After over 37 years in public service, I might be forgiven for experiencing ground hog day. I’ve been part of a constant cycle of centralisation and de-centralisation of services over many years.. We invest time and effort building relationships with communities, setting out visions for places and neighbourhoods and when the green shoots are starting to show for one reason or another, be that austerity, the impact of new public management approaches, a change of government, we switch track.
Working in a Council as early as the 1990s I was responsible for introducing place and neighbourhood approaches, and integrated frontline services. Working with communities, for example, across Kirklees, to recognise their diversity, understand their varied needs and to design integrated services with them and for them in their neighbourhoods, as part of the council’s anti-poverty strategy. I saw the on the ground results. Increased identification and use of local community assets and strengths, pride in local places, increased cohesion and a renewed sense of belonging, as well as access to services close to where people lived, reducing no shows for appointments, and supporting prevention and early intervention. After several years, the model was dismantled and a more centralised approach adopted.
I went on to work on developing several place based models in a number of Greater Manchester local authorities across the subsequent years. I have also worked in councils without this type of model. So, what did I learn? The neighbourhood model enables councils to have a different type of conversation with residents, to really connect with them in their place. Rather than relying on public service professionals who might decide they ‘know best’, co-working at neighbourhood level allows councils to gain greater insight into residents’ problems and, importantly, co-design solutions.
The model provides a focus and anchor for residents, communities and the council and partners to work in collaboration to tackle local issues and identify problems at an earlier point through local intelligence and connections before they become acute.. When I worked in Partington in Trafford it was clear that the challenges – poor transport links, deprivation, poor access to health services and a dwindling town centre – could not be tackled by one agency alone. I was struck by the number of partners involved – the police, voluntary and community sector, housing associations, the Council, the local NHS, GPs, local schools, local businesses – all had a contribution to make to improve the outcomes for the place and its people.
The approach is not only about investing in the fabric of the buildings and integrating services, but building the capacity and energy in the community to make change happen and revitalising community connections and pride. The neighbourhood focus is a key catalyst to enable these changes to happen at multiple levels.
At Collaborate we are passionate about the power of neighbourhood working and work with many councils across the country who are embedding working in this way with their residents and communities. In Wigan, for example; they are moving from seven neighbourhoods to fourteen, wanting to drill down even further and connect on a more equal footing to geography that people recognise and engage with.
We are currently working with Test Valley to build a case for why place-based, relational approaches to public services should be core to Local Government Reorganisation. This is a once in a life- time opportunity to re-examine and re-shape the operating model for local government. To finally move this practice into the mainstream by embedding it fully in our operating model, culture and the core practice of new strategic authorities..
So, what is my message to the current national government, local government and our partners? We need to commit to this model and stick with it! It will offer better longer-term outcomes for people and communities than our current top down, one size fits all, model. It allows places to have an identity that communities can engage with and responds to differences in needs and solutions. It supports improvements for people and places through the focused efforts of the council, partners and residents on shared problems and builds local capacity and pride. It will also support democratic renewal, rather than the disengagement we are experiencing today.
There are so many good examples of place based working at a local level. We need to scale up and cascade this approach to more places, to start with a neighbourhood and community based approach, working from communities upwards to transform public services and create sustainable services for the future. Let’s not waste the opportunity!