Communities
The public want to see clear improvements across neighbourhood services
Paul O'Brien says the public will be fairly unforgiving if, having raised their expectations on public spending during the election campaign, they don't start to see evidence of this happening locally..
'Safe places' needed in Greater Manchester to divert youth from violent crime
Communities in Greater Manchester feel there is an urgent need to create safe places and strong relationships to divert young people from violent crime, new research has found.
‘Ten years or life’
New research aims to understand the drivers of recent hikes in violent crime involving young people in Greater Manchester as perpetrators and victims – and has come up with insights and recommendations. Ann McGauran reports.
It’s party time
With just a week to polling day, the race to form the next Government is nearly over. Here Paul Marinko tries to help the sector navigate the web of policy commitments for local government on offer after 12 December.
Once upon a place...
Susan Parsonage says the stories local leaders tell have tremendous power to remind us of our common purpose of transforming lives and places.
Can the party leaders cut through to the issues that matter most?
In the context of moving into almost presidential-style elections with a huge focus on party leaders, how will they cut through to speak to the issues that matter to people most, asks Claire Kober.
Making the most of our cultural assets
The three councils of Lancaster City, Barrow and South Lakeland are coming together to pilot a new model that 'aims to capture and maximise our individual and collective cultural assets', says Lawrence Conway.
The Market leaders
Kevin Foster explains the purpose of the East Sussex Social Value Marketplace – an online platform that enables the public, private and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sectors to raise their needs so that contractors can respond.
Social value must be more than a ‘jumble sale’
One of the challenges businesses often struggle with is how to deliver social value, writes Andrew O’Brien. He says there is also a danger that focusing too heavily on an exchange or marketplace leads to treating social value as a ‘jumble sale’.
Council chief executive or chief anthropologist?
Professor Donna Hall asks: Why not be a true anthropologist leader in search of the essence of what makes humans human?
Councils help Doncaster after sandbags plea
Councils clubbed together after desperate Doncaster MBC put out an urgent request for 20,000 sandbags amid warnings that communities could become cut off by flooding.
We need the People’s Powerhouse now more than ever
The need for the People’s Powerhouse and an alternative, optimistic vision for the North is only increasing, says Tracy Fishwick.
Anti-extremism commissioner warns of far-right surge
Far-right extremists now account for almost half of people referred to a national intervention programme.
York’s rural champions
North Yorkshire CC has launched an independent rural commission, believed to be the first of its kind, to give a fresh perspective on the challenges faced by its deeply rural communities. Heather Jameson takes a look.
That complex conversation with business
The support of the business voice in helping secure some of 'our more ambitious asks around fiscal devolution' will never be unconditional, says John O'Brien.
Does our place-shaping role risk being imperilled?
An anonymous writer ponders the incongruity between what the centre expects from local government and the ‘nature, breadth and ferocity’ of the challenges councils are facing.
Former integration tsar says toxic views have become more normalised
The government has effectively abandoned community cohesion, with Muslim women remaining the UK’s most marginalised group, former integration tsar Dame Louise Casey has said.
Re-imagining Civic Buildings for the Future
Cities throughout the UK are full of stunning examples of how enlightened political leaders have ensure their grand civic buildings have endured, albeit serving a new purpose, says Femi Oresanya.
Civility starts with the civic
Jonathan Carr-West says that in increasingly volatile times, local government can provide the correct foundation for more effective, and civil, political discourse – along with some solutions.
Wigan’s next chapter
The success of Wigan MBC’s 2013 Deal has prompted the council go one step further with Deal 2030. Alison McKenzie-Folan explains.