COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP DURING LGR
The areas that thrive through LGR will be those that invest in community leadership alongside the other elements of change.
When governance structures change, the civic & relational infrastructure that makes democracy work, residents, voluntary groups, parish councils, community networks, can fragment or flourish.
The difference is whether there is intentional investment in community leadership capacity.
In two-tier areas, both district and county councils will be replaced by new unitary authorities. In some areas, mayoral or strategic authorities will be created above unitaries, covering the geography but with different functions focused on strategic priorities like transport, skills, and economic development.
Districts have deep, often decades-long connections with community networks and local charities. Counties have built partnerships across wider geographies with health systems, voluntary sector infrastructure, and regional networks. As these structures disappear, the relationships that got things done risk fragmentation, deterioration, or disappearing all together.
Councillors will represent more people across wider geographies, making their connecting role even more critical. They need strengthened community leadership infrastructure to work with not weakened by transition.
The opportunity? To reimagine how communities, councillors, and councils work together, building deeper partnerships that co-create the future and deliver for places.
WHAT WE DO
Develop Community Networks
We work with civic leaders, voluntary groups, and community networks to build the skills, confidence, and connections they need to champion local priorities during reorganisation. This includes creating peer learning networks across merging authority areas and developing collective voice at both neighbourhood and unitary level.
STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP INFRASTRUCTURE
We help councils understand what exists: parish councils, voluntary sector networks, civic actors, and informal community leaders. We help you identify who and what might be lost in transition without intentional support, and co-design development that builds community capacity to navigate and shape new governance arrangements.
Co-Design New Ways of Working
We facilitate genuine partnership where councils, councillors and community leaders shape what comes next together. This moves beyond consultation to co-design: creating new arrangements where communities have real influence and decision-making power, and councillors can maintain strong connection across wider geographies.
Test What Works Through Purposeful Experiments
Reorganisation is full of unknowns, so we help councils and communities create safe spaces to test new ways of working through small, purposeful experiments that build confidence, reduce fear of failure, and generate practical learning to inform and shape wider transformation.
OUR APPROACH
We support councils, trusts and foundations, and others to invest in community leadership capacity during transition, ensuring civic infrastructure deepens rather than fractures as governance changes.
EXAMPLES OF OUR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORK
Let’s Go Southall, Ealing: Co-Creating Community-Led Change
Working with Ealing Council, Sport England, and residents, we went directly to Southall to understand community experiences and aspirations. Within months, the council made the brave decision to support local people with leadership experience to create a movement for change. We crafted bespoke leadership and change interventions for community leaders, catalysing a movement where residents listened to each other and designed their own approach to health and wellbeing. Four years on, there are 50+ weekly activities led entirely by Southall people. The relationship between community and council has fundamentally changed. Council now has 100% senior leadership support to replicate this across Ealing’s six other towns.
Plymouth: Wellbeing Hubs as Civic Anchors
We worked with Plymouth Council and community organizations to develop six wellbeing hubs as community-led anchor institutions. Through co-design, hubs and commissioners together created shared aims and success measure, not imposed specifications. During COVID, these hubs became essential neighbourhood response infrastructure, demonstrating the resilience of genuine community-council partnerships. Community leadership development isn’t a side project during LGR. It’s fundamental to building new systems that work for places and people.
Book a strategic consultation to explore how we can support community leadership capacity for your place.