NLGN
Community groups attitude key to success
Council attitudes towards community groups have a ‘clear impact’ on their success and sustainability, a think-tank report has found.
Building on citizen power
The Local Area Co-ordination Network is dedicated to helping people find solutions to complex challenges through local resources rather than service interventions, as Professor Donna Hall and Nick Sinclair explain.
Righting Wrongs
Anger and tumult have exploded around the world following the death of George Floyd. Ann McGauran reports on the effects of the waves of protest and how councils are working to ease tensions.
Successful community initiatives should not depend on having friends in high places
Success in working with councils depends on knowing committed insiders, says Luca Tiratelli of the New Local Government Network.
Centralising instincts are undermining local assets
NLGN's latest Leadership Index shows the importance of unshackling local government from Westminster's top-down approach, says Pawda Tjoa.
Community ties strengthen as economies unravel
Community cohesion is at an all-time high despite plummeting economic confidence during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey of local government chiefs and leaders.
The power of local systems to save lives
The money announced for testing, tracking and tracing is welcome, but it will be pretty thinly spread across local government, argues Professor Donna Hall. Councils need to be properly funded to do this properly.
Radical transformation’s biggest gift
As the COVID-19 crisis escalates, its impact has shifted the community empowerment and participation agenda into overdrive, writes Heather Jameson as she looks at what the lasting legacy could be for local government and society.
Staying afloat while rocking the boat
Katy Oglethorpe says the context may have ‘shifted unimaginably’ in the fortnight since hundreds gathered in London’s Guildhall united by a commitment to community power – ‘but its value has been exposed as even more pressing today’.
A powerful light at the end of the tunnel
These are the most challenging times most of us have lived through, says Donna Hall – and ‘we can choose to close down or swim towards the light of a new community power at the precious heart of our public services’.
Budget did not reflect the importance of communities, says NLGN chair
The Budget underplayed the role of individuals and communities, and local areas are ‘now at a point where we need to get community power done’, says the chair of the New Local Government Network (NLGN).
Organising for change
Dominic Campbell looks ahead to the NLGN’s upcoming flagship event, assessing how the sector can make the most of the power of change
A DIY guide to local inclusive growth
A new report presents a practical framework for cultivating local inclusive growth – featuring a host of case studies. But does it say enough about how the decisions that drive growth are made? Ann McGauran reports.
Report identifies 16 policy levers for promoting inclusive growth
Inclusive growth requires a ‘sustained campaign for change across multiple fronts,’ according to a new report that identifies 16 policy levers councils can pull.
NLGN study highlights concerns over air quality
Unitaries are much less likely than Metropolitan councils and London boroughs to consider taking action on air quality as ‘extremely or very important’, the latest quarterly NLGN leadership index survey has found.
More power for the people
Margaret Bolton argues that it’s time to establish a Community Wealth Fund to devolve decision-making power and resources to the residents of the communities that have been ‘left behind’.
Communities hold the key to children’s social care
Pawda Tjoa says community-led approaches to early intervention should offer valuable lessons for policy-making on a national scale – and now is the time to ‘nurture the local initiatives that are already making a difference’.
More weirdos wanted!
You don’t have to be brilliant at digital, algorithms or a weirdo to see that naked self-preservation and worrying about rocking the boat too dramatically is what is behind the failure to deliver local public service reform, observes Donna Hall.
Rooted in the real world
Director of the New Local Government Network, Adam Lent, talks to Ann McGauran about the impact made by the think-tank during his three years of leadership and the next steps for empowering communities.
A vision of the past
The party manifestos have been branded ‘a little last decade’ after they were released in quick succession ahead of the General Election.
