Celebrating Big Local – the movement communities made 🎉
For 15 years, 150 communities across England led change in their areas. As the programme closes, we’re celebrating the people, stories, and legacy of what’s possible with time, trust, and resources.
Explore it all here: https://bit.ly/4m4GqS2
Interesting launch earlier today of the OECD LEED report on an international policy mapping of ABIs. I enjoyed reading the report, and hearing presentations from the Irish, Dutch and French contexts.
A welcome piece of work (and not just for my literature review!)
www.oecd.org/content/dam/...
Excited to see Pride in Place expanded to another 40 neighbourhoods - waiting for the list,
but wonderful to see the future is neighbourhoods.
Neighbourhoods is where life happens - and as I was reminded this week, where pastoral care is most experienced and valuable
🚀 It’s here.
Launching today: Learning from Big Local - a new website with 15 years of lessons from community-led change.
Explore research and stories from 150 hyper-local areas - this is your resource for community-led change.
Visit the website: https://bit.ly/4rbcuop
The optimistic news is these continuing anchor organisations were newly established by NDCs, heavily rooted in community want and need - positive engagement with the community in Pride in Place could lead to the same result
Interesting article with some good points on Big Local and community action. Disagree however on the lack of evidence of enduring sentiment in NDC neighbourhoods - my research is suggesting positive long-term effects of work done (and still done) by community anchor bodies established by NDCs.
Very excited by today’s announcement on Pride in Place.
Very happy to see it builds on the work of NDC and Big Local (which I know very well).
Much needed money in neighbourhoods but the work is never done. Opportunity for long-term change is there - if the end is thought about from the start.
Also very much enjoyed learning about the hyper-local neighbourhood approach taken by the JU:MP project by Born in Bradford - I could see similarities with Big Local, but appropriate differences to account for their focus. Definitely one to read more about
Day 1 of #HDCA2025 over!
Very thought provoking presentations from UNDP on the future of AI and human development, and Kunal Sen on whether inequality is inevitable with development (spoiler: it’s not!) using the Kuznets curve - but interesting patterns in the US and UK…
Day 1 of the #HDCA2025 Summer School at the University of Bradford was very inspiring. Lots learnt, lots thought about, lots added to the reading list.
Also great to have opportunity to discuss challenges faced when using the capability approach for the first time!
Interesting piece from The Guardian Oz yesterday on how we all need community, and different ways we can find it.
Importantly highlights issues with volunteering bureaucracy - balancing protection with too much admin can act as a large deterrent.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Excellent start to the #PPPconf2025 with Lord David Blunkett talking about communitarianism and its role in tackling populism. ‘We have got to restore people’s belief that they are part of the process of change’
Welcome to see the Spending Review announcing 25 ‘trailblazer neighbourhoods’ across the four nations but have various questions
What will spend be targeted on?
How will residents be involved meaningfully?
How will change be measured? Through VFM or diversifying into e.g., capability measurement?…
Whilst it’s also promising evaluation work will be done outside of just the Green Book, my hope is lessons learnt can be viewed holistically and the value for money numbers don’t dominate future discussion!
Having read the Shared Prosperity Fund evaluation update, it’s disappointing to see the ‘Communities and Place’ study groups focusing solely on capital projects.
Whilst significant for places, it would be interesting to have cases of more intangible aspects of community developed through the UKSPF
Both well worth a read for further insight on what is happening, and what is further needed…
Plan for Neighbourhoods prospectus - www.gov.uk/government/p...
‘Think Neighbourhoods’ interim report from @iconeighbours.bsky.social: www.neighbourhoodscommission.org.uk/report/inter...
Very exciting week for developments in 🏴 neighbourhood policy
First the (re?)announcement of Plan for Neighbourhoods from DHCLG - interested to see the impact of 75% capital spend
Then the launch of ‘Think Neighbourhoods’ by ICON - definitely highlighting the crucial role of the ‘mission million’
Feeling like a proper researcher today!
Train down to London planning a presentation of my MRes research to go to the National Archives to access New Deal for Communities files.
Feel slightly out of my depth with historical sources, but sure it will be fine!
