November, 2019
An uncommon revolutionary: Why Elinor Ostrom holds the answers for our times
NLGN is working to empower communities in this bid to take back control with our overarching Community Paradigm agenda, and our latest project is an investigation into the research...
By Simon Kaye, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
15th November, 2019
Delivering Local Inclusive Growth – What We’ve Learned
Inclusive growth is a buzzword in local government these days, but how can it be delivered in practice?
By Luca Tiratelli, Policy Researcher, NLGN
12th November, 2019
Economy and business • Inclusive Growth • Strategy and leadership
Speaking with Donna Hall CBE – the force behind the Wigan Deal
Donna Hall CBE discusses leadership, the Wigan Deal, and what drew her towards NLGN and its vision of a world where communities hold the power.
By NLGN Team
11th November, 2019
Community Power • New Local Board • Strategy and leadership • Video
Why we urgently need a Community Power Act – and what should be in it
NLGN's Director makes the case for a new law that would shift power from public institutions and into the hands of citizens.
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
11th November, 2019
How can councils transform their cultures?
This October, I had the pleasure of participating in an NLGN Innovation Exchange for the first time.
By Angie Ridgwell, Chief Executive, Lancashire County Council
6th November, 2019
How economic optimism is declining amid Brexit
This month’s NLGN Leadership Index report reveals that councils are even less hopeful about the impact of Brexit on their local economy than they were two years ago.
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
31st October, 2019
The Impact of Brexit Uncertainty on Councils: Three take-aways from NLGN’s latest Leadership Index Survey
Uncertainty is bad for the economy. Yet the events of recent days and weeks have revealed even greater lack of clarity for local government when it comes to Britain’s...
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
29th October, 2019
Brexit • Economy and business • Leadership Index • Public Services
Not enough revolution in government’s devolution plans
So, Her Majesty told us yesterday that her counsellors will be launching another round of devolution. It won’t happen of course unless Boris Johnson marches back into Downing Street...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
16th October, 2019
Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Political Systems
Dame Sally Davies: Getting it fundamentally wrong on obesity
No one can doubt the sincerity of Dame Sally Davies’s parting shot as Chief Medical Officer. Her report on child obesity crackles with frustration and fear at the horrendous...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
10th October, 2019
Health and social care • Public Health • Public Sector Voices • Public Services
It’s politics Jim, but not as we know it
There is no need for another blog to articulate the complete chaos that the British politics system finds itself in at the present time. As of today, the government...
By Claire Kennedy Co-founder & Managing Partner, PPL
26th September, 2019
The missing piece of the children’s services puzzle
The number of children in care has never been so high, rising by 4% over the last year alone and by 2025, the funding gap for children’s services is...
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
11th September, 2019
SOWING THE SEEDS OF CHANGE IN CHILDREN’S SERVICES
The number of looked after children has reached a thirty-year high, with spending in this area accounting for over half of spending on children’s services in 2018-19. Despite the...
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Researcher
9th September, 2019
Why the narrative on children’s services need to change
Last week’s Spending Review announcement provided something of a proverbial crutch for children’s services, but offered few reassurances for the medium to long-term sustainability of what many see as...
By Olly Swann, Director, IMPOWER
9th September, 2019
MPs can’t just defend democracy in this crisis, they must deepen it too
Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings have got MPs exactly where they want them: defending Parliament. They may cast this right now as a battle between an executive that wants...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
28th August, 2019
We need to talk about violent youth offending
Levels of violent youth crime on our streets have never been so high. Over the last four years, the number of these offences has increased by 34%. This is...
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Researcher, NLGN
21st August, 2019
A call to join the Community Wealth Fund
Support the community commissioning agenda and transform the way local authorities interact with communities For almost a decade, local authorities have struggled to manage increasing demand for public services...
By Rob Day, Policy Intern, Local Trust
13th August, 2019
Citizens’ assemblies could offer popular support for climate action
A week ago, the UK reached its hottest recorded temperature. Over the weekend half a month’s rain fell in one hour. On Tuesday, major flooding hit Yorkshire. And yesterday,...
By Adam Lent, director, New Local Government Network
1st August, 2019
Climate change • Democracy • Environment • Participation and co-production
Four Ways for Councils to Give Power away
Since publishing The Community Paradigm in February, a question I get asked more than any other is what community-led services look like in practice. Clearly, there is a hunger...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
10th July, 2019
Turning Communities into Catalysts for Change
A new vision for public services in which communities are placed at the heart of delivery was set out in NLGN’s report The Community Paradigm, published in February this...
By Trinley Walker, Senior Policy Researcher
9th July, 2019
Wrench public service inspection away from Whitehall and hand it over to local communities
What is the point of public service inspectorates like Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission? The standard line is that they are there to make sure public sector bodies...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
9th July, 2019
Community Power • Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation
Commissioning power belongs in the hands of the community not the institution
In February of this year NLGN set out a compelling new vision for public services in The Community Paradigm The report argued that for a preventative approach to public...
By Trinley Walker, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
8th July, 2019
Commissioning and Procurement • Community Power • Public Services
History’s lesson on the toxic power of fear
Article originally published in HSG.co.uk The Chernobyl TV series is a powerful reminder of what happens when competition, persecution and dread rule. Donna Hall celebrates an organisation with a...
By Donna Hall CBE, Chair New Local Government Network
5th July, 2019
Inclusive Growth in Practice
Inclusive growth has gained a firm foothold within the policy lexicon over recent years. Yet, despite much valuable discussion on what it is and why it is important, there...
By Charlotte Morgan and Trinley Walker, Senior Policy Researchers, NLGN
24th June, 2019
Integrating Health and Social Care: Making it work for staff
The challenges of working with partners, complex structures, imperfect systems etc are everywhere in local government. In this blog we talk about an example we’ve been working on in...
By Felicity Algate, Director, BIT:North
10th June, 2019
Wigan’s Fire Within
Two weeks ago, after months of hard work, we opened the doors to a brand-new cultural hub in the centre of Wigan. The hub is situated in one of...
By Alison McKenzie-Folan, Chief Executive, Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
30th May, 2019
On local election day, let’s remember that all politics is local
Happy local election day! In the unique way of our quirky local democratic traditions, a complicated collection of nearly all English metropolitan boroughs, most district councils and some unitaries...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director, NLGN
2nd May, 2019
Recommendations not rhetoric: time for change in Children’s Services
The plight of children’s services is a well-documented one, and it is in some ways a relief to see that organisations such as the Local Government Association are now...
By Olly Swann, Director, IMPOWER
1st May, 2019
The Future of Children’s Services 1
“All adults should always do what is best for you.” – Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, child-friendly version (1989) On the thirtieth...
By Sarah Lawson, Researcher
28th April, 2019
The Taxpayers Alliance approach will lead to higher taxes
There are many good criticisms of the Taxpayers Alliance (TPA) but they are often not related to the fundamental raison d’etre of the organisation. It is possible, for example,...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
17th April, 2019
The opportunity to design out loneliness
“I just found it really difficult to get out and meet people” Mary Evans says. “I was in my first month at university, in a new city surrounded by...
By David Symons, Future Ready Global Leader, Director, WSP
29th March, 2019
Our public services need communitisation – not privatisation or nationalisation
Nationalise or privatise? That has been a classic dividing line for politicians ever since Margaret Thatcher made the latter a core part of her platform in the 1980s. And...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN - @adamjlent
27th March, 2019
Community Power • Democracy • Political Systems • Public Services
Mindset Over Matter: Creating a new Community Paradigm
Created in 2012 following riots in our inner cities, the Government’s Troubled Families Programme has received praise and criticism in equal measure over the last seven years. Created by...
By Donna Hall CBE, Chair, NLGN (former CEO, Wigan Council)
19th March, 2019
Silver Sunday: Community catalyst and collaboration inspiration
“Thanks for this short bright moment in a very gloomy world” – Silver Sunday guest Last week when I opened the NLGN Annual Conference, I cited “Silver Sunday” as...
By John Barradell, Chief Executive, City of London Corporation and Chairman of the Sir Simon Milton Foundation; Georgina Creighton, Silver Sunday Lead, The Sir Simon Milton Foundation
15th March, 2019
Community Power • Participation and co-production • Public Services
Courage calls to courage everywhere
EY is delighted to have sponsored the NLGN’s International Women’s Day speed-mentoring event. 16 inspiring senior women from Local Government and beyond speed mentored over 200 future female leaders...
By Josie Cluer, Director - Local Public Services, EY
13th March, 2019
Political Innovation and Community Resilience: Lessons from Latin America
As millions of citizens across Latin America are seeing their countries become subject to authoritarian rule, the continent appears an unlikely source of inspiration for political innovation. From Nicolás...
By Jake Shepherd, Researcher, NLGN
12th March, 2019
Inclusive Growth: What it means, why it matters, and how to deliver it in practice
Jacobs was delighted to partner with NLGN on its Inclusive Growth Innovation Exchange. Participants from local authorities across the county came together to discuss what inclusive growth means, why...
By Dr Jennifer Anderson, Director of Economics and Social Value, Jacobs
6th March, 2019
Economy and business • Inclusive Growth • Strategy and leadership
Why Elinor Ostrom is the future of public services
@adamjlent In our report The Community Paradigm, published last week, Jessica Studdert and I explored a new model of public services emerging on the frontline of delivery. We argued...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
4th March, 2019
The future of public services can be summed up in one phrase: power to the people!
‘@adamjlent Two things make Big Picture schools fundamentally different from conventional schools. One is the extent to which students are able to shape their own curriculum and learning journey....
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
27th February, 2019