• News and stories

    News and stories

    The latest news and stories from Big Local areas and beyond, exploring community power and resident-led change.

    Explore

    Go straight to…

    News

    The latest news and announcements from Local Trust and the Big Local programme.

    Read more

    Podcasts

    Conversations exploring the most important issues affecting communities today.

    Listen now

    Blogs

    Ideas and insights about Big Local and the impact of community-led change.

    Read more

    Voices of Big Local

    Inspiring stories from the people making change happen in their communities.

    Read more
    < Back to main menu
  • Insights
  • Policy
Essays
Community spirit

New seeds beneath the snow?

6 Feb 2018

This essay reports on the aspirations and achievements of Big Local areas in Merseyside, Lincoln and Telford, and places them in the context of previous experiences of community development, decline and revitalisation. Providing comparison, he also reflects on the work of three other projects: the Peckham Health Centre, established more than 90 years ago, the Deighton and Brackenhall Initiative in Huddersfield, and Manor and Castle Development Trust in Sheffield.

There is a long history and philosophy of self-help and mutual aid that Big Local draws on, even if its not explicit and scarcely gets a mention

Julian Dobson

Read the essay online
| Big Local
New seeds beneath the snow?

Big Local neighbourhoods in action

Julian Dobson
About the Author
Julian Dobson

Julian Dobson is a writer, researcher and commentator on place, society and social policy. He is the author of How to Save Our Town Centres (Policy Press, 2015) and was co-founder and editorial director of New Start, the magazine for UK regeneration practitioners. He previously edited Inside Housing, the national magazine for housing professionals, and has recently completed a PhD at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University.

Listen to the podcast

The first podcast from Local Trust examines where the Big Local programme sits in a wider historical context of community development, decline and revitalisation.

Listen to the podcast online
Back to all Essays
You might be interested in
essay
Community spirit Coronavirus
Where do we go from here?

How COVID influenced community action
essay
Local economies Power and leadership
‘Us and them’: A mindset that has failed our...

Why have the last three decades of community development initiatives left us...
essay
Organising and deciding Power and leadership
A history of community development

Linking the stories that connect community organisers across the world, from 1940-2020