Is the budget just another ‘fiscal event’ that can’t give us what we need? As the much-anticipated Autumn budget approaches, our head of policy and communications @maddiejennings.bsky.social reflects on what it can – or can’t – do for disadvantaged neighbourhoods. 🔗 bit.ly/4p7vaEs

Our head of policy & comms @maddiejennings.bsky.social will be speaking at the launch of @thetcpa.bsky.social's new suite of Community Planning Guides, which will cover practical ways for communities to tackle the most pressing issues in relation to climate change. 🔗Register: https://bit.ly/4h6WBeR

In our latest blog, our head of policy and communications @maddiejennings.bsky.social reflects on the significance of this report and outlines practical opportunities for the government to make neighbourhood renewal real. Read it here: bit.ly/4q3E5rR [2/2]

📢Our head of policy and communications @maddiejennings.bsky.social is speaking at the launch of @thetcpa.bsky.social's new community planning guides as part of their Practical Hope: Inspiration for Community Action series. 📅 21 October 🕖7 - 8 pm 🔗 bit.ly/46EBV9e [1/2]

Yesterday, the government’s announcement marked a return to the principles originally proposed by the CWFA 🎉 This crucial investment will place resources and decision-making powers directly in the hands of local communities 🤝 Hear more from @maddiejennings.bsky.social:

Read our full response here: communitywealthfund.org.uk/englands-mos... (3/3)

🚨Government acts on Local Trust’s call to put residents in charge of neighbourhood renewal. We welcome the government's announcement of its Pride in Place strategy, which gives 339 local communities funding and control over how it’s spent. [1/2]

@localtrust.org.uk is co-hosting a reception for the voluntary sector at @libdems.org.uk conference with @lbfew.bsky.social & @royalvolservice.bsky.social - 21/09 in Bournemouths - we'll be joined by @lisasmartmp.bsky.social Email [email protected] to register.

[1/2] It was great to join community leaders, charities, and politicians at the Centre for Democratic Business’ Stronger Local Places conference yesterday, where we discussed the importance of social clubs, and how they can adapt and survive in these changing times.

[2/2] Speaking at the conference, our head of policy & comms @maddiejennings.bsky.social highlighted the work of Big Local areas to emphasise, “Social clubs are among the engines of social capital, improving outcomes in health, education, employment & wellbeing.” Read her reflections: bit.ly/4mjeb0n

In this piece, Tracy shares how Big Local brought people together and transformed relationships across its several local estates: bit.ly/47vsPOj [2/2]

Is this summer an inflection point for our most deprived neighbourhoods? www.linkedin.com/pulse/end-of...

“No one is better placed to help a neighbourhood than the people who live there.” As we mark 100 Big Local areas completing the programme, our CEO, Rachel Rowney, reflects on this key milestone and what comes next. Read the article: bit.ly/44Bn8vb

A really meaningful milestone has been reached today - 100/150 Big Local areas have fully spend their £1million pound grant on their priorities and on their terms. It’s not over yet but it’s an important moment to reflect on the power of community-led change.

The Government has included major reforms to planning committees in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. We believe this is the most important component of the Government’s planning reform agenda and its efforts to reach 1.5 million new homes👇

My very initial thoughts on Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England 🏥 are a pretty mixed bag. 📱In the sections you’d most expect to be centred around relationships - neighbourhood health service & prevention - there’s a lot more about apps than the face to face connection people want

Is throwback Thursday #tbt a thing on @bsky.app ? Let’s make it one by looking back at a Thursday in June when @localtrust.org.uk and @right-here.org took Andy Burnham on a community-led tour of his patch 🐝

For those among us who have done hard time as parliamentary researchers, book launches in the Jubilee Room can only be nostalgic. If the core theme is inequality & the host is Ruskin College it’s a triple whammy. But to dwell on the timelessness of the experience would be to undersell the subject

We called on the government to break the cycle of deprivation in doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods around the country, and whilst details are yet to be announced, it’s clear that the Chancellor recognises the power of neighbourhood-level interventions led by local people. [🧵2/2]

📢 Chancellor creates new fund to improve 350 deprived areas. We welcome the decision in today’s #SpendingReview that a new fund will be set up to ensure the most deprived communities are supported to take part in the government’s ambitious plans for national renewal. [🧵1/2]

And we’re off! 🚌🚌🚌 1st stop Salford to pick up @andyburnham.bsky.social

I promised the chair of Sale West Big Local that I’d get Andy Burnham to visit before the end of the Big Local programme - looks like I’m about to deliver on that promise, personal honour intact!

Driving Change: The BIG GM Live Well Bus Tour kicks off tomorrow! 🚌 We’re joining GM Live Well, @locality.org.uk ‬& @right-here.org to show decision-makers in Greater Manchester, including @mayorofgm.bsky.social Andy Burnham, the power of community-led decision-making. 📽 @maddiejennings.bsky.social

Social capital is often the missing ingredient in place-based regeneration. We’re looking at how to identify, measure & strengthen it at the hyperlocal level. 💬 Dan Crowe (3ni) 💬 @annafrancisart.bsky.social‬ 💬 Robin Fry (North East Combined Authority) 🪑 @gracepollard.bsky.social‬ #StrongerThings

🚨 Robin Fry from NECA announces he is working with 3ni on North East Social Capital Summit later this year - promises to be a major regional policy highlight of 2025

Standing room only for “Building social capital in neighbourhoods” 3ni’s Stronger Things Session with @localtrust.org.uk alum Dan Crowe, Anna Francis from the completely inspiring Portland Inn Project in Stoke and Robin Fry who is inclusive economy advisor at NECA

A shout out for @localtrust.org.uk and Big Local from the main stage at Stronger Things - Peabody’s Sahil Khan quoting our research that shows the positive impact Big Local had on the speed and breadth of the community’s response to covid. Social capital in action!

Blown away by the crowd at @wearenewlocal.bsky.social Stronger Things this morning - if this is a gauge of local government’s commitment to communities we’ll be seeing great things!

📍 Do you have space available for a community organisation? 🗺️ Here are the latest calls from the #PlatformPlaces network! For an intro, please send us a message here or at platformplaces.com/contact #PropertyMatchMaking #CommunityPower #HighStreets #TownCentreProperty

A close encounter with the tallest and only 100% community owned wind turbine in the country! No better way to mark the launch of @localtrust.org.uk and Frontier Economics’ groundbreaking analysis of the value of investing in social infrastructure localtrust.org.uk/insights/res...

Another absolutely beautiful day for a visit - this time heading west to see the work being done by Ambition Lawrence Weston - going from strength to strength since spending out and exiting the Big Local programme - here’s a look back at their story localtrust.org.uk/news-and-sto...

What do kids in Newcastle upon Tyne want from their neighbourhood? 1. Public spaces to meet and play 2. Active travel infrastructures to safely walk and cycle 3. Streets that promote cohesive communities 4. Well designed, maintained & safe places. Excellent participative study.

To me the idea of social clubs is inherently nostalgic which is perhaps why so many of them are closing, despite their vital importance to communities - especially those doubly disadvantaged by poverty and low social infrastructure. “a source of solidarity, identity, support in hard times”

There's broad public support for net zero by 2050 & people are concerned about the impact of the climate crisis. So let's deliver net zero policies that benefit ordinary people rather than calling it into question. @alchap.bsky.social spoke to LBC News in light of Tony Blair's comments.

Social infrastructure is incredibly important for the success of new developments. But not just new developments...” Our head of policy and communications @maddiejennings.bsky.social spoke at the HCLG Committee evidence session on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. Read more: buff.ly/myKHxnk

When your organisation makes enough noise about the planning and infrastructure bill that you get called up by the HCLG committee … thanks to @florenceeshalomi.bsky.social and colleagues - now let’s build some neighbourhood social infrastructure!

📣 Respect neighbourhood plans 💪 Build social infrastructure

ICYMI: Watch the recording of our Blueprint for Belonging webinar with @cumberlandlodge.bsky.social, where panellists, including our head of policy and comms @maddiejennings.bsky.social, explored why youth voices matter in decisions about infrastructure & community development: buff.ly/Cu7Y0IJ [1/2]

The decision to use PAVA in children’s prisons “represents a serious escalation in the use of force that is permitted against children” - @thehowardleague.bsky.social in @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/c464...

Leaving my lane to comment on this shocking decision. I was pepper sprayed at very close range by a mugger when I was 18 - it was extremely painful, I couldn’t see properly for days and it has permanently damaged my corneas. An utterly inappropriate weapon to use on a child whatever the context.

This feels like an auspicious time to be banging the drum for community-led neighbourhood health so I’m really pleased to be launching our action research with @nhsconfed.org in 6 Big Local areas www.nhsconfed.org/news/power-p...

The worst kept secret in long-term flexible funding is out - Local Trust’s former COO Rachel Rowney is now our CEO. She’s been with the programme pretty much from the start - couldn’t imagine a better leader to take Big Local to the end ⭐️ localtrust.org.uk/news-and-sto...

🚨 Don’t miss @cumberlandlodge.bsky.social’s webinar today at 11am, where our head of comms and policy @maddiejennings.bsky.social will explore youth perspectives on social capital and social infrastructure, alongside a panel of young speakers who have shaped the agenda. 🔗 buff.ly/KRyGZSx

The old school community where they welcome strangers: great coverage of the work Beechwood Big Local are doing - connecting people to their community one new playground at a time www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

Tutoring is an evidenced backed intervention which can help to close the attainment gap. Ten years of progress in closing that gap have been lost post-pandemic - so why has ringfenced funding for tutoring been removed in schools?

Head full of neighbourhood governance ideas this morning - looking forward to sharing and adding new ones at the @iconeighbours.bsky.social policy workshop on the neighbourhood state - keeping in mind the myriad different examples Big Local has to offer

Senior Fellow, @davidjbuck.bsky.social, spoke at the LGA and ADPH Public Health Conference about English devolution and the impact this might have on health. Find out more about his work in this area in the links below ⬇️

For a deep dive and a fresh perspective on social infrastructure and social capital - sign up for this webinar with Cumberland lodge. I’ll be speaking alongside a group of young people who have designed the agenda to unpack old tropes and break new ground us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

There’s so much news at the moment here and abroad it’s hard to keep up. What we don’t have enough of is independent local news coverage the lack of which leads to an over-reliance on social media resulting in misinformation and even conspiracy theory. @publicinterestnews.org.uk have got a plan:

Spring statement day, with a by-election coming up so I’m heading to Runcorn to Windmill Hill Big Local which has done so much against the odds. This visit will focus on what we can learn from Runcorn’s overspill estates as the government embarks on an unprecedented programme of house building.