The national network for neighbourhood improvement is a unique community of practice for local and combined authority officers, dedicated to partnership working, and community-led, place-based regeneration.
The network builds on learning from local government pioneers, evidence from past regeneration programmes, and the recent experience of the Big Local programme: a first-of-its-kind initiative that puts power, resources and decision-making into the hands of local communities to enable them to transform and improve their lives and areas. 3ni is led by Capacity, with support from Local Trust.
The network exists to share the latest research, foster innovative best and next practice, and support peer-learning and collaboration, in order to advance successful and sustainable approaches to neighbourhood renewal. Its agenda is developed in partnership with its members and an advisory group of local authority chief executives and directors, to ensure it responds to and meets the need of local government.
It seeks to build stronger links between those neighbourhoods most in need of support and resources and local government regeneration practice, by sharing evidence and developing tools to enable investment in the foundational social infrastructure required for communities to thrive and prosper. The network advocates for an asset-based and community-led approach to neighbourhood regeneration, one that builds upon the strengths and resources that already exist in a given neighbourhood, rather than a top-down process, or a one-size-fits-all off-the-shelf programme.
It also builds on the Community Needs Index (CNI) evidence base developed by Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion in partnership with Local Trust, to objectively identify community strengths and needs at the neighbourhood level.
Neighbourhoods in action. Achieving big results by working hyper-locally. (803.61 KiB)
A landscape review of local government’s work supporting communities at the neighbourhood level. This study by Shared Intelligence (SI) examines which neighbourhood approaches local authorities in England are using to support their most disadvantaged areas, based on the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). The findings show that, while most local authorities analysed adopt some form of neighbourhood working, the type, scale, and council involvement vary greatly. The increasing variation is related to the current financial landscape, with budget pressures in some cases forcing councils to dilute their approach, but also to adopt innovative strategies. While the report reveals great strength in placing local public services geographically close to residents in order to combat inequalities, it also calls for local authorities to adopt strategies that directly address their most disadvantaged communities.
Social Capital 2025: The hidden wealth of nations (1.15 MiB)
This first paper by Andy Haldane, RSA CEO and Professor David Halpern, President of the Behavioural Insights Team, examines the economic benefits of strengthening social capital and makes the case for investing in the relationships, networks and trust that underpin strong communities and economies.
A neighbourhood strategy for national renewal (2.22 MiB)
The APPG for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods concluded its inquiry into levelling up policy in October 2023. This report explores the specific challenges by the communities experiencing the highest levels of economic deprivation and lowest levels of social infrastructure and sets out a roadmap for regenerating these doubly disadvantaged communities.
An introduction to the Community Needs Index.
3ni advocates for community-led regeneration in the neighbourhoods that need it most, including those experiencing the double disadvantage of high levels of economic deprivation and low levels of critical social infrastructure. In 2019, Local Trust worked with the Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion (OCSI) to develop an objective measure of social infrastructure in neighbourhoods across England.
Watch the video to find out more.