Big Local’s lasting legacy: the future of community-led change

Big Local has shown what communities can achieve when they have the power and resources to shape their own futures. With the programme now complete, and Local Trust approaching its planned closure, our CEO, Rachel Rowney reflects on the programme’s lasting legacy and what the learning generated means for the future of community-led change.

Local Trust was founded a decade and a half ago to deliver Big Local, a programme that gave £1m each to 150 of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England. As significant as the money itself was the trust that came with it. Local people decided what they needed, and how to spend the money.

The difference can be seen in communities across the country: new bus routes, communal gardens, playgrounds, community hubs and sports clubs. Less visible, but just as important, are the ties between people. Neighbours who know each other better and support each other more. New groups and networks. Residents who have learned to speak up for their area and to come together to get things done.

What mattered was how those decisions were made. Coming together, working through differences and deciding what to do built relationships, confidence and a shared sense of possibility. Neighbours became friends, and people who had never thought of themselves as leaders found themselves bringing others together. That capacity to act collectively is a central part of Big Local’s legacy.

Big Local has shown what becomes possible when residents have the power, time and support to shape their own neighbourhoods.”

A legacy that lives on

Now that Big Local has come to an end, Local Trust is ending too. That was always the plan. But now that we’re here, I’m happy to say it feels less like an ending and more like a handing over. I have never been more confident in Big Local’s legacy: within the communities themselves, and through our model of community-led change, which has shaped how others are supporting places.

Across Big Local areas, residents have developed the relationships, confidence and habits of working together that can sustain action beyond the programme. At the beginning of our journey, 25 per cent of residents involved had never volunteered before. As the programme wrapped up, over 75 per cent planned to keep volunteering within their communities.

We approach closure with a far better understanding of how to support long-term community change. Challenges vary enormously from place to place, as do the resources and infrastructure available to tackle them.

Big Local has shown what becomes possible when residents have the power, time and support to shape their own neighbourhoods. There is no single blueprint, but there are conditions that matter everywhere: patient funding, genuine control over decisions, trusted relationships and access to people who can help.

Group pose with Big Local sign. Big Local Connects final celebration event 2023. Credit: Local Trust/Richard Richards

Turning ambition into lasting change

So it is encouraging, as Local Trust closes, to see the devolution of power away from Westminster receive renewed attention in government.

The opportunity is considerable. But turning that ambition into lasting change will require institutions to change how they work. Too often, established processes, short funding cycles and a reluctance to share control limit what communities can do. Funders, councils and national government need to create the conditions in which residents can lead, and sustain those conditions over time.

The test for new programmes is whether residents can genuinely shape priorities and spending, and whether they have the support to do so. Big Local offers valuable learning about what that takes. The opportunity now is to carry those lessons into everyday practice, including when sharing power becomes difficult.

We want these principles to shape investment in many more neighbourhoods. Communities across the United Kingdom remain desperately short of investment and lack the social infrastructure that helps people connect and act together.

To every resident, volunteer, colleague, trustee and partner who has been part of Big Local: thank you.”

What comes next?

Local Trust leaves behind almost 15 years of experience, evidence and resources, which will continue to strengthen local organisations and to support new community initiatives. Researchers, funders and policymakers can look at our 150 areas to see not only what changed, but why. We have assembled an enormous collection of insights from up and down the country to help inform future funding decisions and policymaking.

Just as importantly, this body of evidence, along with hundreds of personal stories and case studies, will be there for anyone who wants to make a change in their communities but doesn’t yet know how. From now on, nobody has to start this work again from scratch.

Making that learning available is one part of the task. Communities also need skilled people alongside them, opportunities to learn from one another, and organisations able to offer consistent support. Sustaining and rebuilding that capacity will be essential if the ambitions for community power are to become a reality in more places.

I have seen this first-hand since joining Local Trust as a programme manager in 2012. I have watched neighbours who previously exchanged little more than polite nods build long-lasting friendships.

I have watched people discover skills they did not know they had, and others gain recognition for strengths their communities had long relied on. I have seen residents work through disagreements, take difficult decisions and keep going through setbacks. Their persistence, generosity and commitment have made Big Local what it is.

To every resident, volunteer, colleague, trustee and partner who has been part of Big Local: thank you. Your commitment, patience and belief in what communities can achieve have made all of this possible.

Big Local has shown what residents can achieve when they have time, resources and real power over the decisions that affect their lives. We leave with enormous pride in what communities have accomplished, and a responsibility to ensure that their experience shapes what follows.

The challenge now is to act on what we have learned: to back residents, share power and invest in the people and organisations that make community-led change possible.

Local Trust is coming to an end. The ambition we share has much further to go.

Explore more learning, insights and resources from Big Local on our website.