It is exciting to see moves in England, Wales and Scotland to shift power to communities. However, this is not easy to do this well.
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill is on the brink of becoming an Act, with the aim of moving power towards local places around the country. This is, to us at The Young Foundation, welcome legislation – and it sits within a broader landscape of change. The £5bn Pride in Place programme, for example, which launched last September, promises to regenerate communities in England and Wales; the Community Wealth Building Act, which passed last month in Scotland, requires public bodies to retain wealth within local communities; and 75 local authorities and communities are set to receive up to £20m each next month as part of the Plan for Neighbourhoods. There is a clear drive to move power to our local places and spaces.
One of the guiding principles of our founder, Michael Young’s, work was to give people and communities more say in the institutions that affect their lives. This was why he founded the Institute of (now ‘for’) Community Studies in 1953. He was determined to support better relationships between communities in the places they live, and the political bureaucracies that affect their lives.
Today, at The Young Foundation and our Institute for Community Studies, this is an issue we are still deeply concerned with, and we’ve recently been exploring what good community governance looks like in practice – exploring questions of how best to support, involve, and listen to community voices, and see more of their views and needs being acted on.
What is community governance and how does it help communities and institutions?
Community governance groups seek to involve community perspectives in decision-making within institutions, moving away from traditional hierarchies, and recognising the value of community knowledge. Such groups are growing in popularity across disciplines and sectors, particularly within research and policy work. As a practical way of shifting power to communities this is important. But before establishing a community governance group, it is essential to consider how to make it meaningful and effective for both institutions and communities.
From the institutions’ perspective, community governance can be a helpful route to embedding community voice in specific projects or strategic decision-making. This welcomes a diverse range of perspectives from outside of their institution, and can introduce challenge, testing assumptions and potentially shifting accountability. It can also help to make institutions’ work more relevant to communities and to maintain sustainable community partnerships by offering different and continued forms of participation to community members.
On the other side, community partners say that community governance provides an opportunity to work with and learn from new people, and that it offers a rare chance for community members and practitioners to come together to share and reflect on their work and experiences. It also provides a formal mechanism for community knowledge and expertise to be recognised and valued within institutions, and allows community governance group members to influence research, policy and strategic decisions for the benefit of their wider community. For some, being part of a community governance group also provides valuable opportunities for building skills and employability.
What does good community governance look like?
Community governance structures can take various forms – and what they’re called – for example, an ‘advisory group’, ‘accountability group’, or something else – can be an important indicator of community influence. A ‘reference group’ exists to be consulted; an ‘advisory group’ indicates one with input into decision-making; an ‘accountability group’ is designed to shift power and provide challenge. No one model is correct, and it is important to consider what works best for individual programmes, communities and contexts.
There’s also a point on accessibility and relevance; both of which increase when community governance is done well, supporting institutions to reach more diverse audiences and provide validating and rewarding experiences for communities.
Examples of community governance in practice
In The Young Foundation’s recent work, we’ve explored different forms of community governance across our programmes, learning what it takes to do this work well.
For example, a Community Accountability Group was convened to shape the community research-focused Pushing Boundaries conference in June 2025. This was designed to help convening organisations remain accountable to communities. By incorporating the group’s expertise, the conference was inclusive, accessible and importantly kept communities at the core of conversations about community research.
Recognising the benefits of this work, a Community Advisory Panel was formed to help shape the National Civic Impact Accelerator CiviCon25 conference. The group brought community voice and experience to the centre of civic engagement, not only shaping an accessible conference but co-designing inclusive and creative activities that welcomed voices that are traditionally less heard in academic settings. The group also produced a values statement to help shift how universities work with the community sector more widely.
For another project, a Resident Advisory Group helped guide and shape a retrofit toolkit that would be used by London’s social housing providers. The group was made up of residents, many of whom had initially engaged in retrofit workshops led by The Young Foundation and wanted to continue their involvement. And A story of participation: regeneration with residents and locals shares an inspiring example of co-produced neighbourhood development.
Why community governance is important
The outputs and actions of these and other community advisory groups shows that by establishing a clear scope and purpose, genuinely valuing and acting upon what community members say, and producing clear outputs make collaboration successful and meaningful. This can be more challenging for longer-term programmes, where clarity of purpose, participation and resources aren’t always sustained – but even in such circumstances, community partners often value a commitment to equitable and reciprocal relationships, trust, transparency and reflective practice.
Principles for good community governance
Implementing community governance is not easy – but, as the saying goes, ‘the perfect should not be the enemy of the good’. The experiences shared above illustrate that sharing power with communities is a constant process and not a static state. What is important is a commitment to approaching community governance in a way that seeks to make it meaningful for everyone involved. And while there is no one-size-fits-all approach, some key principles do tend to underpin this work:
- Establish a clear purpose: Spend time considering the need, purpose and scope for community governance within a particular project or programme
- Commit to non-extractive partnerships: focus on sustainable and equitable partnerships based on care and building trust to avoid tokenism
- Work with transparency and openness: be clear about purpose, what can and cannot be achieved, and help to demystify institutional systems and processes
- Build reciprocal relationships and learning: be humble and open to learning as an institution, engage in ongoing reflective practice
- Act on community input: create spaces and opportunities that lead to genuine, tangible impact or outputs
- Be mindful of community capacity: make workload realistic without overburdening, be aware of research or consultation fatigue, provide equitable compensation for community time and expertise
- Invest in sustainability and longevity: design projects with long-term benefits and sustainability for communities in mind
To discuss ideas, issues, or opportunities for community governance, please contact [email protected]
Community Community leadership Community needs and priorities Community wellbeing community governance Posted on: 24 April 2026 Authors: Lily Owens-Crossman,