Category: Articles

What is the Community Wealth Fund, and what would it mean for local authorities? Polly Lord talks to Matt Leach, CEO of Local Trust, about the campaign.

16th December, 2022

Community Power • Local government • Local government finance

Dr Simon Duffy takes a look at the benefits of trusting citizens to support each other as shown by the COVID pandemic.

8th December, 2022

Central government • Community Power • Powerful Communities

Adam Lent argues the former prime minister has produced the most radical devolutionary programme from either of the two big parties in decades, but far less ambitious plans than this have become lost in the weeds of internal party...

7th December, 2022

Community Power • Devolution • Local government • Local government reform

Jessica Studdert reacts to Labour’s latest proposals to reform the UK constitution.

6th December, 2022

Community Power • Devolution • Local government

How can councils turn town centre buildings into vibrant community-led hubs that benefit local people and strengthen the local economy?

2nd December, 2022

Asset transfer • Council Voices • Innovation • Place building

Laura Charlesworth unpacks what the Autumn Statement means for a health and care system in crisis.

18th November, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Health and social care

Adam Lent argues that without a much smarter approach, the quality of public services will continue to deteriorate rapidly. The consequences will be profound.

18th November, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Local government • Public Services • Social Care

Here’s our snapshot on what the Autumn Statement means for local government.

17th November, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Local government • Public Services • Social Care

Ahead of the Autumn Statement, Polly Lord examines the potential human impact of cuts to our public services.

16th November, 2022

Budgeting • Economy and business • Local government • Public Services

Ahead of the Autumn Statement, Adam Lent argues that we need a bold, national ‘invest-to-save’ programme for public services funded by taxes on the wealthiest.

14th November, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Economy and business

Adam Lent argues that in a permacrisis era, it is the privately owned that is proving fragile not the public and the common.

11th November, 2022

Community Power • Economy and business • Ostrom

With trust in national politicians reaching new lows, Polly Lord argues that councils are stepping up (again) to lead their local areas through the current crisis.

8th November, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Leadership • Local government

One year on from the spending review, Polly Lord looks at the current picture of public service funding ahead of anticipated cuts in the Autumn budget

27th October, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Community Power • Economy and business • Local government finance

How do people from post-industrial areas – and other economically disadvantaged communities – feel about being labelled ‘left behind’? What could a more inclusive, representative vocabulary look like? James Morrison shares his take on why the language of inequality...

13th October, 2022

Community Voices • Levelling Up • Narrative building

As MPs return to Parliament, and in the wake of an economic orthodoxy overhaul, Polly Lord examines the ‘tragedy of the commons’ phenomenon - arguing that the real tragedy lies in the assumptions made at Westminster and the failure...

7th October, 2022

Community Power • Ostrom • Place building • Politics

Adam Lent argues that in an era of repeated crises, Chancellors will ultimately have to focus more on delivering resilience than growth.

6th October, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Climate change • Economy and business

Building a community-powered NHS that is capable of supporting good health in neighbourhoods and reducing demand pressures on hospitals has never been more needed. But it goes against all the instincts of our top-down system of managing healthcare, writes...

4th October, 2022

Community Power • Community Voices • Health and social care

We know the diagnosis: the NHS is at risk from ever-increasing demand. We need a new approach to healthcare that makes prevention a reality – by putting communities first.

4th October, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Explainer • Health and social care • Video

Joe Sarling explains how the relentless focus on economic growth with central interventions at the expense of communities erodes the very things that would foster resilience, growth and thriving places.

30th September, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Economy and business • Levelling Up • Local government

In response to the Chancellor’s Growth Plan, we set out some of the key announcements that could impact councils up and down the country.

23rd September, 2022

Budgeting • Central government • Economy and business • Health and social care • Levelling Up • Local government

In the latest of our ‘How We Did It’ event series, Claire Vibert shares her experience of setting up and running a complex and collaborative Poverty Truth Commission in Trafford, Greater Manchester.

20th September, 2022

Community engagement • Community Voices • How to guide • Interview • Poverty and inequality

The current cost-of-living crisis adds to the urgency to not only mitigate the impact of poverty, but to fundamentally rethink how systems can prevent people falling into the deepest forms of hardship. Together with Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), New...

23rd August, 2022

Community engagement • Participation and co-production • poverty • Public Services

At a time when debates are polarised, politics feels stale, and the country is looking for answers to big challenges, it is clearer than ever that we need to think differently about public services and policy development. No matter...

4th August, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Local government

Jessica Studdert on a new way of treating healthcare: one that puts communities – and therefore prevention – first.

12th July, 2022

Community engagement • Community Paradigm • Community Power • Health and social care

Community power is growing as idea and a movement. But what does it mean in practice? What are its implications for policy? And what's next for this new paradigm? New Local Chief Executive Adam Lent tackles some of the...

28th June, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Explainer

How does a council rebrand its place, building a story and narrative that helps it to thrive? We explore how it was done in York and Hackney.

19th May, 2022

Council Voices • Innovation • Local government • Narrative building

In our latest How We Did It event, we spoke to Zoe Sharratt of Gateshead Council. They've passed around 45 buildings and spaces to communities.

18th May, 2022

Asset transfer • Council Voices • Events • How to guide

How can we measure long-term change in an area? Lily O’Flynn shares tools and advice for evaluating place-based change.

16th May, 2022

Monitoring and Evaluation • Place building • Public Services • Strategy and leadership

Our new polling finds widespread public support for the idea of community power - including to tackle the cost of living crisis.

9th May, 2022

Community Power • Levelling Up • Politics

Meet the UK's first Community Heath Workers, local people attached to a GP's surgery who check-in on the health of the neighbours. And who are already showing a different possible future for primary care.

25th April, 2022

Health and social care • Public Health

The new Shared Properity Fund promised a lot - slashing bureaucracy, giving local control, creating wealth. So why does it so closely replicate dumped EU funding? Joe Sarling finds a severe case of centralised civil service-ese.

14th April, 2022

Central government • Finance • Levelling Up • Local government finance

A round-up of some of the most notable take-aways from New Local’s festival of community power.

13th April, 2022

Community Voices • Events • Politics • Strategy and leadership • Stronger Things

The NHS is embarking on the biggest reforms of a generation - creating an integrated system that should usher in joined-up care and improved outcomes for patients. As new guidance on local partnerships is published, Prof Donna Hall diagnoses...

12th April, 2022

Health and social care

Structural reform can only go so far. Claire Kennedy looks at why effective population health management means accepting that we don’t know exactly what that means – and working together to create better outcomes.

11th April, 2022

Health and social care • Leadership • Public Health • Public Services

The full text of the speech delivered by Angela Rayner at New Local's Stronger Things 2022 at the Guildhall, London on 29 March.

4th April, 2022

Community Power • Leadership • Local government • Politics

Adam Lent interviews Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor of Newham, on how a community power approach shapes the council’s work and her politics.

28th March, 2022

Community engagement • Community Voices • Leadership • Local government • Stronger Things

5 lessons from 15 years of supporting better outcomes by developing effective place-based partnerships.

25th March, 2022

Health and social care • Participation and co-production • Place building • Public Services • Stronger Things

We spoke to TPXimpact’s Claire Hazelgrove about the importance of giving everyone a voice in change and the practical tips to help the public sector embrace community power.

21st March, 2022

Community engagement • Community Voices • Democracy • Events • Stronger Things

CitizenLab share their top tips for community engagement and explain the value of a dedicated digital engagement team.

17th March, 2022

Community Cohesion • Events • Local government • Participation and co-production • Public Services • Stronger Things

We spoke to some of the leaders speaking on the ‘Doing Community Power’ panel at our Stronger Things event about their big ideas, overcoming doubters, and what they wish they knew earlier.

1st March, 2022

Community Power • Community Voices • Design • Stronger Things

In this crisis-ridden era, Adam Lent argues that a bigger state is needed but it must be a fundamentally different, community powered state.

23rd February, 2022

Climate change • Community Power Campaign • Covid-19 • Politics

The government’s new health white paper sets out steps towards what ‘joined-up care’ will really mean, finally recognising the centrality of place. Claire Kennedy finds much to celebrate, as well as big questions to be answered.

16th February, 2022

Governance • Health and social care • Public Health

A year on from our report about community responses to the first lockdown, some local authorities have made great progress at working with community groups but others still struggle to collaborate.

10th February, 2022

Community Power • Covid-19 • Local government • Research Reports • Third sector and civil society

Have we been here before? Jessica Studdert on the Levelling Up white paper, and how laudable ambitions have amounted to a familiar dearth of real powers or policy coherence for local government. The regional inequalities which mar our country...

2nd February, 2022

Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Levelling Up • Local government • Politics

Charlotte Morgan gives a rapid response to the Government's Levelling Up white paper - and what it really says about devolution.

2nd February, 2022

Community Power • Devolution • Levelling Up

Grace Pollard explores how organisations can ask themselves: How are we listening? Who are we listening to? And does our listening lead to action?

31st January, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Culture • Democracy • Local government

Take a moment to reflect and learn, recharge and connect, and reboot the way you work at the community power event of the year.

28th January, 2022

Events • Health and social care • Stronger Things

Today’s announcement on Universal Credit is one more example of welfare policy set to serve the interests of the politically powerful rather than the unemployed and the economy.

27th January, 2022

Devolution • Employment • Local government • Politics • Welfare

Chris Clarke of HOPE Not Hate introduces a new tool to help councils find and secure funds for community cohesion projects.

24th January, 2022

Charities • Community Cohesion • Local government • Local government finance

A new campaign seeks support for a route to decentralisation that is more meaningful and radical than the government’s, writes Adam Lent

17th January, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Community Power Campaign • Devolution