Trusting place: improving the lives of local people through place-based approaches
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It is a pivotal time for local public services. With devolution and local reorganisation underway, and integrated settlements and place-based budgets playing a significant role in Government plans, an opportunity is emerging to radically shift the relationship between central government and places across England.
Within places, many different kinds of boundaries can be broken down: between citizen and state, between local and national, between different areas of public service. The ‘Total Place’ programme, as well as several instances of exciting new approaches in places across England, provide the framework for a different model of public services – but only if the current system shifts sufficiently to allow the necessary space.
‘Trusting Place’ sets out the elements, and the needed conditions, for this new approach. Re:State, in partnership with Mutual Ventures, produced the report to inform the Local Government Association’s (LGA) dialogue with government and its members in support of ‘place-based’ approaches to public services.
The report is the result of a series of in-depth discussions and workshops with more than 50 senior officers and experts from across a range of public services, alongside research to capture lessons from international, domestic, and piloted place-based approaches to public service reform.
On the basis of this research, ‘Trusting Place’ sets out 22 recommendations targeted at local government, central government, and the LGA itself. It argues that the system must shift to think and act in a place-based, people-focused, and collaborative way. Local leaders and public servants must be empowered to do what is right for their communities.