GOVERNANCE & LEADERSHIP
Local by default L
ocality is a network of more than 700 community-led organisations and 200
associate partners, formed in 2011 from the merger of Bassac and the Development Trusts Association.
As well as offering training and support to its member organisations, Locality also delivers government programmes, including Our Place, Neighbourhood Planning support, and the My Community Rights advice service. With Office for Civil Society funding, it also runs the Community Organisers programme.
Its chief executive Steve Wyler, who has contributed to PSE, stepped down in July and was replaced by Tony Armstrong, who had previously led the Living Streets charity and was a civil servant working on community renewal and public health projects before that.
Dealing with cuts
He told PSE: “It’s been a very busy first couple of months. I’ve spent a lot of my time on the road talking to our members, because I was very keen to get a sense of the issues they face and the activities they are involved with. I’ve met about 60 or 70 member organisations so far. The inspiring range of things that people are doing has been a pleasant surprise.
“The difficulties people are facing have really come through to me: they are working with lots of cuts to local government, dealing with increases in social problems, people having greater demands in terms of needing debt advice or in terms of needing financial help.
“But the thing that unites all of our members is this great sense of enthusiasm for dealing with those problems – and what I the call bloody-mindedness in their approach. They’re committed, so committed, to making a big difference despite those problems, and in trying to think of creative solutions: new ways of delivering services and helping their local communities. It’s that sense of determination
34 | public sector executive Oct/Nov 14
Locality offers direct support too, on things such as asset transfer, or technical help on financing and governance. “We offer webinars and training to give people the skills and knowledge they need to be more effective,” Armstrong added.
Campaigning for change
But as well as this internal support role, Locality looks externally, giving a voice to its members on the national stage, representing them to government and publicly.
“We highlight the good practice that’s going on across the membership, and pick up issues that affect what’s happening in our members’ patches, to government – whether that’s lobbying for policy changes, or, increasingly, starting to think about whether we can do more public-facing campaigns. I’m very keen that we start looking at that.”
Turning Locality into more of a campaigning organisation with policy goals is important for Armstrong. But how easy is it to square
Locality, the umbrella organisation representing community renewal and neighbourhood action groups, has appointed a new CEO to take over from Steve Wyler. PSE spoke to Tony Armstrong, the new man in charge.
that really comes through.” Creative solutions
Asked to define Locality’s role, Armstrong said it is about supporting its members to find enterprising solutions to social problems at the neighbourhood level. But its community-based members can approach problems holistically, and look at issues or even families in the round to find appropriate solutions.
He said: “As a national organisation supporting those members, we try to give them support and facilitation. It’s lonely being a chief executive of one of these membership organisations facing such difficulties on a day-to-day basis. We can provide networking and support, and we make sure we’re putting our members in touch with each other for peer-to-peer support, and to learn from each other.”
this with its role in winning and delivering government contracts with the Department for Communities and Local Government?
“Government is not one single monolith,” Armstrong told us. “There are many different people within government trying to do lots of difficult and different things. My experience in this role so far, and also in my last role, has been that actually government appreciates you being able to give evidence on what’s happening on the ground, from your experience of running those contracts and those programmes.
“Most civil servants I’ve ever come in to contact with will say that people who are experiencing what happens on a day-to-day basis through their work are best-placed to tell them what needs to change, what can be improved, and what’s right.
“There’s sometimes a perception that taking a campaigning approach means being oppositional, or being aggressive. I don’t see that. Campaigning on an issue can help what government is trying to do, by shining a light on it and drawing attention. That, potentially, could mean that more money can become available for that issue, or there’s a greater chance of achieving policy change or legislative change.
“It’s a subtle relationship, in terms of when you work with government and when you campaign.”
Huge demand
He said Locality wants to be “assertive” but also evidence-based. When PSE said that some of its members wanted it to be more aggressive, he acknowledged: “Some of our members are facing really difficult social issues. There’s just a huge increase in the demand for the services they’re offering.”
Armstrong said he had just been told of a fight between two mums in a queue for debt advice
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