Case studies

There has been a growing interest in ‘civic crowdfunding’ for local authorities. This project sought to work through the options available to councils to raise additional funds for climate work whilst engaging with and involving the community, and potentially increasing community wealth. Through a series of workshops, issues and barriers were investigated in order to produce a tool to aid decision making and prepare the council for delivering alternative finance mechanisms.

Net Zero Now is a one-year project from Cambridge Carbon Footprint which was awarded £15,000 by South Cambridgeshire District Council’s Zero Carbon Communities (ZCC) grant scheme. The Net Zero Now project designed and delivered free training for community action on climate change. It trained 12 individuals to become local ambassadors for climate change. These individuals are now working on initiatives ranging from village hall sustainability, toy and book swaps, bike repair schemes and eco-festivals. The resources developed through the project have been transformed into a free online training course and will help to deliver future in-person and online courses.

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.

The Start Well Wheel is a tool for parents/carers to track all appointments and key milestones in their child’s life.

In September 2020 the Home Office agreed to use the disused Napier Barracks in Folkestone to house asylum seekers who had presented in Kent, often having crossed the Channel in dinghies.

In response to rising rates of hate crime, and a desire to make communities more resilient, Nottingham City Council sought to tackle prejudice by equipping people with the skills and confidence to effectively respond to it.

Rotherham is taking an early intervention approach to raise awareness about the impact of hate crime and to identify and work with those who might be on a journey to becoming hate crime offenders.

West Lindsey District Council undertook a review of their draft visitor economy strategy as part of the LGA’s Economic Growth Advisers Programme and commissioned a consultant to assist them in developing a fit for purpose strategy and action plan.

West Sussex County Council and Crawley Borough Council have agreed a Growth Deal to deliver regeneration schemes to its town centre and business district by improving transport infrastructure, delivering new homes and unlocking new commercial space. By doing so, it aims to support the economic recovery of the borough from the pandemic and deliver long term economic growth.

Tendring District Council (TDC) is undertaking a project to incorporate social value to its existing procurement process, based on the anchor institutions approach. Local authorities, other public bodies, and some large voluntary and private sector organisations form the ‘anchors’ in a place. Having seen examples from Preston, Manchester, and an emerging approach from Essex County Council , the desired outcome is to better communicate the procurement process to local companies and support them to understand how to bid into council contracts to increase the level of spend by anchors on local companies.