Learning from
Big Local

Explore learning, research and stories from Big Local, a community-led funding programme that ran from 2011 to 2026.

About Big Local

The Big Local programme

Big Local was an ambitious experiment in community power, backing 150 neighbourhoods to lead change on their own terms.

In terms of scale, length of time and ethos, nothing like Big Local had previously existed. At the heart of the programme was a vision of empowered, resilient and asset-rich communities making their own decisions on what is best for their area.

Learn more about the Big Local programme and Local Trust, by exploring the About Big Local and Timeline of Big Local pages.

Welcome to Learning from Big Local – a place to explore what happens when residents lead lasting change in their communities. Here’s a quick guide to the website and what you’ll discover. 

Big Local was a bold experiment in community power, giving 150 areas across England just over £1million each to invest over 10-15 years. Residents decided how to use this long-term funding to make their areas even better places to live. 

The programme was run by Local Trust, set up in 2012 with an endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund. 

This website brings together the research, insights and stories from the Big Local programme. Here you’ll find summaries of each Big Local area showing their approaches and achievements; Q&A articles combining research findings with Local Trust insights; stories that share residents’ voices; and reports and guidance on community-led work. Resources are organised by themes, reflecting the issues communities cared about most. 

Explore the site to find out more about Big Local’s journey, how each area used its funding and what community power looks like in action. Explore the site now. 

Learning from Big Local

This website brings together an overview of research, learning and stories from across the Big Local programme. These resources can all be browsed through themes. Read about how each area used their funding by browsing by area. Find answers to questions about Big Local by reading the Q&A articles. These bring together the learnings from research reports and experiences of Local Trust staff. 

Hear directly from residents and read the stories gathered throughout the lifetime of Big Local. Deep dive into research and policy by browsing the reports. We’ve also created guidance on developing community-led programmes. 

Across the Big Local programme: 

  • 200 community assets were developed 
  • 123 legacy organisations were established 
  • an estimated £17-39m of external funding was leveraged in, outside of the initial grants.

You can find out more about the overall picture of change in resources under the theme of Community Change, and access the following external statistical reports on the impact of Big Local:

Quantitative impact reporting was not a requirement for Big Local areas and is not the focus of this website. You can learn more about Local Trust’s approach to research and learning in this article. 

A Theory of Change for the Big Local model was also developed, based on 15 years of evidence and experience.

About Big Local
£1m

awarded to 150 communities, where residents decided how best to allocate funds

4,900

residents that led decisions on how funding should be spent in their communities

200

community assets created or revitalised for and by residents in Big Local areas

Timeline of Big Local

Explore by area

150 communities in England received a minimum of £1m each through Big Local’s place-based funding. Discover what they did with it and how they led change in their area. 

Browse by area

Explore resident stories

Hear directly from residents through stories captured throughout Big Local. 

Browse resident stories

Explore by theme

Bringing together what was learnt from the Big Local programme under key themes.

Community assets and spaces

Community change

Community engagement

Health and wellbeing

Investing in young people

Local economy

Place-based pride and connection

Resident leadership

Responding to crisis and urgent need

Working collaboratively

Browse by theme