Responding to Government announcements today, Place-Based Public Service Budgets report co-authors, New Local Chief Executive Jessica Studdert and Professorial Research Fellow at Southampton University John Denham, said: “We are pleased to see Total Place principles at the heart of two major...

3rd July, 2025


Last month, New Local announced its partnership with Demos on Waves – the largest trial of digital democracy in Britain to date. The Waves project aims to create a digital democratic process that can be used by local government....

26th June, 2025


About the Project We worked with Westmorland and Furness Council as a strategic partner to help shape a shared vision, strategic approach, and delivery plan for Community Power. As part of this, we co-designed and delivered a training package...

26th June, 2025


Where People Meet: How to Celebrate, Sustain and Reimagine Community Centres’ was commissioned by the Rayne Trust, to explore the distinct and valuable part that community centres play in people’s lives across the UK. 

24th June, 2025


About the Project New Local partnered with Vale of Glamorgan Public Services Board (PSB) to design and deliver a series of multi-stakeholder workshops focused on improving local services across three LSOAs in Barry, highlighted as being in the top...

20th June, 2025


What do you get when you combine collective expertise, healthy debate, and optimism? You get Stronger Things 2025, of course!

12th June, 2025


New Local is convening this peer-led session with chief executives and senior officers involved in LGR to explore how in practice community-led ways of working and collaboration can enabled through the process. The session will feature Donna Nolan, Chief...

5th June, 2025


John Denham and Jessica Studdert set out five reasons why now is the time for Total Place 2.0.

29th May, 2025


This thinkpiece by the leading social explorer Cormac Russell focuses on how to realign the relationship between institutions and communities. He sets out how better understanding and working alongside the assets and capabilities that are innate in communities, we...

21st May, 2025


Laura Billings tells us how TPXimpact developed community power standards with Manchester City Council.

15th May, 2025


Achieving change within a council can sometimes feel like being a mountaineer, writes Mike Greene, Chief Executive of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.

13th May, 2025


Grace Duffy, Director of Policy, Influencing and Engagement at Bridges Outcomes Partnership, tells us about their work with local authorities and partnerships they have developed to build better outcomes for residents.

13th May, 2025


The biggest redesign of public services in a generation lies ahead. As councils try to work out what new model could adequately respond to the complex demands on them, community-powered prevention offers a chance to deliver an approach that...

8th May, 2025


How can we build consensus on polarising issues in our communities? What opportunities might AI-powered technology offer to make this process easier, cheaper, and quicker? We are working with Demos to explore these questions through a groundbreaking new trial...

7th May, 2025


New Local is working with Demos to test a new AI-powered technology and process intended to make deliberative democracy quicker, easier, and cheaper.

7th May, 2025


Community centres have long stood as pillars of local life, but we are losing these spaces at pace and at scale. Summer Simpson explores why this matters.

7th May, 2025


This report sets out the vital role that community centres play in local areas and makes the case for investing in their future.

7th May, 2025


Alice Black, Sophie Taylor and Sue Sheehan explain how the London Borough of Camden is embracing neighbourhood ways of working.

22nd April, 2025


Cllr Beverley Egan is a councillor for Thundersley in south-east Essex. In 2023, she was appointed to chair of Essex Council’s Caring Communities Commission, an ambitious two-year look at the future of health and social care, led by independent...

5th February, 2025


As the Government’s agenda for local government, devolution and public services takes shape, a ‘new local’ is emerging, built on the principles of power, prevention and place.

27th January, 2025


The government needs an overarching strategy for public service reform that dispenses with traditional Whitehall ‘business as usual’ assumptions, writes Jessica Studdert.

13th December, 2024


Rob Thomas, Chief Executive of Vale of Glamorgan Council, tells us about the council’s deepening partnership approach, why there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to delivering vital local services, what community power means to the council, and why...

26th November, 2024


The complexities of transforming health services are vast with many different priorities and variables to consider.  Place-based systems leadership can unlock barriers and open doors within services to help deliver change.  One of the key factors in ensuring all...

11th November, 2024


Building community cohesion where trust and a sense of belonging are paramount is imperative to help communities and places thrive.  We have seen recently what happens without a long-term commitment to maintaining strong relationships, or investment in social fabric...

11th November, 2024


Caroline Wilson, Director of Inclusive Economy and Jobs at Islington Borough Council, explains how the council’s approach to community wealth building has emerged and deepened, how it’s helping to tackle inequalities, and how it touches the lives of people...

11th November, 2024


The new Government has an opportunity to shift the institutions at SW1 to actively seek insight beyond its small postcode, says Jessica Studdert.

11th November, 2024


In North Birkenhead a unique programme is joining up services and putting community priorities at the heart of decision making, creating impact that could be a model for national policy change.

7th November, 2024


New Local is working with the Rayne Trust to deliver research into the role that community assets play in public life.

5th November, 2024


New Local worked with partners in Yorkshire and Cumbria to develop a learning programme that puts communities at the heart of health and care.

5th November, 2024


A new report from think tank New Local warns that the government’s plans for housebuilding targets will be at risk unless the planning system gives communities more power and influence to shape local development. The report, Constructing Consensus: The...

23rd October, 2024


How can community power unlock our fraught planning system?

21st October, 2024


We put Hal Khanom in our ‘How We Did It’ hot seat to hear how the London Borough of Barnet has developed its equalities strategy, A Fairer Barnet.

17th October, 2024


About the Project Calderdale Council and the Calderdale Inclusive Economy Board worked with New Local to refresh their inclusive economy strategy. The overarching aim of the strategy is that by 2029 Calderdale will be an inclusive economy, in which...

25th September, 2024


Matthew China, Policy, Insight and Communications Manager at Wealden District Council tells us about Wealden’s ambition to become a community-powered council, how it’s building on strong foundations to take on the challenges of the future, and some of the...

10th September, 2024


Enfield Council’s Grace Murray shares ten pointers for community-powered leadership.

5th September, 2024


By listening to and valuing the insights of communities, the public sector can build better services, improve outcomes and use limited resources more wisely. But what are the essential ingredients for effective collaboration? And how can you overcome barriers...

14th August, 2024


New Local worked with the newly formed Westmorland and Furness Council to develop a vision, strategic approach and delivery plan to put communities at the heart of its operating model.

12th August, 2024


New Local Chair Katie Kelly talks to Shaheen Warren from our practice team ahead of our brand-new Radical Leaders event in September. Expect topics from leadership icons to Damascene moments and finding courage through collaboration.

29th July, 2024


Sometimes even the most well-meaning idea can be turned into a source of polarisation and anger. How can deliberative and consensus-building approaches be used to take the heat out of public discourse? Five changemakers share their insights.

22nd July, 2024


Neighbourhood ways of working are being considered by many councils as a way to bring them closer to their communities. The opportunities it can foster include building better relationships and delivering services alongside communities. At this How We Did It...

19th July, 2024


New MPs have arrived for their first day on the job, the Cabinet is in post, and the wheels of government are turning once more. Catriona Maclay puts forward nine lessons that can be learnt from local government.

11th July, 2024


Lydia Hutchings and Beth Kilheeney explain how the Greater Manchester Better Outcomes Partnership works with young people to prevent homelessness and how the project is being evaluated.

11th July, 2024


Real-time data is a powerful tool for councils. Throughout the life cycle of a project, data can show what works and what doesn’t, leading to better decision making and improved outcomes.

10th July, 2024


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


Imran Hashmi outlines three principles for local authorities to strengthen their support for community businesses.

17th June, 2024


Local Trust’s CEO Matt Leach shares three key takeaways from Stronger Things 2024.

17th June, 2024


Reflections on Stronger Things 2024 by Brendan Martin, Public World.

7th June, 2024


Watch recordings from our flagship community power event of the year. Password: SkyFullOfStars Member Events A confidential and safe environment in which participants share and learn real-life insights. 

4th June, 2024


New Local is partnering with UCL's IPPO on a research project focused on the severe fiscal constraint faced by local authorities.

22nd May, 2024


Five reasons why we think Stronger Things might just be the most valuable eight hours of your year.

20th May, 2024