Why is nobody talking about neighbourhood governance? 

This blog is part of a series written by organisations championing community power. As new neighbourhood governance arrangements are introduced across England through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, each blog explores how neighbourhood governance can enable local people to have real influence over their places. The series accompanies A Blueprint for Community-Powered Neighbourhood Governance, written by We’re Right Here, with input from Local Trust, Hope Not Hate, Locality, and Power to Change.

There’s a lot of noise in Westminster right now about the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. And as you’ll have seen, we’ve been campaigning hard to make sure this Bill really does live up to its name. 

But so far, much of the debate has focused on the new Community Right to Buy, as well as how additional rights and powers for communities could strengthen the Bill.  

And these are exciting conversations. But beneath all that noise, something potentially transformative has been quietly moving through Parliament and hardly anyone seems to be talking about it: Neighbourhood governance. 

This Bill will introduce a new layer of governance across England in places where neighbourhood-level institutions, like town or parish councils, don’t already exist. That’s a huge deal. 

Through taking over Streford Public Hall, I’ve seen how quickly and effectively neighbours can come together to improve their area when they’re given the chance. But, in many communities and especially in our cities, there is currently no formal, recognised space where local people can come together and shape decisions about their neighbourhood. 

For years, the We’re Right Here campaign has been arguing that this gap matters. We’ve talked about Community Covenants as a way of incorporating existing community organisations and groups in decision making and resetting the relationship between communities and the public institutions that serve them. More recently, we’ve set out the principles behind these Covenants, showing how they could apply to any neighbourhood governance structure, whatever form it takes. 

We firmly believe that neighbourhood governance has the potential to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our democracy, from declining trust in politics to the growing divide and fragmentation of our society. 

So, when a measure to roll out ‘neighbourhood governance’ appeared in this Bill, we knew it was an important development – but also one we couldn’t rush to celebrate. Because getting this right really matters, otherwise it risks becoming another layer of bureaucracy that people neither trust nor recognise as belonging to them. 

The encouraging news is that we’ve already had really positive conversations with officials in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We’re hearing the right words about arrangements being shaped by the people who live there, not imposed from the centre. 

That flexibility is crucial as every neighbourhood is different. What works in cities like Manchester, where I’m from, won’t look the same as what works in a coastal town or a rural village. In Stretford alone, you can walk ten minutes and move between very different communities, yet we’re all expected to engage with the same distant structures. The choice about what neighbourhood governance looks like – who’s involved, how decisions are made, how power is shared – must sit with the people living in those areas. 

At the same time, we can’t let a focus on enabling local variation become an excuse for neighbourhood governance models that don’t meaningfully empower local people. 

Instead, the government’s goal should be to promote local variation within defined parameters designed to guarantee local people and trusted community organisations a substantive role in neighbourhood-level decision-making. 

In polling we conducted later in the year, we asked UK adults who new governance arrangements should be led by, and only one in ten people said local councillors alone. Four times as many said leadership should be shared between communities, councils and other partners. 

That tells us something important. People aren’t asking to take power away from public institutions. They’re asking to share it. They’re asking for a local ecosystem that represents the entire community. 

That’s why we’ve published a new report setting out how the regulations and guidance on neighbourhood governance that the government will bring forward once the Bill has passed through parliament could be shaped to bring this vision of community-powered neighbourhood governance to life. 

As the report outlines, we already know this approach can work. Through Power to Change’s Community Covenant pilots, we’re seeing on the ground how shared decision-making builds trust, improves outcomes and strengthens local democracy. 

The opportunity before us 

Compared to community-powered neighbourhood governance, other headline-grabbing policies can actually start to look like smaller prizes. Where Pride in Place will transform 200+ communities, and neighbourhood health pilots will see innovation in around 40 areas, neighbourhood governance could transform and reshape how power is experienced in every community across England. In many ways, neighbourhood governance could be the connective tissue for the broader community power agenda. 

This blog is just the tip of the iceberg of what neighbourhood governance could and should look like and why it matters. We’re working with other organisations who are amplifying local voices on sharing this message, and you’ll be hearing their perspectives soon. 

The Bill has almost made its way through parliament so the window to shape the guidance that will follow is open, but not for long. If we truly want to give control back to the people who so clearly want it, neighbourhood governance can’t remain in the shadows. We need to drag it out into the light. 

Read A Blueprint for Community-Powered Neighbourhood Governance.