The author G.K. Chesterton, one of Kensington and Chelsea's more notable and original localists (see ‘The Napoleon of Notting Hill'), once noted that, ‘When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.'
When it comes to the everyday functions of local authorities and how we interact with them and them with us as residents or communities, it is remarkably easy to overlook the importance of participation, trust and two-way communication that go into creating strong reciprocal relationships.
As a concept, localism has the potential to deliver real democratic accountability and public good, but only if done in a way that delivers real power to people. To develop deeper connections between the local state and citizens is not necessarily a matter of institutional formality. It is a question of substance and concerns the relations between the functions of a local authority – such as the services provided – and the citizens they are responsible for.
Neither the local state nor civil society and community should be seen as acting in isolation. Local authorities derive their legitimacy through their interaction with citizens and an organised and active civil society. Furthermore, a capable local authority can use these interactions to assess the needs of citizens that can then go on to inform technical or policy solutions that deliver better and more responsive public services, and create an improved public realm and local environment.
How citizens and communities identify with their local area is notoriously tricky to grasp. In the immediate policy context, the government's Levelling Up White Paper has used the rhetoric of ‘pride in place' – a helpful springboard.
As a means of improving delivery in a way that respects place-identity, local engagement is an outcome that can arise from consultation processes or other interaction between a council and its community, such as participation and the provision of information. Engagement itself is achieved when the community is and feels part of the overall governance of that community. Councils have an important role in building stronger communities, and engaging communities is a key way of doing so.
The experience COVID-19 induced lockdowns served as a stress test without parallel for our social infrastructure and fabric. We truly learned the limits and extent of the central state's ability to command and control from Whitehall and the inner-resilience and capacity of the local and hyperlocal to persevere and intuitively innovate on the ground – in many cases without instructions or funding.
For central government, the idea of local economic generation is affixed to the notion of ‘pride in place'. Under objective three of the government's Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, there is the goal of restoring ‘a sense of community, local pride and belonging'. Under this objective, the paper speaks of ‘pride in place' consisting of policies to support regeneration, communities, green space and cultural activity.
The Connected Society, therefore, represents an early attempt to marry an understanding of levelling up theory with the practice of community-led placemaking on the streets, the alfresco dining areas, in the pocket parks and among the diverse communities of Kensington & Chelsea. It is to be hoped that there is much in this policy toolkit that can be learned and adapted to in different places and circumstances.
Localis launched this toolkit in Birmingham's historic council house alongside friends of this agenda – MPs with a concern for community such as Danny Kruger and David Simmonds, chairman of the Local Government Association Cllr James Jamieson, Kensington and Chelsea leader Elizabeth Campbell and UK Highstreets Taskforce chair, Mark Robinson and Power to Change's policy director, Ailbhe MacNabola.
So with a spirit that gratitude's the attitude, Localis launched The Connected Society with a little help from our friends – and see where this agenda for realising pride in place might take us.
Jonathan Werran is chief executive, Localis
