Innovation Exchanges give member councils a space to step away from day-to-day activities and engage with peers from across the country. Each session unpacks a big challenge or opportunity facing councils and their communities. Sessions are peer-led and practically focused, so you should walk away with insights, ideas and learning to share with your team.

How We Did It: You’ve been charged with implementing that big idea – what do you do first? From citizen assemblies to climate emergencies, we’ll put an officer that’s ‘been there and done that’ in the hotseat. There’ll be no high-level conceptual stuff – just what you need to do to deliver.

Next Generation Academy: Your council’s rising stars get to work directly with the experts on the cutting edge of radical new approaches. This course is aimed exclusively at those who aspire to the top jobs. It will equip them with ideas that are marginal now but will be mainstream once they’ve risen through the ranks.  

Community Power Practice Network: This programme is for senior strategic officers who have a passion and a remit to shift power and resources from their council to their communities. Participants commit to helping each other approach issues from a fresh perspective, utilising the collective experience and expertise of the group. 

Research Events: These workshops are crucial to informing New Local reports and publications. Expertly facilitated by members of our Thought Leadership Team, sessions give colleagues from councils across the UK a space to share their first-hand experience and expertise on some of the most pressing issues the sector is facing.