ECF

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Big changes incoming for English local government and communities in 2025, as an early Christmas present arrives for us policy anoraks! 🎁 The English Devolution White Paper is here, and it’s not just tinkering—it’s likely to be a revolution in how England is governed and how decisions are made. ✍️💥 👩⚖️ The Big Picture: • Power is shifting away from Westminster to local leaders—with promises of universal devolution coverage across England. • Strategic Authorities will now lead the way, with deeper powers for areas adopting directly elected mayors. 💷 The Bold Changes: • 🔄 District Councils and County Councils out: Unitary authorities will replace existing areas of two-tier local government. • 💡 Integrated Settlements: No more chasing pots of cash—Mayors get combined budgets for transport, housing, skills, and more. • 🚌 Transport Takeover: Mayors to run bus services and have more control over rail and roads. • 🌳 Net Zero Delivery: Devolved climate powers mean local leaders will drive retrofit schemes and renewable energy projects. • 👩⚕️ Health & Public Safety: Mayors could oversee health improvement plans and even combine Police, Fire, and Rescue under one roof. But the biggest change? A permanent shift in power to local areas. 📜 The Government wants devolution embedded in England’s DNA— promising no more one-off deals, no more micromanagement from Whitehall. But what’s the cost? 🤔 ❌ Complex reorganisation of local government. ❌ Upcoming political battles over boundaries and resources. ❌ Risks of uneven leadership and funding disparities. So… what’s at stake? ✅ Opportunity: Tailored local solutions for local challenges. ✅ Accountability: Mayors and councils answerable directly to the public. ✅ Efficiency: Fewer barriers, more joined-up services. This isn’t just policy—it’s a reimagining of how government works for YOU. 🏡🚍💼 But the question remains: • Will these changes truly empower local leaders? • Can we balance ambition with delivery? What do you think—is this the revolution England needs? Or are we trading one set of challenges for another? 👇 #Devolution #FutureOfGovernment #Leadership #PowerToCommunities #LocalGovernment 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Podcast Festive Special 🎙️🎅🎄 For the 5th episode in the second series of LDN Collective podcasts tackling the big issues in the built environment, we decided to LEAP outside our comfort zone! 🚀 🤖 Recorded live at a recent event exploring the impact of technology and AI on community engagement, we started with an open mic session where 50 attendees had the opportunity to share their stories. 📚 This was followed by presentations from pioneers like ECF, Commonplace, Digital Urban, Hello Lamp Post, Concept Culture and Grosvenor. We finished with a lively panel discussion and there was a LOT of food for thought. 🎧 You can listen on Spotify here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e3MFbP5J 🌱…or Buzzsprout here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e9wjRYnk 📗Read the report here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eMhYmBDu ✒️...and blog here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e6x6HfKx Special thanks to Lawrence Barraclough of You See Media who is always pushing the boundaries and raising the bar 💪 Hopefully see you at our next event in the New Year, likely to focus on community engagement and regional planning (but we are open to suggestions!). Our January podcast will be on Net Zero Neighbourhoods with Hannah Jewkes 🎉 #CollectivelySpeaking #WeAreCityMakers #Podcast #AI #CommunityEngagement

Over the weekend, Angela Rayner did the media rounds and stated the government were looking at plans to provide planning officers with the power to fast track applications that align with local plans and national planning policy. Broadly speaking, it feels like a step in the right direction, as it should result in more consents for compliant schemes, and encourage local authorities to get their local plans up to date, which can only be a good thing. In the past decade I've seen far too many instances of planning committees refusing policy compliant schemes, in the teeth of coordinated and well-financed opposition campaigns, turning the planning process, which is supposed to be quasi-judicial, into a postcode lottery. Reducing the political risk associated with planning can only be a good thing, particularly for SME developers, who cannot absorb the failures the big housebuilders can. That's before you get to the s106 process, which is far too slow, and cumbersome. Speeding that up would really help get the completion rate up. However, I can't help but feel this policy is tinkering at the margins of the problem. When the NPPF is published (hopefully before Christmas) I hope the Deputy Prime Minister announces a big uplift in resources for local authorities to get them building on their own land again. Much of that building will need to be done in partnership with the private sector, but in order to do that there needs to be a major push to develop the skills of officers in the areas of finance, viability, project management, development management, urban design and communications. Equip councils with the skills to develop joint ventures with developers and funders, and to bring forward their own schemes, otherwise the 370,000 p/a target is a pipe dream. It can be done - there are plenty of successes (and failures) to learn from, and I hope this is part of the government's agenda in the next few years. Local Government Association | District Councils' Network | County Councils Network | 1.5M New Homes

In 2024, the ECF team in both Australia and the UK has spent some time looking at how artificial intelligence may change the way community engagement is done in the future. We've had lots of really interesting conversations with clients, engagement specialists, and tool providers about this over the past few months. The team has also hosted several events on the topic, including our Australian-UK webinar held in late November, hosted by Sara Wilson. Our panel speakers came from Australia, New Zealand and the UK, in the form of Tiernan Mines from Hello Lamp Post, Bridget Wilkins from MHCLG Digital, Hamish Woodside from Delib and Martin Karm from Mecone - Urban Planning . What a panel! There is lots to learn from different parts of the world, and in 2025 we will be doing more insight gathering and knowledge sharing across different jurisdictions. The webinar followed hot on the heels of the LDN Collective event on #tech, #AI and #engagement which the ECF team helped to organise. The panel featured the LDN Collective's very own Max Farrell, Nicola Rochfort from Grosvenor, Dorrian O'Neill from Commonplace, Matt Rain from Digital Urban and Tanisha Raffiuddin from Concept Culture. The cumulative knowledge of this panel was something to behold! From VR and AR, through to engagement planning and automating qualitative analysis, there were a range of topics covered with plenty of enthusiasm among the attendees. The future of #communityengagement and the role technology and AI will play are of real interest to the ECF team, and we are committed to sharing what we learn with our clients and friends across Australia, the UK and beyond. Please get in touch if you'd like to join us at a future event. Kathy Jones | Tracey Arthur | Gill Marshall | Louise Bradley | Debbie Street | Ashni Jain | Glenn Coleman-Cooke | Martin Jenic | Luke Power | Alexandra Crozier | Oliver Deed

🤖 Missed LDN Collective’s Tech and AI in Community Engagement event? Do not worry - you can still catch up! Dive into our blog to explore key takeaways from the event, including insights from tech and community engagement experts on how they are using AI and technology in their work. (link in comments 📝) A big shoutout to LDN Collective, Max Farrell for chairing, and members ECF, edge Urban Design, Commonplace, You See Media, Rumi Bose Ltd., and Tim Ashwin Consulting Limited for organising another inspiring event. Also a huge thank you to all the presenters for sharing their insights and experiences. 📷: Lawrence Barraclough How do you use AI in your daily work? Let us know below 💬 #builtenvironment #AI #communityengagenment #urbanplanning #technology

I had a great time talking to Grace Williams, the Leader of Waltham Forest Council, in the first of several episodes of a new ECF podcast I've called "The 2040 Series". In the series I am talking to local authority leaders in the UK and Australia to find out what the future holds. It was coincidental that I got to start with Cllr Williams who happens to lead a council that has a real clarity of vision about where it is headed. Their Invest Waltham Forest proposition is so strong, and, of course, they have a great position as a gateway to The UK Innovation Corridor (you'll be happy with the early reference Jackie Sadek and John McGill!). A lot of the credit for that has to go to Jonathan Martin, Fay Cannings and their colleagues - if you want to learn about how to do inward investment from a local authority perspective, you really should talk to them. I am looking forward to interviewing more local authority leaders both in the UK and Australia in the coming months and they'll be a couple more episodes coming out in the next couple of weeks. I'd also welcome feedback! And thank you to Gavin Winbanks, who runs a great podcast that I took some inspiration from. Kathy Jones | Gill Marshall | Louise Bradley | Debbie Street | Ashni Jain | Glenn Coleman-Cooke | Martin Jenic | Luke Power | Tracey Arthur | Sara Wilson |

Huge thanks to the ECF team for their hard work in creating this toolkit and special thanks to Ashni Jain, Jane Wilkinson and Lily Holbrook for sharing their thoughts and experiences regarding inclusive engagement in yesterday’s webinar. Please click on the links below to find out more ⬇️💡

🌟 Highlights from Our Engagement Toolkit Webinar Yesterday we launched the ECF Engagement Toolkit, designed to provide best practices and practical approaches to engaging children, young people, and individuals with accessibility needs. We would like to express a huge thank you to our incredible guest speakers and everyone who attended, asked insightful questions, and contributed to such a lively and engaging discussion. Here’s what our incredible panel discussed: Louise Bradley, Practice Director at ECF, introduced the toolkit and highlighted its unique features. She shared actionable steps for integrating inclusive engagement strategies into the RIBA Plan of Work. Ashni Jain, Account Manager at ECF, delved into the principles and methods for engaging youth and accessibility groups, offering insights into overcoming participation barriers and creating meaningful dialogues in urban planning. Lily Holbrook, Assistant Development Manager at TOWN. shared her experience with the Hartree development in North East Cambridge. She explained how involving young people is influencing the design of this exciting new residential-led project. Jane Wilkinson, Communications Manager at Peterborough City Council, spoke about the Peterborough Station Quarter Project. She emphasised how collaborating with accessibility groups will shape the final designs to better address the needs of people with disabilities. To find out how the ECF Engagement Toolkit can support your project, please get in touch with us at info@engagecf.co.uk Missed the session or want to revisit it? Watch the webinar recording here: https://lnkd.in/eBsc6RRs Ready to transform your engagement strategy? Register now to access the ECF Engagement Toolkit and see how it can elevate and support your project. Simply click here: https://lnkd.in/eM-Xif7M #RIBA #Engagement #Accessibility #CommunityEngagement #YouthEngagement #EngagementOverlay #YouthVoices #InclusiveEngagement #YoungCommunities #InclusiveDesign #Accessibility

🏘️ Eco-homes – niche experiment or large scale solution? With energy costs high and the environment a pressing concern, many people may be drawn to highly sustainable and efficient eco-homes. In our new blog, we look at how scalable innovative eco-homes are, and what lessons can be learned from them that can be applied to large scale mass housing. Are these homes destined to remain for a small group of passionate environmentalists, or are they the future of housing? For a deeper dive into this issue, check out our latest blog post here on our website: https://lnkd.in/gjHWWJ68

🏘️ Eco-homes – niche experiment or large scale solution? With energy costs high and the environment a pressing concern, many people may be drawn to highly sustainable and efficient eco-homes. In our new blog, we look at how scalable innovative eco-homes are, and what lessons can be learned from them that can be applied to large scale mass housing. Are these homes destined to remain for a small group of passionate environmentalists, or are they the future of housing? For a deeper dive into this issue, check out our latest blog post here on our website: https://lnkd.in/gjHWWJ68