Left Behind Survey

Policy spotlight 1: How social infrastructure improves outcomes

Published: 2023

A report on the importance of neighbourhood-level social infrastructure in building strong, cohesive and prosperous communities.

You can find more reports written or commissioned by Local Trust here.

Levelling the land: Social investment and ‘left behind’ places

Published: 2021

Local Trust commissioned independent advisor and researcher Dan Gregory to explore whether social investment in its current forms could support the regeneration of the most deprived or ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods across the country or, as our experience with the Big Local programme was suggesting, new models were needed, and if so, what th…

The impacts of social infrastructure investment

Published: 2021

Social infrastructure can play an important role in supporting the levelling-up agenda in local areas. It creates institutions and physical spaces that foster personal relationships, civic engagement and social networks, leading to more cohesive and healthier societies.

Frontier Economics was commissioned by Local Trust to bring together exist…

Left Behind areas 2020 – Interim Set

Published: 2020

A Community Needs Index was developed to identify areas experiencing these second set of challenges by combining a series of indicators, conceptualised under three domains:

Social Infrastructure: Measures of the presence of key community, civic, educational and cultural assets in and in close proximity to the area.
Connectedness: Measures o…

Achieving local economic change: what works?

Published: 2019

This research examines the impact of community-led partnerships in deprived areas and what makes these successful in achieving local economic change. The research team reviewed evidence from forty years of English regeneration initiatives and interviewed expert practitioners on what works. Local Trust commissioned the research from the Departme…

Achieving local economic change: what works? Executive Summary

Published: 2019

Since the late 1980s, successive governments have sought to include local stakeholders in the delivery of regeneration funding. Communities have been invited to decide boundaries, lead local partnerships and determine the type, scale and duration of area- based initiatives.This research examines the impact of these community-led partnerships in…

Left behind? Understanding communities on the edge

Published: 2019

The research described in this report was commissioned by Local Trust from OCSI. It suggests that a lack of places to meet (whether community centres, pubs or village halls); the absence of an engaged and active community; and poor connectivity to the wider economy – physical and digital – make a significant difference to social and economi…

Left behind? Understanding communities on the edge: Executive summary

Published: 2019

The research described in this report was commissioned by Local Trust from Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion. It was designed to explore the impact a lack of civic assets has in deprived communities across England.

You can find more reports written or commissioned by Local Trust here.