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.
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.
Westminster City Council are piloting a scheme in schools to improve access to early information and support for children on mental health as well as ensuring there are mental health workers in youth hubs.
Gateshead Council run their own in-house monitoring and response centre for all of their housing stock including general needs and specialist housing. This includes approximately 3,000 community alarms in people’s homes in the area – a traditional telecare offer.
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is a well-established and well evidenced approach for emotional and behavioural disorders. MST is an intensive family and community based intervention for young people aged 11-17 years.
The BookTrust’s Storytime Prize aims to build confidence and enjoyment in sharing books with children and encourage visits to the library, by inviting families to explore and vote for their national Storytime prizewinning book.
Gateshead Council has seen unemployment rates rise, but the council is working with its partners to provide targeted support to the most deprived communities in a variety of ways.
Libraries across Dorset host a range of early years programmes such as Rhyme Times, Library Gets Lively and Story Times to support early language development and a love of books and reading. Following a Rhyme Time session at Portland Library, staff identified a need to develop their sessions in response to the requirements of some of their families; in the main the isolation of some parents who found it difficult to break into established groups, or who were new to the area and had not developed relationships with other parents.