Winter and Spring 2018
The challenge
Town and Parish councils (or local councils) are central to engaging and empowering communities. By working in partnership with principal authorities better services and a more responsive democracy can be delivered for residents. Since the 2011 Localism Act, there has been a new emphasis on this.
We were asked to provide a toolkit for the LGA and NALC (the equivalent organisation for local councils), offering guidance on how these two tiers of local government can work together.
How we approached it
We carried out two workshops with stakeholders working in both tiers, with representatives ranging from Clerks at small parishes through to leading officers and Chief Executives at District Councils. We also did over 30 depth phone interviews, gathering in the process a huge range of case studies. These very granular examples helped pick out the key themes of effective partnership.
What happened
Our final guide, ‘One Community’, can be viewed here. It provided twelve practical and useable chapters, along with case studies and checklists, setting out the core components of good partnership working.
The guide was well-received, and nearly 100 people attended the launch in May 2018, which TCC facilitated. We hope that it acts as a strong reference point for local and principal tiers.