With the Autumn Budget in sight, Former Secretary of State John Denham and New Local’s Jessica Studdert make the case for Total Place 2.0.

9th 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


After a bold start, the Government has an opportunity to pursue a test and learn approach to place-based service reform, says Jessica Studdert.

12th August, 2024


We at New Local condemn the racist and Islamophobic violence that black, Asian and migrant communities have been subjected to over recent days.

8th August, 2024


Councils are facing reduced funding, rising demand and increasing costs. New Local and IPPO's research project explores how local authorities are responding and what we can learn.

31st July, 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


Making the case for preventative services can be difficult, so it is vital that interventions can evidence their efficacy. Bridges Outcomes Partnerships have been working as part of the changing systems in children’s services in Norfolk and Suffolk where,...

23rd July, 2024


Colleagues throughout local government are still stuck between the rock of shrinking resources and the hard place of rising demand in many (if not all) service areas. The effect of the cost of living crisis is creating increased volatility...

23rd July, 2024


Tackling inequalities within communities is a vital issue for all local authorities. But often equalities strategies do not deliver for residents in a way that they expect or need. How can you centre equity in your Council’s work to...

22nd 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


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

7th June, 2024


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

20th May, 2024


In his last week as chief executive of New Local, Adam Lent ditches sensible moderation and describes the change we really need: radical integration, radical devolution and radical community power.

2nd May, 2024


Labour lacks a strategy for a public sector under unprecedented pressure. The solution can be found on the frontline, says Adam Lent.

8th April, 2024


Adam Lent tackles some of the most common questions about community power in the public sector, from its benefits, to real-life examples, to its why its time has come in today's 'permacrisis'.

8th April, 2024


Adam Lent reflects on New Local’s fourth Radical Leadership session with local government leaders.

4th April, 2024


This member-exclusive Innovation Explored takes a look at how councils can develop their focus on community wellbeing.

4th April, 2024


From giving residents a blank sheet to determine the council’s priorities, to making statutory consultation processes interactive and fun, Test Valley Borough Council is pushing the envelope on community engagement.

20th March, 2024


The suffocation of local government leaves Britain profoundly weaker just as the world becomes more hostile, says Adam Lent.

14th March, 2024


This member-exclusive Innovation Explored takes a look at the opportunities emerging from design thinking for local government, and how design-led systems change can improve outcomes locally.

4th March, 2024


Jo Fitzpatrick and Jim Leyland explain how Wakefield Council had a Big Conversation with residents, training 100 ‘conversationalists’ to have over 1,300 face-to-face conversations with people across the district to find out what they like about their area and...

4th March, 2024


We put Des Keighan in our hot seat to hear how Swansea Bay University Health Board has become low carbon by retrofitting buildings and turning unused land into a solar farm which powers the local hospital.

27th February, 2024


Social entrepreneurs Brendan Martin and Cormac Russell share their take on Adam Lent’s recent blog about radical public service leadership developed with key figures in our network.

20th February, 2024


Eleanor Brown shares three lessons from piloting designing thinking at Enfield Council, and makes the case for problem solving from the outside in.

1st February, 2024


A former secretary of state is calling for Total Place style pooled budgets as the best use of public spending when there is no financial quick fix for public services. Place-based budgets would allow services and communities to allocate...

31st January, 2024


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


Adam Lent takes a look back at the ups and downs of 2023, shares his hopes for the year to come (and channels Marilyn Monroe).

19th December, 2023


Helen Chicot from Rochdale Council introduces a three-year project which has used Good Help principles to tackle the council’s most pressing challenges, transforming the way the way it works and its relationships with residents.

24th November, 2023


Mila Lukic from Bridges Outcomes Partnerships spells out the problem with centralisation and why we need to think about service design and delivery in a very different way.

16th November, 2023


Fife Council's Mike Enston tells us about the challenge of growing inequalities, the council’s ambitions to redistribute power to the community and why you can’t visit Fife without enjoying some award-winning fish and chips.

9th November, 2023


Council leaders have set out a roadmap for reforming public services and rebuilding trust under a future Labour government, starting with giving meaningful power and influence to communities. 

26th September, 2023


Our public finances are in crisis. The next government will need to focus on making better use of existing money if it is to ensure better outcomes for local neighbourhoods. Jessica Studdert introduces A Labour Vision for Community Power...

26th September, 2023


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


Built on the power of relationships, this project brought together local residents with lived experience of poverty and key decision makers in the public, private and third sectors to identify solutions to poverty in Trafford.

13th September, 2023


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


In collaboration with The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we have developed a framework to support local areas to make progress towards designing out the most severe forms of hardship.

10th May, 2023


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

21st April, 2023


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

17th April, 2023


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

5th April, 2023


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

4th April, 2023


Ahead of the Spring Budget, Joe Sarling makes the case for a new economic vision with resilience at its heart.

13th March, 2023


In the first instalment of our New Thinking series, Alex Fox and Chris Fox examine the state of public services in the UK today, and make the case for whole system reform.

2nd March, 2023


Polly Lord sets out five lessons for England from the Welsh Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.

28th February, 2023


Ben Hughes from Essex County Council shares his experience of setting up the Essex Recovery Foundation and putting the community at the heart of service design.

15th February, 2023


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


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

17th November, 2022


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

16th November, 2022


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