The start of 2026 marks almost a decade and a half of a resident-led change programme across England. As the final Big Local areas complete their spending, Local Trust is sharing the lessons learnt from supporting thousands of residents to take the lead in improving their communities.

Rastrick Community Centre

Designed to inform future policy and funding approaches with content curated for national policymakers, researchers, funders and community leaders, Local Trust is launching Learning from Big Local; a website that brings together 15 years of research, stories and learning from the Big Local programme. The site, officially launched on 26 January, offers the most comprehensive evidence base to date of what long-term, resident-led investment can achieve.

Lessons for the future

The Big Local story provides a uniquely rich, long-term evidence base showing what happens when power, trust and resources sit directly with local residents. As national debates continue around the future of neighbourhood policy, devolution and place-based regeneration, the learning from Big Local is clear - ordinary people can deliver real change when they are given the tools to do it. Rastrick Big Local is a prime example:

Case study - Rastrick Big Local – investing in young people.

In Rastrick, West Yorkshire, residents used Big Local funding to give young people more ways to connect, play and thrive. The community built a new clubhouse for Rastrick Football Club, upgraded the local cricket club, and created new play areas and playgrounds. They also raised over £120,000 to fund baby and toddler activities and new breakfast and after-school club facilities at Woodhouse Primary School. The result is a more connected community, with far more opportunities for children and young people to build confidence, friendships and social skills through sport and shared activity.

Improving lives in communities across England

Across England other projects that are part of the Big Local programme have:

Improved healthcare – many people living in Big Local areas experienced improved mental health and better access to healthcare in their community.

Boosted local economies – Big Local areas helped local businesses and people through the COVID-19 pandemic and then cost of living crisis.

Invested in young people – with 266 youth-focused projects funded across the programme including ones specifically focusing on skills and employment.

Reduced crime - Big Local areas saw a significant reduction in both overall crime and criminal damage.

Improving lives in communities across England

The Big Local programme is the largest non-state investment in resident-led, place-based change in England. The results are a testament to the power of those people who stepped up and volunteered. Rastrick Big Local is a prime example. If you trust residents with the tools they need, they will build better communities.

Throughout England, in some of the most disadvantaged areas, thousands of residents have developed the confidence, skills and networks to improve their neighbourhoods.

As Big Local reaches its conclusion, we’re making our learning accessible to everyone through a new website, capturing 15 years of insights, stories and evidence. Our hope is that it supports future policy, funding and practice long after the programme ends.

About Big Local

Big Local is a programme funded by The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF). It is a unique programme that puts residents across England in control of decisions about their own lives and neighbourhoods. In 2011, TNLCF awarded £1m to each of 150 Big Local areas.

The Big Local programme was designed to reach communities that had not historically received Lottery money or public funding. The areas chosen were amongst the 20 per cent most deprived on the Index of Multiple Deprivation and also lacked civic assets. The hypothesis was that they were not receiving their fair share of funding because they lacked organisations and individuals with the knowledge, skills and contacts to raise it. 

From the outset, Big Local was designed to be radically different from other funding programmes. Contrasting with conventional, top down, time-limited, project-led funding, awards were made to Big Local areas on the basis that they could be spent over time, at communities’ own pace, and according to their own plans and priorities.