Category: Publications

What does it take to lead in local government today? What qualities, skills, and mindsets are needed to navigate the choppy waters surrounding public services? And what old models no longer serve us? We’ve spent the past year exploring...

13th February, 2025

Leadership • Local government • Strategy and leadership

How can community power unlock our fraught planning system?

21st October, 2024

Community Power • Housing • Local government • Place building • Planning • Regeneration

This practice review shares inspiring community-powered approaches to health and care, alongside the learning we can draw from them and practical actions to implement this learning.

25th June, 2024

Health and social care • The NHS

What support do community businesses need to build resilience against the impact of the climate crisis and the rising cost-of-living?

17th June, 2024

Climate change • Community business • Community Power • Cost of Living Crisis • Economy and business • Local economies

This report sets out a new approach to public service investment and reform in England. By identifying all public money spent within a local area, and enabling it to be used more flexibly, spending could be more closely aligned...

31st January, 2024

Budgeting • Central government • Community Power • Health and social care • Local government • Local government finance • Place-based budgets • Public Services

How can communities prevent illness and create their own good health? Could investment at the grassroots help ease the burden on the NHS?

10th December, 2023

Community Power • Health and social care

Labour council leaders set out a route for Labour to deliver its objectives in government, starting with giving communities meaningful power and influence. A Labour Vision for Community Power is an ambitious agenda for action, driven by the principles...

26th September, 2023

Community Power • Labour • Local government • Local government finance • Politics • Public Services

Xia Lin from Toynbee Hall introduces a research method designed to embed resident participation in local change-making and explains how co-design principles can be used to level the power playing field.

6th September, 2023

Community engagement • Community Power • Local government • Participation and co-production

Produced in partnership with What Works Centre for Wellbeing, this report reviews the evidence related to community agency, control and power and their effects on community wellbeing.

22nd June, 2023

Community Cohesion • Community Power • Education and skills • Employment • Participation and co-production • Public Health • Wellbeing

Councils are constantly looking for new ways to engage their residents, from citizens’ assemblies to listening sofas. Critical to doing this well is to understand and to tell the story of the relationship between citizen and state. What should...

15th June, 2023

Community engagement

Urgent action is needed in response to the growing number of people affected by deepening poverty in the UK. Developed in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this report sets out a framework to support local areas to design...

10th May, 2023

Central government • Community Power • Local government • Participation and co-production • poverty • Public Services

We explain what fiscal devolution is, bust myths that it will lead to higher taxes, explore different ways to do it, and recommend how to make it happen.

26th April, 2023

Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Local government • Local government finance • Local government reform

Shuff Tariq and Sarah Cooke explain how Manchester delivered one of the most successful homelessness projects in the UK.

5th April, 2023

Community engagement • Homelessness • Public Services

16th March, 2023

Community engagement • Culture

8th March, 2023

Community engagement

7th March, 2023

Community engagement

In the first instalment of our New Thinking series, Alex Fox, chief executive of Mayday Trust, and Chris Fox, Professor of Evaluation and Policy Analysis at Manchester Metropolitan University, examine the state of public services in the UK,...

2nd March, 2023

Community Power

22nd February, 2023

Community engagement

In this instalment of our ‘How We Did It’ event series, Ben Hughes from Essex County Council shares his experience of setting up the Essex Recovery Foundation which is not only person-led, but community-powered, with former service-users integral to...

8th February, 2023

Community engagement

Places need new types of leaders, ones who increasingly collaborate with staff and communities to tackle today’s biggest challenges. This type of leadership is about starting to shift power to put others in the driving seat.

16th January, 2023

Strategy and leadership

How can you properly measure something when you are working in a system that frequently asks the wrong questions, focuses on the wrong measure, and can obsess over costs and ignore true value?

16th January, 2023

Impact

In Enfield, the Edmonton area has some of the worsthealth outcomes and greatest inequalities and as a result, Community Powered Edmonton was created, using local assets to understand the challenges, find out what is important to people, speak to...

6th January, 2023

Community Power

The Inequality Taskforce was established to develop recommendations for how Islington Council can go about addressing inequality, poverty and deprivation. It is a key part of the Let’s Talk Islington engagement exercise with the borough’s residents to discover their...

2nd December, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power

Communities want to have more influence over the issues they face, the challenges they want to overcome, and the services they use. This report sets out the passion for that change.

4th August, 2022

Community engagement • Community Power • Community Voices • Local government

As the NHS faces ever-rising demand, its founding principles are under threat. But there is a solution: a radical shift towards a healthcare system focused as much on preventing illness as treating it. Working collaboratively with communities in the design...

12th July, 2022

Community Power • Health and social care • Public Health • Research Reports

We’re calling for a Community Power Act, a major piece of legislation which would fundamentally change where power lies in this country. The Act would: Create three new community rights over spaces, services and spending Introduce Community Covenants Establish...

13th May, 2022

Central government • Community Power • Community Power Campaign • Policy

It’s not NIMBYs preventing housing being built – it’s a system that creates conflict by design.

17th November, 2021

Community Power • Devolution • Housing • Research Reports

Local action is the ‘missing piece’ of plans to fight climate change.

20th October, 2021

Climate change • Community Power • Devolution • Research Reports

New Local and the New Social Covenant Unit are pleased to co-publish this report by 10 Conservative MPs.

2nd October, 2021

Community Power • Devolution • Politics

Combining policy analysis and insights from leading edge practice, The Community Paradigm sets out a new vision and policy agenda for the future of public services. It forms the foundation that shapes NLGN’s ongoing research programme and network practice...

4th March, 2021

Community Power • Devolution and reorganisation • Political Systems • Powerful Communities • Public Services

Community Power: The Evidence is the first research to take a comprehensive view of what community power looks like - featuring examples from across the UK and internationally. It is also the first to collect and analyse existing...

23rd February, 2021

Community Power • Community Power The Evidence • Local government • Monitoring and Evaluation

Shaped by conversations with public and third sector leaders across England, Wales and Scotland, Shifting the Balance explores how councils and communities joined together to fight Covid-19. And it sets out recommendations for how to take forward the adaptation,...

27th January, 2021

Community Power • Covid-19 • Local government • Research Reports • Shifting the Balance

With huge employment and economic challenges on the horizon, Charlotte Morgan argues that local partnershiops of councils, colleges and communities could transform post-16 education in England - if they are given the powers and resources to do so.

26th November, 2020

Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Education and skills • Employment • Skills

Over 2 million people are out of work due to health conditions and disabilities. But each year, only 4% move into employment. This Isn't Working, argues that support for this group should lie with local areas, and not the...

27th October, 2020

Disabilities • DWP • Employment • Health and social care • Mental health • Research Reports

Exploring the ground-breaking work of economist Elinor Ostrom, the intellectual hero of community power. And asking what it could mean for the UK today.

21st October, 2020

Build Back Better • Community Power • Ostrom • Policy

The paper identifies five pillars that need to form the centre piece of any approach: economic resilience, public sector resilience, community resilience, environmental resilience and workforce resilience.

12th October, 2020

Build Back Better • Community Power • Covid-19 • Place building • Resilience

This report offers a how-to guide for organisations interested in this process, illustrating a range of potential strategies to build active, networked and powerful communities.

29th July, 2020

Community Power • How to guide • Mobilisation • Powerful Communities • Strategy and leadership

DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION HERE We surveyed nearly 100 council leaders, chief executives and council mayors across the UK. On top of regular questions about the economy and public services, this quarter we included questions about preparing for a second...

23rd July, 2020

Leadership Index

This report argues that the Mutual Aid phenomenon is a powerful demonstration what’s possible when communities come together.

13th July, 2020

Community Power • Covid-19 • Mutual Aid • Podcast • Powerful Communities • Third sector and civil society • Volunteering

The Leadership Index was for chief executives, mayors and leaders of local authorities in the UK and was designed to present a unique barometer of the UK’s economic health and well-being. About the survey The Leadership Index was a...

9th July, 2020

Leadership Index

This report summarises findings from an event held with the New Local Government Network (NLGN) on the changing relationship between communities and public services during and beyond COVID-19.

9th June, 2020

Build Back Better • Community Power • Covid-19 • Public Services

MAY 2020 Councils’ economic confidence plummets but faith in community hits all-time high. NLGN’s Leadership Index is a quarterly survey sent to all chief executives, council leaders/mayors in the UK. It provides insight into the level of confidence on...

27th May, 2020

Leadership Index

This report looks at how the concept of inclusive growth is being interpreted by practitioners in the field and work backwards towards understanding, rather than attempting a new theoretical framing.

11th February, 2020

Economy and business • How to guide • Inclusive Growth • Strategy and leadership

Poor air quality ‘top concern’ for councils, but most feel unable to tackle it NLGN’s Leadership Index is a quarterly survey sent to all chief executives, council leaders/mayors in the UK. It provides insight into the level of confidence...

22nd January, 2020

Leadership Index

England’s rural periphery is the UK’s Land of Opportunity. The national economy will only become rebalanced if the policy corridor ceases to exist, which makes a renewed emphasis on nurturing growth in the rural periphery paramount for all levels...

15th January, 2020

Devolution and reorganisation • Inclusive Growth • Levelling Up • Rural Areas

This report focuses on learning from international examples to prevent and eradicate rough sleeping. It proposes that the UK and devolved governments work with mid-sized cities and places to trial a series of policies, initiatives and collaborations with a...

25th November, 2019

Homelessness • Housing • Strategy and leadership

NLGN’s Leadership Index is a quarterly survey sent to all chief executives, council leaders/mayors in the UK. It provides insight into the level of confidence on key issues affecting local government. The October 2019 survey additionally asked local government...

29th October, 2019

Leadership Index

This report makes a case for a future of children’s services that is led by children and families. It argues that to ensure the future sustainability of children’s services, we need to start in the community – to grow...

9th September, 2019

Childrens' Services • Community Power

NLGN’s Leadership Index is a quarterly survey sent to all chief executives, leaders and council mayors in the UK. It provides insight into the level of confidence on key issues affecting local government. Additionally, NLGN Leadership Index August 2019...

20th August, 2019

Leadership Index

This report makes a convincing case for why the process needs to be led by citizens and service users not public sector professionals. Importantly, it also explains in detail how this shift is happening in practice.

8th July, 2019

Commissioning and Procurement • Community Power • Powerful Communities • Public Services