Initial Notes from Stronger Things

This is a compilation of my Bluesky thread at New Local #StrongerThings 2025 conference in this thread throughout the day. It's at the Guildhall London - certainly very grand in here - pre-Raphaelites upstairs and a roman amphitheatre in the basement.

I've tried to make it flow a little better, add in the LinkedIn links so you can follow through and see the speakers - and my comments with respect to libraries are in bold and italic

Morning Plenaries

Lovely intro from Jessica Studdert and Katie Kelly FRSA : Devolution / Local Gov Reorg / LG funding sets a canvas, but it’s up to all of us to paint in the details - and bring our communities in to paint too.

Great anecdote from Ian Thomas CBE :

Benjamin Franklin said “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” in the 1800s - but we still don’t get it.

The way to do this is through:

• systems - so they work for people and are not set up as obstacles in themselves, and do not add trauma
• communities - empowering communities creates lasting change - noted that only 50% of trees planted by councils last but 90% of those planted by communities do - communities nurture what they value
• tech - ensuring the data and systems can direct work in the right place

Great to hear from @georgiagould.bsky.social - a true ally of community engagement in parliament.

Responsible for public service reform within government - and her focus is enabling communities to create the services they need rather than top down reform - very positive. Libraries can be a core part of this.

Big key is giving people access to a real person who can talk about their whole life & not just about a specific need - links with IPS services. I think libraries need to be more confident in placing themselves at the centre of this - as only public facing service in many areas

Big thing from Georgia Gould:

Shift from pilots to test / learn / grow

Subtle shift based on:

• community led
• locally made services
• recognition that preventative impacts can arise in many and unexpected places
• Governments role is setting rules on funding / accountability

However, approach is ‘spending existing funds differently’ and no funds for test/learn/grow & transformation.

But - it’s about system change rather than developing new. Again libraries bring so much resource - staff / skills / communities - that they could be a way to using existing funds in a much more effective way.

Cormac Russell up next - he’s been brilliant at our seminars. He’s starting very on-brand - coproducing his keynote!

Really good way to disrupt the usual “broadcast” model of keynotes - made us think about how we engage. Useful tool to use in future - start with asking questions of how the audience will engage before even starting to discuss what they engage with.

He’s arguing a strengths based approach

• you can centre people but still have institutions operating on their weaknesses.
• But centre people and give them agency to build on their strengths and access to services it shifts.
• Again, libraries are the perfect framework for this.

Final points from Cormac Russell

• We have ability & responsibility to shift settlement in this country to strengths based, community led and enabled
• We need to think about communities we serve and communities we are part of.
• And never be afraid to make good trouble.

Really powerful flash talk from Indy Johar

• our societies and communities will see increased volatility as we head to 3 deg warmer. this will be in all areas - economy, health, crime, opportunities, community cohesion
• localism vs globalism is false dichotomy - We exist at intersection of localism and our planetary relationships.
• We need to be able to think in terms of multiple beneficiaries of our actions - again back to measuring value across different stakeholders.

Biggest risk we hold is loss of the social contract and impact this has on local and national functioning and security. We as community engaged orgs have the agency - and responsibility - to transform the country to maintain this social contract.

Lots this morning about importance of what community facing organisations do in the face of increased inequality and volatility. Big q for libraries is how do we recognise and maximise what we do through collaboration - & how we build the robust & resilient partnerships we need.

Pre-lunch breakouts

The scourge of the silo: How can place-based public service reform support better outcomes?

• Sahil Khan at Peabody on how we can shift to bottom up reform
• Nick Davies how gov can put in place conditions for this - non competitive funding, ministerial remit, longer LG funding
• Evie John • we can’t get overwhelmed by challenges within our organisations • we can’t equate national government with ‘central’ government - the opportunities for nationally distributed government are huge This is key for libraries given the huge internal challenges
• Anna Randle Let’s not make devolution & local services difficult. Let’s just go for it!
• Sahil Khan highlights the opportunity in devolution.
• Nick Davies optimistic that people now in power ‘get it’ As a library sector we need to make sure we’re talking to them and using the language of community power

Community-Powered Prevention at Scale: How 21st Century Public Services Can Make This a Reality

Setting the scene from Chris Naylor : It’s imperative we shift from acute to preventative as it undermines trust in local gov and the state nationally [Again that idea that local services are the the last bulwark against loss of the social contract.]

Samantha Mowbray from Swindon

• being too busy in local public service is a sign of failure - failure to have identified and supported people before they get to the point of crisis.
• As an LA they’re rewriting roles and values - everyone’s primary role needs to be prevention
• They’re setting up a director of prevention and community [excellent!]
• Staff need freedom to help people holistically at every point so they aren’t pushed to other depts.
• Interesting point re contact centres - if people need direct support then a phone call is not enough.
• Broader vision - we've succeeded when people only need to contact the council for a street party of birth / marriage / death registration

Tabz O. from Live Well GM: Need to see:

• community action
• community power
• community wealth

As 3 sides of triangle - address each of them to make any progress.

Need to see libraries in all 3 - they can stimulate / facilitate action, share power and be / hold / share wealth

Nick Kimber highlights the conditions needed:

• Leadership (bravery)
• Educating gov - showing through action - we need to just get on and do stuff
• Gov needs to understand the logic of prevent vs fail and that policy is not enough - no levers to pull but a garden to cultivate
• Rewire gov away from green book etc [🤞if only!]

Reflecting on the morning:

• Time to act is now.
• We must build resilience with communities, and resilient partnerships so we’re there for the future
• We have to push gov to preventative focus by doing and showing
• Libraries have central role as connecter / conveyor for communities

After Lunch Breakouts

Stronger Together: How Community Power is Tackling Health Inequalities

Eve Holt along with Shannon Dunne and Andy Butterworth introduce a film from Elephants Trail Rochdale. Really positive & community led highlighting what it means to people but also that opportunities for volunteering can be positive ‘intervention’ in its own right

The community led, system enabled places in the video are brilliant and provide:

• Community
• Belonging
• Hope
• Confidence
• And also access to eg language teaching, job support, training etc

Q: this is exactly what we talk about libraries being- but are they? And are they community led enough?

Excellent point from Dr Leigh Sorsbie and Greg Fell:

We exacerbate health inequality by focussing on what we can measure - eg smoking, but we don’t ask if patients are lonely, have a voice, belong

So how do libraries, working to these uncountables, demonstrate their value?

Lots of stuff from Greg Fell about how public health and NHS can focus on the less measurable, but I reckon libraries need to be with them on this journey so we can meet in the middle - ensuring accountability if ££ involved

Shannon Dunne from Elephants Trail, Rochdale makes some brilliant points:

• How are we hearing the voices of communities here?
• a couple of people on panels, but otherwise all professionals (often quite senior/detached from delivery)

If this is about community, why aren’t they here?

And from Greg Fell :

• We don’t really need new answers
• more often than not the answers are already there - they just need better funding and helping grow.
• Local / CA funding needs to reflect this and not focus on novelty

Reorganising for the long term - local government reorganisation

Great point from Salena Mulhere : Engage with communities at the right time - no use now as upcoming political decisions means no route to influence. Instead what works now is listening to hopes - then consult when shaping the new org

Q from the floor on LGR: How does a unitary connect with communities?

• Need to build this in - is all about the organisational design
• what are we here to do and how do we best do it with the communities.
• Design locally to scale up

On the above I think this is opportunity for a bigger role for libraries. With a footprint in every community the libraries can shepherd that connection for local / devo gov. But - are libraries’ community connections strong enough?

Final Plenary sessions

And we’re back to the main stage for a final sum up from Jessica Studdert and Katie Kelly FRSA before the final keynote.

Katie mentions we need leaders who are “Chaos Pilots” - navigating through uncertainty with confidence, giving people the direction and security to keep going

Another powerful flash talk - they have been some of the most impactful sessions of the day

Ruth Luscombe - given the big changes - Local Government Reorganisation, NHS revisions, Devolution, Multi year LG funding settlement we have a once in a generation chance to shift the public services model. To do this we need to look at:

1. who this is for - we know through data & stories
2. how we do this? Joined up services without addressing different aspects separately - there is capacity in the system we can use (currently wasted in signposting/ triaging / referring around systems) - unlock this capacity and potential to deliver services that come from individuals needs and strengths
3. What’s the role of public service in this? Need to develop staff skills in relationships and listening / Make sure commissioning is community focussed / Have capacity to convene. For me these are where the libraries can really shine - connecting services and convening communities.

And now the rockstar moment - Hilary Cottam in conversation with Jonathan Heawood Her new book (the work we need) is on sale at the conf and looks brilliant.

(you can order it now from Bookshop.org at our Libraries Connected affiliate link: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/7051/9780349017471)

Q: why look at the nature of work? Is that limiting?

Hilary Cottam : Welfare / social systems are two sides of the same coin. We’ve been trying to solve the problems of localities through a social services model, but need a vision of what people would want to be doing

We looked at:

• What do you think good work would look like in a century?
• How do we get there?

Surprisingly similar answers came from very different places - interesting to hear about a gravedigger who came up with the non-linear working life long before it became fashionable in the pandemic

6 principles - one of which is ‘place’ Work happens in place and it matters that it happens there - often the better employers are place based. Feels to me like the link to place comes back to that social contract - with something local and tangible.Interesting to hear Hilary Cottam talk about the most expansive and exciting imaginations about work is coming not from think tanks, but from people in Kilmarnock, Barrow etc where their motivation for entertaining radical change is driven by necessity.

And a big q from her:

Where are the spaces to talk about, think about work - or any big ideas? And to share them with people who aren’t like you?

And from me - this sounds like libraries but how do libraries get ready for this and actively create this space?

Finally from Hilary Cottam :

If we are to grow good economies we need to start with building good places, good work. Interesting mention of ‘houses’ as a base of good work [keen to read the book and find out about these!] - I wonder whether libraries can step up there as well as creating new imagination places

And that’s a wrap - looking forward to reading Hilary’s book on the way home, but mostly pleased I’ve managed a full day’s conference with a broken rib!

Overall brilliant conference (again!) Lots of food for thought and potential connections for the library sector and libraries connected. Superbly organised too! Thank you

Initial thoughts

There is a lot of food for thought here and to unpack over the next few days. But the initial feeling is that there's a broad unspoken (or partly unspoken) theme this year that wasn't there last year:

• The social contract is at real risk of breaking down - people's and communities' engagement and trust in the state is strained more than ever
• This is due to poor experiences of reduced and disjointed public services, and how hard it is in today's society for many to carve out a decent life, and will only get worse as the impacts of climate change continue to accumulate
• As people working in public service we are at the frontline of renegotiating and securing the social contract, and we can do this by reimagining services so they are led by communities, who can be engaged and invested in them and restore that connection to place and to society more widely
• We need to start this now.