Event

Done to, not with

This event hosted by UK think tank Localis explores how community power is enabled and enacted across different levels of governance and sectors.

As trust in political institutions continues to decline, communities across England are experiencing a deepening sense of political disconnection. Even as successive governments have introduced regional devolution initiatives, few have passed power directly to communities and neighbourhoods most implicated by the powers on offer through devolution. Decision-making structures have remained complex, overly bureaucratic, and largely consultative in nature. Participation may be invited, but it is seldom empowered. This distance from power, compounded by insufficient and fragmented funding, and weakened civic infrastructure, has contributed to a widespread feeling that local voices are rarely heard, let alone acted upon.

This webinar, presented by Localis in association with We’re Right Here, will explore how community power is understood, enabled, and enacted across different levels of governance and sectors. Together, we will seek to investigate the institutional, financial, and cultural enablers of meaningful participation, identify the key barriers to embedding co-production within local decision-making, and spotlight pioneering examples of neighbourhood-led governance with a view towards their scalability.

Key questions for consideration include:

• What would it take, political, institutionally, and culturally, to move from a rhetoric of localism to a lived reality of community power across England?
• How can we design a statutory framework that not only redistributes power, but ensures communities have the resources, rights, and recognition to exercise it meaningfully?
• In a system where power has historically flowed downward through decentralisation and delegation, how do we reimagine accountability, participation, and governance from the neighbourhood up?

Speakers

Andy Jackson – Chief Executive, Heeley Development Trust

Cllr Saima Ashraf – Deputy Leader, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

Ben Glover – Head of Policy Analysis, ICON