Champions of Place – lessons in local leadership
‘Champions of Place – lessons in local leadership’ is a new research and events programme by Localis in partnership with Willmott Dixon.
The aim of this major initiative is to better understand the underlying issues limiting housing and regeneration growth through a series of in-person forums and evidence gathering.
Our work will result in a final report, to be published at UKREiiF in May 2027, distilling key lessons on the positive role of contemporary place leadership to make a difference – and with a focus on effective delivery partnerships.
Policy Context
We can’t ignore the alarmingly sluggish pace of housing growth, a failure which is set to nullify the Starmer government’s original stated ambitions of delivering 1.5 million new homes over the parliament, let alone Prime Minister Burnham’s ambitions for a revolution in social housing provision.
Whatever way we cut it, to undergird housing growth on these levels we will require a significant increase in the productivity of infrastructure delivery vehicles across the country. We will also need to see spatial development strategies align over place amid the twin tracks of local government reorganisation and a revived devolution agenda.
And at the other end of the macro-micro spectrum, high streets across the UK face significant challenges that necessitate policy intervention and attention on stronger neighbourhood governance.
While the picture at national level is, at best, mixed, there are strong local authority champions in place who have consistently delivered housing whilst providing the connective infrastructure and helped to foster local growth through high street and town centre renewal. We are talking ‘Champions of Place ‘, local leaders who have, in other words, acted as successful placemakers in partnership.
The challenge we have set ourselves is to capture the learnings from delivery partnerships that have worked and widely share these lessons with actionable recommendations for local, strategic and central government.
In our research campaign with Willmott Dixon, Localis will work with leaders who have shown concrete proof that it is possible to swim against the tide of the times, to bravely overcome all obstacles and build and regenerate for local growth and social prosperity.
Together, we will answer the following key questions of place leadership:
- What does strong place leadership look like in the current economic and political climate?
- What would it take to succeed in meeting the housebuilding and placemaking challenge?
- What delivery partnerships enable visionary councils to achieve transformational place outcomes?
- How, in practice, do strategic procurement approaches, including risk-sharing and early engagement, enable the sort of innovation that delivers genuine community benefit?
Champions of Place Forum
To anchor all elements of this ambitious engagement project, Localis will convene a high-powered Champions of Place Forum – an advisory body dedicated to examining how local government should draw on contemporary best practice in housing, placemaking and regeneration.
If you would like to learn more about how to get involved with the Champions of Place initiative, please contact: jonathan.werran@localis.org.uk
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