Localism

Here are grouped papers and articles that NCIA produced on the issue of ‘localism’, most especially material produced as part of our ‘Localism Watch’ project in 2014/15. This was the brainchild of Laird Ryan and was a partnership with Open Democracy who published these articles on their site.

A critical watchdog for localism (2013)
The proposal to establish a ‘Localism Watch’ project.

‘Localism Watch’ articles

These articles were published in 2014 and 2015. They are listed in chronological order.

About Localism Watch – 1/10/14

Localism As If People Mattered – 21/9/14, revised 14/7/15

How Local is Localism? The Grassroots View – 21/9/14

Localism Watch Resources 1 – 7/10/14

Localism Watch Resources 2 – 7/10/14

Localism Watch Resources 3 – 20/10/14

The Right to Very Little At All – NCIA Submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Community Rights  – 31/10/14

Localism Watch Resources 4 – 13/11/14

DevoMix: Localism and the Devolution Debate – 18/11/14

Who Really Runs Our Neighbourhoods? – 9/12/14

DevoMix Christmas Special 2014 – 19/12/14

Are You Local? Is the General Power of Competence Helping Grassroots Communities? – 26/1/15

Community rights – where’s the evidence? – 20/2/15

Localism and the Manifestos: a tale of GVAs, grandees and the Guardian (but not much greenery) – 11/3/15

Localism: A Case of Old Friends Re-united – 20/3/15

What’s Happening with Devolution? – 26/4/15

What Now for Localism? – 20/5/15

A ‘Radical’ Devolution Bill: Who’s Paying?  – 17/5/15

Surplus to Requirements – The National Audit Office Hits Back – 14/7/15

Centre for Inclusive Futures – 28/7/15

The New Housing Bill: People, Planning or Productivity? – 6/8/15

Devolution or Just Doing Osborne’s Bidding? – 2/9/15

Other articles about localism

Localism: Threat or Opportunity? (2012) NCIA with the Trades Union Congress
A series of short essays from 12 contributors expressing a range of critical views about the intentions and likely consequences of the Government’s Localism Act.

Localism in Action? A small community project’s experience of a local authority’s tendering process (2011) NCIA
Case study of how bidding for a contract to run a local estate’s youth provision put an unnecessary strain on a small community organisation and contributed to delaying the project by 12 months.

The Duty to Involve (2009) Matt Scott, Community Sector Coalition with NCIA
Article on the introduction of the ‘duty to involve’ by the New Labour government.

Big market: how localism and the ‘big society’ damage independent voluntary action (2011) NCIA
A short policy paper to help us analyse what the government means by ‘big society’ and localism and how these threaten independent action.