The document summarizes the aspirations and proposed approaches for community empowerment in 12 different areas in the UK. Across the areas, common aspirations included giving communities more control over local services and priorities, and improving outcomes through prevention. These aspirations will generally be achieved by pooling budgets from partners to create a neighborhood fund managed by a local board or partnership, with services designed and budgets allocated through community engagement. Challenges included encouraging community participation and changing entrenched ways of working.

1. BIRMINGHAM: Castle Vale [Population: c10,000]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
• A fit and active community • Better co-ordination between GPs and
• More responsive and local services community-based Health providers to
with increased take up and better develop a package of tailored services,
outcomes managed by…
• Community control of local services • A Castle Vale Health and Well-being
Board that will manage pooled budgets
and commission local health services.
This activity would be complemented by:
• The possible transfer of a swimming
pool, football stadium and playing fields,
and a nature conservation area to
community ownership
Challenges…
• Time commitment required by health
partners to disaggregate budgets and
establish new ways of working
• Encouraging and supporting local
residents to take advantage of
opportunities to co-design

2. BIRMINGHAM: Shard End [Population: c25,900]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
• To build pride in the community • Establishing a locally governed body
• To resolve some of the deeply capable of driving the agenda for the
entrenched issues in the community area and of managing:-
through locally determined action • Assets – e.g. the newly-built library and
community hub and the community
leisure centre transferred from the City
Council, and
• A community-based budget worth
around £500k that would include initially
libraries, neighbourhood advice
services, community development, sport
and leisure, expanding to other themes
over time
Challenges…
• Encouraging and supporting local
residents to take advantage of
opportunities to co-design
• Establishing appropriate governance
arrangements

3. BIRMINGHAM: Balsall Heath [Population: c14,000]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
“to further empower the resident customer • Identifying with statutory partners what
by giving them a neighbourhood purse to their budget for the neighbourhood is
spend on the services they, not the and how much of it can be pooled
provider, chooses and on a range of
• Supporting residents and voluntary
preventative measures which produce
‘better for less” agencies to choose how much of that
pooled budget to spend on community
priorities
• A resident-led neighbourhood strategic
partnership which will hold and allocate
the budget, and account for its spending
Challenges…
• Persuading all partners to move from
doing things to residents to doing things
with them
• Helping professionals to let go and follow
the lead of resident customers in a new
partnership of equals

4. BRADFORD: Little Horton Ward [Population: c20,500]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
“we want to see the community taking • Bringing together youth and sports
ownership of local issues” provision in the area, creating a new
social enterprise to better serve our
“shifting from process to outcomes… young people and innovate
from ‘I will do’ to ‘we will do’…from • With a neighbourhood body – possibly
dependency to prosperity” an adapted parish council – providing
governance and potentially managing a
budget of £2.5 - £5m
Challenges…
• Level of risk involved in the community
sector taking on public sector staff with
TUPE and pension issues
• Encouraging and supporting local
residents to take advantage of
opportunities to co-design

5. HAVERHILL [Population: c24,000]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
“services that are Haverhill-specific, driven • Starting with youth provision and public
by local people and managed by the One realm, work out budgets that can be
Haverhill Partnership” devolved
“we don’t want to create another tier of local • Building capabilities of different local
government … we want to get away from
communities, including businesses, so
‘service speak’ and sweep away notions of
they can actively define and shape
how local authorities do things”
service outcomes
• Strengthening the One Haverhill
partnership to direct services
Challenges…
• Developing an incremental approach that
reflects local priorities and has the
potential to expand its ambition
• Enabling all parts of the local community
to get involved in co-designing the
approach

6. ILFRACOMBE [Population: c14,000]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
• Better health, economic prosperity and • Bringing the team of partners together
high quality living environment for under a single Ilfracombe Commissioning
Ilfracombe residents Board
• A revitalised community that is • Offering full transparency to our
empowered to direct public service “shareholders” (residents) by allowing them
delivery to see what’s spent where in our town
• Public services that suit the needs of our through a Virtual Bank
community & the individual. • Giving our shareholders a louder voice &
• Lone working eradicated! Our public, greater control over what’s spent and
private & voluntary service “team” will work prioritised by the Board by improved
with the community to identify & tackle methods of communication
problems together. • Being innovative and visionary
Challenges…
• Enthusing & persuading the community that
this is a real opportunity for greater control.
• Merging the vastly different systems and
objectives of our partner agencies
• Unpicking aggregated budgets to allow
expenditure to be fed into the Virtual Bank
• Defining scope of what can and cannot be
managed at local level.
• Measuring the success including SROI

7. KINGSTON: Norbiton [Population: c10,500]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
“To improve the lives of communities in
Norbiton by giving them more control • Testing the concept and co-designing a
and influence over the priorities and radical proposal for local service
resources set for their area” redesign
“To raise awareness across all residents • Aligning the objectives of two pilots:
and communities so that all have the
opportunity to be informed and involved o Neighbourhood Community Budgets
at the level of their choosing” and Local Integrated Services;
o Mapping and pooling partner budgets in
line with community priorities to take our
activity to the next level in terms of
devolving more power and influence to
the local level
Challenges…
• Managing community and Member
expectations (outcomes; pace of project; no
budget)
• Ongoing capacity of partners to deliver
• Willingness to engage at all levels
• Willingness of budget holders at all levels
to let go of their budgets and devolve
spending decisions to neighbourhood level

8. NEWCASTLE: Cowgate, Kenton Bar and Montagu [Population: c10,500]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
“we want to provide services the
community needs through the most Making the social and physical assets in
effective and locally responsive the community work to...
mechanism”
• Provide peer-led family support through
local people with 'real life’ experiences...
“the key challenge will be changing
perceptions embedded in both public • Enable asset-backed local social
services and residents” enterprise managing community and
social housing facilities that can...
• Commission and be commissioned to
deliver local services, including family
support
Challenges…
• Developing an approach that can
accommodate different characteristics
and histories within the neighbourhoods
• Encouraging and supporting local
residents to take advantage of
opportunities to co-design

9. TUNBRIDGE WELLS: Sherwood [Population: c6,850]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
“the community working in unity” • An initial focus on early intervention for
families, building on the current Family
Intervention Programme, which will be
“a community led approach to service further informed by:-
delivery focussed on preventative
• Insight work to determine what the current
rather than reactive activity”
experiences of services looks like from the
residents perspective, which will lead in
due course to:
• the community being supported to help
redesign services to meet local needs with:
• The local community centre as the hub for
joined-up service delivery for all residents
Challenges…
• Encouraging and supporting local
residents to take advantage of
opportunities to co-design

10. WESTMINSTER: Queens Park [Population: c11,500]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
• Improve outcomes for children and young • Setting up a Recovery and Early
people / families at risk Action Partnership (REAP)
• Create a formal role for residents in
• Involving local residents in bringing
service development and delivery
together and co-designing key
• Improve communications between the
community and service providers services
• Create a sense of 'ownership' and • Potentially pooling budgets, where
belonging – bring together people from appropriate / feasible
across the different neighbourhoods that • Promoting civic engagement
exist within Queen's Park
Challenges…
• Being clear about the constraints /
limitations of a neighbourhood budget,
getting buy-in & developing trust
• Developing sustainable governance
arrangements
• Encouraging and supporting local
residents to take advantage of
opportunities to co-design services

11. TOWER HAMLETS: Poplar [Population: 25,000]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
• Demonstrate the legitimacy of the • Mapping the resources that are coming
voluntary and community sector into the area
• Make the case for decentralisation to local • Creating / simplifying funding streams
authority officers and politicians
• Developing services in a way that
• Engage with residents and use their skills,
responds more effectively to the needs
where possible
of residents
• Address frustrations about siloed funding
streams, which don't support integrated
solutions and delivery of services
Challenges…
• Being clear about the focus of the
neighbourhood budget - getting buy-in
from relevant providers and the wider
community and securing the technical
and political will
• Engaging, encouraging and supporting
the wider community to take advantage
of opportunities to co-design services
• Developing appropriate governance

12. HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM: White City [Population: c9,000]
Aspirations… … will be achieved by…
“…give the people of [White City] • Routing funding for physical
ultimate control over the decisions regeneration, economic development
which affect them”
and social investment through a single
neighbourhood pot – including public,
“…delivering a bespoke strategy for private and third sector resources.
social renewal focussed on: families,
employment and crime” • Priorities set by the community through
a new Neighbourhood Forum
representing the range of local
community groups – backed up by local
polling and community engagement
volunteers
Challenges…
• Ambitious agenda, will need substantial
engagement from the community and
partners
• One of a number of different initiatives in the
area – will need to ensure they join up,
especially in approach to the community