Report

Levelling up locally

Think tank: Onward

Author(s): Adam Hawksbee; Shivani H Menon

February 7, 2023

is report from UK think tank Onward provides a guide for local leaders to level up their communities.

Levelling Up is a national mission. But much of the energy, insight and levers to make change are local. Onward’s Levelling Up In Practice programme brings together research from places across the country to understand common challenges and identify practical, low-cost interventions that can kickstart progress. Levelling Up Locally is our final report, based on five research visits to Oldham, Walsall, South Tyneside, Barry, and Clacton. Our conversations across the country identified five common challenges. These issues are consistently raised by the public, observable in the data, and stubbornly persist over time. These are: Tackling antisocial behaviour, particularly among young people; Bringing life back to high streets and town centres; Supporting local sport, culture, heritage and green space; Boosting local growth in the private sector; Providing community-based support to the most disadvantaged.