Research carried out by the NANM in May and June 2018 through a national survey and senior practitioner interviews shows a new model of neighbourhood management has emerged in response to the challenge of austerity and the increasing complexities of local needs. We heard from thirty five places where some form of neighbourhood or locality working was in operation – and those were just among respondents who completed our survey, we know there are many more.
We call this approach ‘strategic locality working’ – an approach to public service management and delivery that is focused at sub-local authority geographies (such as wards) and sees action and budgets co-ordinated across multiple agencies. Our research report “Doing the right thing”, written by John Houghton, has built up a picture of locality and neighbourhood working across England in 2018; where it being used, what models are in place, and what factors are likely to affect its future.