Constructing Consensus: The case for community-powered development and regeneration
Release Date: 10/20/2024
Where People Meet: How we celebrate, sustain and reimagine community centres
New Local Voices
Community centres are a core and enduring part of the UK’s social infrastructure. They are hubs of social connection, stewards of health and wellbeing, vital partners in their local ecosystems and important physical assets that communities can depend on. Our report sets out what can be achieved if we celebrate, sustain and reimagine community centres for the future. It makes the case for meaningful investment, effort and focus at both the national and local level to dismantle the challenges standing in their way. It calls for their true value to be recognised and nurtured. New Local’s...
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Constructing Consensus: The case for community-powered development and regeneration
New Local Voices
Our country needs to build more. More houses are required to meet current and rising demand. High streets and town centres need regeneration. Our infrastructure is not keeping pace with the structural requirements of our economy and society. In this podcast, we delve into new research arguing that the key to unlocking our fraught planning system is to give communities more power and influence to shape local development. What can the councils and the government do to make this happen in time to fulfil Labour's housebuilding goals? Join New Local's Imran Hashmi and Katy Oglethorpe in...
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Inside Test Valley's ground-breaking approach to community engagement
New Local Voices
From giving residents a blank sheet to determine the council's priorities, to making statutory consultation processes interactive and fun, Test Valley Borough Council is pushing the envelope on community engagement. And it's paying off. Councillors are braver and more effective. Senior managers are better leaders. There's more consensus and less cynicism among residents. And the community's voice now sits at the heart of everything the council does. Adam Lent visited leader Phil North, chief executive Andy Ferrier, deputy chief executive Salena Mulhere and community engagement officer Imogen...
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A Community-Powered NHS
New Local Voices
As the NHS faces ever-rising demand, its founding principles of being free and universal are under threat. In our latest report, we propose a solution: a fundamental shift towards a healthcare system focused as much on preventing illness as treating it. Working collaboratively with communities as equal partners in the design and delivery of healthcare. Report authors Adam Lent and Grace Pollard are interviewed by Katy Oglethorpe about the report's key ideas. And we hear from the people behind innovative schemes at a GP's surgery in Pimlico, and a HIV charity in Manchester. Visit for the...
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The Community Paradigm: Updated for 2021
New Local Voices
What would happen if we put power where it belonged, in our communities? In , New Local's Adam Lent and Jessica Studdert made a case for the radical redistribution of power - away from the state and the market - and towards people themselves. The report helped capture a community power movement, that has been gaining momentum in places and public services within the UK. Two years on, Adam and Jess introduce a new preface for the Paradigm - reflecting on new context created by the Covid pandemic, and the increased urgency to create sustainable, fairer services. The...
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This Isn't Working
New Local Voices
Over 2 million jobseekers are out of work due to disabilities or health conditions. But every year, only 4% of them move into employment.
info_outlineOur country needs to build more. More houses are required to meet current and rising demand. High streets and town centres need regeneration. Our infrastructure is not keeping pace with the structural requirements of our economy and society.
In this podcast, we delve into new research arguing that the key to unlocking our fraught planning system is to give communities more power and influence to shape local development. What can the councils and the government do to make this happen in time to fulfil Labour's housebuilding goals?
Join New Local's Imran Hashmi and Katy Oglethorpe in conversation, along with appearances from some of the case studies featured in the research - people-led regeneration of empty houses in Grimsby, the UK's first housing co-op for women aged over 50, and the district council giving residents a blank sheet for regeneration. We also speak to Zo Hoida, whose law firm Browne Jacobson supported the research.