From the Local Trust: "power in our hands" means specialness of place, residents deciding and an ambition for change
From the Local Trust’s “resident-led decision making” paper
A/UK has been working with the Local Trust - results imminent - and in the process we have become huge admirers of their creative, sensitive approach to local empowerment. In the words of their intro to some new research:
Nothing like Big Local has ever existed: it involves 150 places, each with more than £1 million of funding, where residents decide how they want to make their area a better place to live.
The programme is multifaceted and varied, and so when it comes to research, Local Trust structures learning around questions that address key aspects of the programme. Our 2018-2020 research and evaluation plan introduced three lines of inquiry, all of which, in different ways, help to test the Big Local hypothesis:
Long term funding, and support to build capacity, gives residents in hyper-local areas agency to take decisions, and to act to create positive and lasting change.
These three lines of inquiry are:
resident-led decision-making
place-based funding
positive and lasting change
Local Trust have brought out a research paper for each line (links below). We’d recommend you read them in full, but the learnings from each (reproduced and lightly edited below) are useful to read in advance. They are candid about what’s been achieved, and what hasn’t worked enough:
Resident-led decision-making: What we’ve learned
An understanding of different types of power help us understand what power residents have as a result of Big Local and what types of power are more limited in
a hyperlocal, resident-led programme.
As a model, Big Local represents genuine decision-making and agency for local residents and is more ambitious than previous area-based initiatives.
And there is evidence that because of their experience of Big Local, residents are developing substantial power within, often through difficult experiences and challenging the oppressive dynamics of others.
This can be a substantial learning experience and also shows the value of the long-term nature of resident-led models, as it gives time to identify these power dynamics and repair things.
However, influencing powerful institutions is challenging and, where it succeeds, is often at the operational level and dependent on personal relationships. There is a need for radical systems reform in order for this power dynamic to shift permanently and represent a true local transfer of power.
Finally, there is more to understand about how power dynamics within the partnership might shape decision-making and agency on the ground.
Place-based funding: What we’ve learned
Historically, area-based initiatives have not been delivered in a way that allows community capacity to flourish.
These have been government initiatives, with specific aims, that are more constrained than an independent funder, who can afford to be more embracing of the risk involved in giving up power to the community.
Research on Big Local suggests that place-based funding has the potential to develop community capacity, and shows what factors appear to be important.
There is evidence it has developed capacity in the areas it funds.The most visible examples of this are things like community hubs, which have the potential to develop the social capital and economic strength of an area if they are successful.
More research could explore whether activity in Big Local areas achieves social and economic aims that strengthen community capacity.
There is strong evidence, through Big Local and other area-based initiatives, that place-based funding is more likely to build community capacity if enough time is invested in developing people’s confidence and optimism to take advantage of that opportunity.
Particularly at the beginning, there is a need for specific support to help areas get started, but throughout the programme obstacles are common and areas experience unanticipated challenges
So having the time to make mistakes, encounter obstacles and recover would seem to be a key success factor. Therefore, delivering a place-based programme is likely to be expensive because of the staff time and specialist support needed, over a long timescale.
Finally, while place-based funding can improve community capacity if done carefully, it is limited in what it can change. It is a challenge for hyperlocal funds to substantially link into the local economy, for example.
There are regional, national and global factors which place-based funding cannot substantially influence in many cases.
The starting point of an area also needs to be considered when deciding what success would look like in building community capacity.
Positive and lasting change: what we’ve learned
Big Local areas believe they will make positive and lasting change and achieve
their goals by the end of the programme. They are prioritising changes that impact individuals, including how people feel about their area and the skills they have, along with changes to the physical environment.
While 39 per cent of Big Local areas want to improve health and wellbeing in the area, and 26 per cent want to increase employment rates, evaluations from other place-based programmes suggest these structural changes are likely to be beyond the control of the programme and very difficult to influence.
When exploring what proportionate change is for the Big Local programme, it is important to consider the starting points for each area and the national and local contexts they are working in.
As Big Local areas have had to weather austerity, Brexit, different governments and other national changes, the amount of positive change they make may be limited. They may instead be working to make their community less worse off, as a result of these issues that go beyond the programme.
There is evidence that Big Local areas are working to address structural changes in their local economies and change relationships with local councils and building developers, but the areas are often addressing just one aspect of each problem, rather than tackling the systemic issue.
Even when Big Local areas do address these structural issues, it can be hard to attribute changes specifically to the programme. But Local Trust is committed to supporting areas to influence beyond the boundaries of their area and understand the changes they are making now and beyond the programme.