Our coaching programme will see councils’ rising stars join their peers to work together on the live challenges that they face. Led by a hand-picked senior council officers, programme members will have the opportunity to present their most pressing...

28th November, 2023


Our coaching programme will see councils’ rising stars join their peers to work together on the live challenges that they face. Led by a hand-picked senior council officers, programme members will have the opportunity to present their most pressing...

28th November, 2023


Our coaching programme will see councils’ rising stars join their peers to work together on the live challenges that they face. Led by a hand-picked senior council officers, programme members will have the opportunity to present their most pressing...

28th November, 2023


Our coaching programme will see councils’ rising stars join their peers to work together on the live challenges that they face. Led by a hand-picked senior council officers, programme members will have the opportunity to present their most pressing...

28th November, 2023


Our coaching programme will see councils’ rising stars join their peers to work together on the live challenges that they face. Led by a hand-picked senior council officers, programme members will have the opportunity to present their most pressing...

28th November, 2023


Our coaching programme will see councils’ rising stars join their peers to work together on the live challenges that they face. Led by a hand-picked senior council officers, programme members will have the opportunity to present their most pressing...

23rd November, 2023


Welcome to our 2024 Next Generation Programme cohort. Our coaching programme will see councils’ rising stars join their peers to work together on the live challenges that they face. Led by a hand-picked senior council officers, programme members will...

23rd November, 2023


Radical change in public services is still an uphill struggle. National and local leaders need to make sure they are enabling not blocking the innovators.

8th June, 2023


Community power calls for a new mould of leader. But what does this actually look like in practice? We asked some of our Stronger Things audience for their insights, advice and ice cream flavours.

1st June, 2023


Leading under pressure needs to become a discipline in itself, argues Adam Lent.

17th April, 2023


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


Two thirds of people do not trust national politicians to address the mounting cost of living crisis.

8th May, 2022


Places need new types of leadership, people 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. Walking alongside communities,...

14th April, 2022


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


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


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


If you are thinking of shaking up the way your council does asset transfer in the future or are intrigued to hear more about how to use asset transfer to engage communities, then this session is for you! We...

15th December, 2021


The cost-of-living crisis is a live emergency facing councils and communities up and down the country. Councils are searching for innovative ways to tackle the challenges that constant rising prices bring and get a deeper understanding from those it...

15th December, 2021


A citizens’ assembly can be incredibly powerful. Run it right and you’ll bring together diverse voices from your community to crack your biggest challenges. But delivering this delicate mix of deliberation and decision-making is far from easy. In this...

15th December, 2021


The Relationship Project's David Robinson shares a framework for making relationships essential to public services, not a 'nice to have'.

8th December, 2021


The causes and effects of climate change are different in every part of the UK. If we want to achieve ‘net zero’ carbon emissions, we need local solutions to this national problem.

28th July, 2021


The latest sleaze scandal shines a light on the rot within national politics. But a more serious, community powered model of democracy is emerging at a local level, writes Adam Lent.

27th April, 2021


Together, councils and communities did extraordinary things during Covid-19. Our Shifting the Balance research explores how practices, cultures and attitudes changed - and how to keep hold of some of the advances for the future.

27th January, 2021


From the start of 2021, HOPE not hate Charitable Trust are starting to build a Towns Leadership Network, to improve community cohesion. The initiative is a central part of their Hopeful Towns project, and aims to support a more...

11th January, 2021


"How do we know what to measure?" This is a key question for local government.

3rd June, 2020


Under pressure following criticism of his approach to testing for Covid-19, at the start of April Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced a new target: the government would be carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of April....

29th April, 2020


These are unsettling times – there is much to fear and much to lament. But of all the developments of the last few weeks, the one that I’ve found most head-in-hands-depressing is the emerging phenomenon of ordinary people blaming...

27th March, 2020


Insights of changing organisational cultures in councils from chief executives.

29th November, 2019


This October, I had the pleasure of participating in an NLGN Innovation Exchange for the first time.

6th November, 2019


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 about leadership and career progression. At EY we are purpose...

13th March, 2019


I’m delighted that this year we have such a strong line up of brilliant women coming along to inspire everyone at our NLGN International Women’s Day 2019! Slowly but surely we are seeing more women applying for and securing...

8th March, 2019


Today we are holding our second speed mentoring event to celebrate International Women’s Day. In this blog, External Affairs Officer Vanessa Schneider reflects on the role models she experienced growing up. Earlier this year, I visited my alma mater...

8th March, 2019


Money and an office of one’s own: why do young women still struggle to get a foot on the professional ladder? I recently read Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and found myself mulling over the words for...

8th March, 2019


Most people living in poverty in the UK today have a job. Work was meant to be the surest way out of poverty, but not any more. Without a statutory minimum wage which pays enough to live on, five...

9th November, 2018


As the local government clans gather in Birmingham this week, let me offer a view counter to the apparent increasing trend for local political leaders to work full-time in their leadership role. I suspect it is an unpopular view....

2nd July, 2018


We know our staff are our biggest asset and at a time of limited resources we need to ensure we are utilising their full potential. We deploy operational staff in communities every day, collecting the bins, cutting the grass...

30th April, 2018


Local government is undergoing a cultural renaissance. In many councils the culture is shifting away from a top down style of management to one of openness, collaboration, and self-determination. This fundamental culture shift is a key opportunity for women....

8th March, 2018


Social value in commissioning and procurement is important because it considers the role of spending on services to improve economic, social, and environmental wellbeing in an area. These often have long-term benefits to local communities but are not widely...

28th February, 2018


Community participation in local government initiatives has become an imperative globally, including the UK, since it lies at the core of democratic values. Nonetheless, it continues to be a challenge, and it is often implemented in very limited ways,...

3rd February, 2018


Exploring different methods to frame and implement your transformation programme.

20th August, 2017


Having first assumed his role as communities secretary and local government last year as the aftershocks of the Brexit vote reverberated, Sajid Javid’s reappointment last week came at no less a turbulent time at Westminster. Without a working majority...

19th June, 2017


“Too many areas of policy covered by local government are male dominated – infrastructure, highways, planning… the most important thing is to put women in positions of responsibility in those areas, leading by example, reflecting the needs of their...

14th March, 2017


Cities are largely designed by men, and for men. There is nothing unusual in this – we instinctively design, plan and make policy that reflects our own experiences and biases. However, this has led to places that don’t work...

10th March, 2017


Disruptive, cognitive technology will be a major driver of change in our economy over the next decade, as Artificial Intelligence becomes more accessible to UK organisations, very quickly. This has wide-ranging ramifications for the productivity of the UK workforce...

28th February, 2017


If solving the housing crisis was a simple case of fixing legislation or introducing incentives for builders, the housing crisis would have been fixed ages ago, or never reached this magnitude at all.

10th February, 2017


Councils are changing. Prompted by the funding cuts of the last decade, they have had to transform. No longer just seen as service deliverers, they are becoming collaborators, place leaders, commissioning councils, commercial councils and cooperative councils. But ambitious...

1st February, 2017


Councils are changing. No longer just seen as service deliverers, they are collaborators and place leaders, commissioning councils, commercial councils and co-operative councils. But while the purpose and priorities of a local authority have transformed, the structure of councils,...

18th January, 2017


As our economy becomes increasingly globalised, our public policy response needs to become more localised. To ensure places are not buffeted by outside forces and are able to create relevant solutions, strong place-leadership is needed to forge adaptation and...

15th November, 2016


In January 2015, NLGN held a discussion event in partnership with Zurich Municipal to look at the future of local political leadership. With the role of councils rapidly changing and developing, how will the Leaders and Chief Executives of...

29th April, 2015


The new age of austerity risks creating a reclusive society characterised by public affluence and private squalor, localism think tank NLGN warns today. In a provocation paper setting out scenarios for future relationships between councils and the public, the...

29th February, 2012