Creative Councils: re-imagining the role of local government

About Creative Councils

Creative Councils is a new programme from NESTA, working with the Local Government Association (LGA), to support local authorities to develop and implement radical innovations that meet the challenges of tomorrow. Our ambition over the next two years is to work with a small group of pioneering local authorities across England and Wales and their partners to develop, implement and spread transformational new approaches to meeting some of the biggest medium and long-term challenges facing communities and local services.

The response

The response to the call for applications revealed a significant appetite for innovation amongst councils and a wide spread desire to develop and test radical new approaches. Over one-third (38 per cent) of all local authorities in England and Wales applied for the programme, amounting to 137 submissions.

Applications covered a wide spectrum of the challenges facing local services and communities, including supporting an ageing population, the rapidly increasing demands on social services, helping people into work and achieving sustainable growth. Councils put forward radical ideas including new configurations of public, civic and private resources, and in many cases completely re-imagining the role of local government.

We have published a short analysis of the applications, as well as some of the data used in this analysis. This is intended to be useful tool to understand the innovation landscape across the country and is the first step in us sharing information and insights generated by the programme.

Working with the councils

Over the next few months, 17 shortlisted councils will receive practical support to challenge and develop their idea, with the opportunity to access financial and non-financial support over the next six months.

The shortlisted councils are:

Brighton and Hove
Bristol
Cambridgeshire
Cornwall
Derbyshire
Essex
London Borough of Havering
London Borough of Islington
Leicester
Monmouthshire
Reading
Rossendale
Rotherham
Stoke on Trent
Westminster
Wigan
York.

Ultimately, it is expected that five of the most promising ideas will be selected to receive significant financial and non-financial support to put their ideas into practice, including supporting their spread to other areas. In addition there will be opportunities for more of the applicant councils to get involved in some of the programme activities, and lessons and practical tools will be shared with councils across England and Wales throughout the lifetime of the programme.

Our aim is that Creative Councils will not only benefit those areas that we work with directly but will be a source of inspiration and knowledge for more councils and for local government as a whole. It is in this spirit that we are taking the unique step of publishing information about all of the applications online, to create an opportunity for people to challenge and develop the ideas and creating the opportunity for new collaborations to emerge.

The 137 council's own summaries of their idea are be available on the web platform Simpl. This is an innovation marketplace that connects innovators, ideas, councils and others. It provides a platform for people to express an interest in the ideas, comment, explore collaborations and offer support.

Simpl website