Practical guide 04 · Available
Managing partners and stakeholders
How do we manage relationships with MPs, councillors and the council, while establishing our independence?
Like any large-scale programme, Pride in Place is throwing up challenges related to independence and political management. Neighbourhood Boards need to manage their relationships with MPs and councillors, while having limited space to offer roles to all these people on their Boards. Chairs have to assert their authority while maintaining good relationships with the local authority as a key delivery partner. Meanwhile, many people outside the programme - members of the public, and local organisations - are not aware of the distinction between the Board leading the programme and the local authority being formally the accountable body.
These tensions also play out in the way Pride in Place is seen by the public. In some places, PiP is being seen as 'just another Council scheme', while in others Chairs and Board members are seen as clearly independent, but are sometimes then receiving sustained criticism and even online abuse and attacks on their reputation. So as well as managing independence, there are also important challenges related to personal well-being.
The following materials speak to these issues.
The numbers after each item show which of the five dimensions of ambition it speaks to most directly: (1) Shift the story · (2) Cultivate agency · (3) Strengthen relationships · (4) Crowd in capital · (5) Shape the system.
Resources we have checked
15 items-
Pride in Place Programme: governance and boundary guidance (opens in a new tab)
Free
MHCLG’s key documents on Pride in Place, including published rules on governance.
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Pride in Place Programme: prospectus (opens in a new tab)
Free
The foundational document for the Pride in Place programme, setting out the model across 284 places, the principle of being resident-led, and the intended transition of the accountable body role away from the local authority to community leadership.
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Towns Fund: supplementary guidance for Town Deal Boards (opens in a new tab)
Free
Guidance for the nearest comparable programme, which maintains the distinction between the local authority as accountable body and the Board, and requires a documented conflicts policy with a record per member and conflicts noted in published minutes.
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Political activities and Big Local areas (opens in a new tab)
Free
Programme guidance on political activity in resident-led partnerships (e.g. councillors must avoid exercising undue influence, roles must be kept distinct, especially before local elections, and partnerships must not be dominated by one political group). (Note: This guidance was written for Big Local, not Pride in Place, but carries some transferable principles.)
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Campaigning and political activity in an election - lessons learned (opens in a new tab)
Free
Eight worked scenarios on how to manage political activity (e.g. criticising a policy, hosting a candidate visit, a board member standing for election).
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The Seven Principles of Public Life (opens in a new tab)
Free
A list known as the 'Nolan principles', which act as a widely accepted standard of behaviour in public life.
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Guidance on the LGA model councillor code of conduct (opens in a new tab)
Free
An explanation of the standards councillors are bound by - respect, bullying, misuse of position, declaration of interests, bias and predetermination - with worked examples distinguishing robust debate from misconduct.
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A councillor's workbook on community leadership (opens in a new tab)
Free
A workbook for councillors on community leadership, covering the spectrum of engagement, partnership working, neighbourhood governance and the role of opposition.
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What enables good relationships between resident-led groups and local government? (opens in a new tab)
Free
Five enabling factors for relationships between resident-led groups and local government, drawn from 150 partnerships, including a case study spanning three council tiers.
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Neighbourhood governance: what councils told us (opens in a new tab)
Free
Insights from local councils about their experience of implementing the neighbourhood governance duty, with worked models from Rochdale and Barnsley.
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Identifying and managing conflicts of interest (opens in a new tab)
Free
Guidance on conflicts of interest, separating financial conflicts from conflicts of loyalty, illuminated through a series of worked examples.
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Councillors' guide to handling harassment, abuse and intimidation (opens in a new tab)
Free
A guide for people in local public life facing abuse, covering definitions, online abuse, physical security, psychological impact, legal routes and organisational support. Written for councillors.
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Digital citizenship: support and resources for councillors (opens in a new tab)
Free
Publishable rules of engagement for a social media profile, and ten steps for handling online abuse, including recording messages, knowing when to step back and when to involve the police.
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Debate Not Hate: ending abuse in public life for councillors (opens in a new tab)
Free
A report on the support institutions should provide for people facing abuse in public life (covers wellbeing support, risk assessment, incident reporting, de-escalation training, and access to counselling).
Tool
A guide to power analysis in community organising (opens in a new tab)
FreeCreative Commons
A ten-step method for mapping who holds power locally, with templates covering MPs, councillors, officers, business, media and residents.
Other creative ways to explore this theme
7 items-
Animation
How to understand power (opens in a new tab)
Free
A short animation naming six sources of power, and why people often feel uncomfortable discussing the topic of power.
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Talk
Empathy is not endorsement (opens in a new tab)
Free
A thought-provoking talk by Dylan Marron on his experience reaching out to people who had written hateful material about him online.
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Podcast
Rebalancing the Power (opens in a new tab)
Free
A podcast episode in which residents and council officers discuss the enablers of a healthy relationship between a community and a council.
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Tool
A guide to power analysis in community organising (opens in a new tab)
FreeCreative Commons
A ten-step method for mapping who holds power locally, with templates covering MPs, councillors, officers, business, media and residents.
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Book
How to Resist (opens in a new tab)
A book by Matthew Bolton, an organiser behind the Living Wage campaign, on building a base rather than an audience.
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Course
Community leadership training (opens in a new tab)
A six-day residential course on relational meetings, storytelling, power analysis and negotiation, accredited by Birmingham Newman University.
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Event
Stronger Things (opens in a new tab)
An annual national conference exploring themes of community power and ownership, local forms of democracy, and methods for civic renewal. Free for small community organisations.