In this episode of the New Local Voices podcast, we're discussing an ambitious, community-powered programme to tackle health inequalities and improve population health in North East Sheffield.

The North East Neighbourhoods programme was set up by South Yorkshire ICB to tackle health inequalities in Sheffield's North East by building on the areas strength: a flourishing and diverse community and voluntary sector. The ICB saw the sector as a central component to delivering a community-powered, preventative approach to health and, from the start, local people and organisations have shaped the work. Four community leaders from local organisations sit on the programme board, and they played a key role in conversations with nearly 1,000 local people about what matters most to them. This community engagement directly influenced the programme's priorities and the design of small, medium and large grants which have since been distributed.

Our host for this episode is Alistair Ross, Senior Practice and Research Lead at New Local, and he's joined by:

• Abdul Shaif, CEO of Aspiring Communities Together
• Gulnaz Hussain, CEO of Firvale Community Hub
• Megan Ohri, Partnership Manager at SOAR Community
• Safiya Saeed, Founder of Reach Up Youth and Lord Mayor of Sheffield
• Lucy Ettridge, Assistant Director of Health Inequalities and Programme Lead for North East Neighbourhoods at South Yorkshire ICB

Find out more about the programme of work we have led with South Yorkshire ICB here.

Community centres are a core and enduring part of the UK's social infrastructure. They are hubs of social connection, stewards of health and wellbeing, vital partners in their local ecosystems and important physical assets that communities can depend on.

Our report sets out what can be achieved if we celebrate, sustain and reimagine community centres for the future. It makes the case for meaningful investment, effort and focus at both the national and local level to dismantle the challenges standing in their way. It calls for their true value to be recognised and nurtured.

New Local's Sara Masters, Crispin Truman from the Rayne Trust, the Sutton Centre's Sam Kirkby and Josie Cowgill from Trinity Rooms Community Hub are interviewed by Katy Oglethorpe about the report's key ideas.

Visit www.newlocal.org.uk/wherepeoplemeet for the full report.

Our country needs to build more. More houses are required to meet current and rising demand. High streets and town centres need regeneration. Our infrastructure is not keeping pace with the structural requirements of our economy and society.

In this podcast, we delve into new research arguing that the key to unlocking our fraught planning system is to give communities more power and influence to shape local development. What can the councils and the government do to make this happen in time to fulfil Labour's housebuilding goals?

Join New Local's Imran Hashmi and Katy Oglethorpe in conversation, along with appearances from some of the case studies featured in the research - people-led regeneration of empty houses in Grimsby, the UK's first housing co-op for women aged over 50, and the district council giving residents a blank sheet for regeneration. We also speak to Zo Hoida, whose law firm Browne Jacobson supported the research.

From giving residents a blank sheet to determine the council's priorities, to making statutory consultation processes interactive and fun, Test Valley Borough Council is pushing the envelope on community engagement.

And it's paying off. Councillors are braver and more effective. Senior managers are better leaders. There's more consensus and less cynicism among residents. And the community's voice now sits at the heart of everything the council does.

Adam Lent visited leader Phil North, chief executive Andy Ferrier, deputy chief executive Salena Mulhere and community engagement officer Imogen Colley to ask how – and why – they're becoming a community-powered council.

As the NHS faces ever-rising demand, its founding principles of being free and universal are under threat.

In our latest report, we propose a solution: a fundamental shift towards a healthcare system focused as much on preventing illness as treating it. Working collaboratively with communities as equal partners in the design and delivery of healthcare.

Report authors Adam Lent and Grace Pollard are interviewed by Katy Oglethorpe about the report's key ideas. And we hear from the people behind innovative schemes at a GP's surgery in Pimlico, and a HIV charity in Manchester.

Visit www.newlocal.org.uk/nhs for the full report.

What would happen if we put power where it belonged, in our communities?

In The Community Paradigm, New Local's Adam Lent and Jessica Studdert made a case for the radical redistribution of power - away from the state and the market - and towards people themselves. The report helped capture a community power movement, that has been gaining momentum in places and public services within the UK.

Two years on, Adam and Jess introduce a new preface for the Paradigm - reflecting on new context created by the Covid pandemic, and the increased urgency to create sustainable, fairer services.

The podcast features an interview with the brilliant Mark Pepper - who is at the heart of the community-led regeneration of a Bristol estate.

You can read the updated Community Paradigm report and watch our new animation at www.newlocal.org.uk/communitypower

Music by Aardem

Over 2 million jobseekers are out of work due to disabilities or health conditions. But every year, only 4% of them move into employment.

The current DWP-led employment support system is failing them. Meanwhile, local programmes across the UK are giving the sort of personal, trusting, holistic support that allow people to really transform their lives.

We imagine what employment support would look like if the local areas and service users- and not Whitehall and Westminster- were in charge. And we advise how to make this a reality.

Presented by policy expert Tom Pollard and New Local's Pawda Tjoa. With interviews with Michelle and Helga from Halifax Opportunities Trust.

Music by Aardem