Innovation in local government is about improving the lives of the people in our
communities. Browse through our case studies to see the many innovative programmes councils are involved
in.
York Life is a new, free music festival for York. Funded by City of York Council (CYC) through the UK Government’s Additional Restrictions Grants and organised by a partnership between Make It York and York Music Venues Network.
Sheffield’s diverse freelance artists and creatives were seriously impacted by Covid lockdowns and the cancellation of arts events. National government support was often not available to them.
As part of wider regeneration proposals for Stevenage Town Centre, the Danestrete Bus Station has relocated to a new facility. The vacant bus station space presents an exciting transformation opportunity in the heart of the town in advance of wider regeneration proposals happening.
As a result of the pandemic and the financial difficulties being experienced by many, the government provided local authorities with grants to distribute to those most in need. Buckinghamshire Council set up a Helping Hand service to help administer the funds, working with partners in the voluntary and community sector to reach those really struggling.
Councils that have declared a Climate Emergency may struggle to fund the measures needed to cut emissions in their area. Warrington Borough Council has piloted the use of community municipal bonds, a fundraising tool for local authorities, to fund renewable energy projects. Community municipal bonds allow councils to raise money directly from residents. In Warrington, the money raised has been used for low-carbon infrastructure, to speed up carbon emissions reductions and increase resilience to the pandemic.
Storms Desmond and Eva in late December 2015 led to record river levels in many river catchments, 453 properties and 174 businesses flooded in York. The Environment Agency and City of York Council were successful in attracting funding to renew existing and provide new flood defences. The York Five Year Plan was developed and detailed business cases and designs for schemes in 19 flood cells across the city have been delivered. An adaptive approach to flood resilience has been developed, work programmes to develop increased flood storage and the incentivised delivery of natural flood risk management measures have commenced.
Ealing Council in West London are creating the conditions to develop a mass community cycling culture in Southall, by tackling the core underlying barriers to cycling and putting residents at the heart of any change. The Sport England funded project involves the giveaway of up to 2,500 bikes to residents, a wraparound training offer, friends to cycle with, daily led cycle rides for all abilities and a platform to create wider system and infrastructure development to sustain a new cycling culture.
Gloucestershire County Council has taken a dynamic and innovative approach to recruitment and retention of social workers which has driven increased stability in the workforce to achieve better outcomes for children, young people and their families.
Like many areas, reaching and engaging middle aged men in suicide prevention activities is an important objective for the Champs Public Health Collaborative. The Collaborative commissioned Everton in the Community and Edge Hill University to conduct an evaluation of funded projects and a rapid evidence review of the effectiveness of these interventions. This case study was done jointly with the National Suicide Prevention Alliance and forms part of our suicide prevention resource.