Communities
Regeneration schemes need to be about more than bricks and mortar
Damian White outlines how Havering Council's joint venture housing regeneration scheme for 3,000 new homes will deliver social value through increased investment in local SMEs, education, training and skills.
It’s our time to step up
Donna Hall asks what local government and other public services can do to ‘glue society back together in our localities’ in the ‘complete absence of national social policy’.
Searching locally for the antidote to populism
How can local government leaders help cohesive communities to flourish in a time of growing populism and in the middle of a central political and policy vacuum? Ann McGauran reports
Improvement and innovation at your fingertips
Dr Andrew Larner says iESE has developed an improvement and innovation model to support exchange of the latest local government practice that is inclusive and easy to use.
From customer experience to thriving community
A design approach is still important to maintain, but the design rules for a community-centric approach can be fundamentally different to those of a customer-centric approach, says Dr Andrew Larner of iESE.
Now is Kingston’s time
There hasn’t been much in the press about Kingston RLBC recently, but all that is about to change in an exciting way, as Stephen Evans explains.
Wigan’s fire within
A year ago, Wigan MBC commissioned its new cultural strategy. Alison McKenzie-Folan, explains how the arts are helping ignite excitement and spark creativity in the town.
Transforming town centres the public/private way
Allan Lockhart says councils are already strategically acquiring retail and commercial assets in the town centres – working with sector specialists to drive positive change and meet communities’ specific needs.
Readdressing reoffending
Not enough is being done to prevent a system that sets people up to fail as soon as they are released from prison, says Bob Neill. It’s time for a holistic, multi-agency approach, done with local government involvement.
Uniting communities and promoting equality in Chorley
With her election as mayor of Chorley BC Cllr Hasina Khan has become the first female Asian mayor in Lancashire. She outlines how her previous work and the experiences she gained led to her new role.
Social value should be compulsory, Lords suggest
Incorporating social value into financial decision-making should be compulsory for councils, it has been suggested in a House of Lords debate.
Let's get serious about decent pay
If we are serious about building a resilient northern economy then we need to start with the people who live and work here, says Sarah Longlands
Local government has a crucial role to play in maximising crowdfunding’s potential
Jonathan Bone says maximising the opportunities available through crowdfunding will require a 'different kind of local government with a different culture, ways of working and relationship with communities’.
The people with the plan
Barking and Dagenham LBC is now three years into a change programme that puts people at its heart. Heather Jameson talks to chief executive Chris Naylor on the story so far.
The Government must develop a rural strategy
Rural areas are being left behind while the Government focuses on Brexit - and evidence in the Lords Rural Economy Committee report highlights the devastating impact of this, says Graham Biggs
We’re getting in the Zone
Cllr Darren Rodwell explains how Barking & Dagenham is providing positive diversionary activities and role models by opening a Future Youth Zone.
The dead hand of centralism
Central Government must give up its ‘iron grip’ on local government finances and free councils up to make genuine local choices, say Steve Leach and Colin Copus.
Anchors away
David Godfrey explains the symbiotic link between prosperous communities and productive places, and why Localis’ new report stresses the need to deepen the relationship between business and place.
Pledges focus on what matters most to Londoners
London Councils’ Pledges to Londoners set out the aspirations the 32 boroughs and the City of London have agreed to work on together to improve the lives of all the capital’s residents, says Peter John.
A new social contract – the Community Paradigm
The time is right for a new vision for the future of our communities, according to Donna Hall – a paradigm shift in thinking that is as revolutionary and fundamental as Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s social contract.