Overview
Over the past year, we have been working in four places, Cornwall, Southwark, Stevenage and Wigan, to test our findings from the Localism Commission and implement our recommendations in practice. Our action research partners included councillors, council officers and community organisations in each area. Our research with Par Bay Big Local, South Bermondsey Big Local and Leigh Neighbours, also involved interviews with residents in these neighbourhoods. Through interviews, roundtables, local and national workshops, we have learned more about how councils can drive forward a radical new localism agenda. In partnership we have sought to strengthen existing practice and find opportunities to go further.
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Our key findings
This report showcases the inspiring ways community organisations have helped us through the coronavirus crisis. Through indepth research with community organisations and local authorities we have learnt:
• Existing social infrastructure has been vital to the crisis response
• Well-functioning local systems have emerged in the heat of the crisis
• The role of community organisations as “cogs of connection” has been strengthened
• Community organisations have adapted at pace – but need support to meet the challenges of the future
The committed and agile way communities have responded to the coronavirus crisis points the way to a new future that’s built around community power. But to be truly transformative, policymakers need to catch up with the innovation that’s happening locally - and help embed it as the “new normal” as we emerge from the crisis. So this report sets out three practical ways the government can create the conditions for community power to flourish at a local level and make this the foundation of a fairer society after the crisis.
