Case Study: Norfolk Local Government Reorganisation: Community Engagement Model

Client: Norfolk County Council

Date: July - August 2025

Challenge faced by the client:

Norfolk County Council (NCC) was navigating the complex landscape of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) as part of the national mandate to transition towards single-tier unitary authorities. Central government established six headline criteria for all LGR proposals. Under these new requirements, NCC needed to place community engagement and neighbourhood empowerment at the heart of its proposal and its vision for how a future council(s) would operate and support its residents.

Support provided:

Mutual Ventures were commissioned by NCC to develop a community engagement model that reflected local strengths, challenges, and priorities. In order to develop this model, the Mutual Ventures team adopted a mixed-methods approach:

• Stakeholder engagement: conducted in-depth sessions with 111 stakeholders across 32 groups. Participants spanned various sectors to ensure a diversity of perspectives, including county councillors, frontline children’s and adults social care staff, town and parish councils, the voluntary sector, health partners, and residents' panels. These sessions helped us understand current successes, identify barriers, and define what 'good' looks like for Norfolk.

• Best practice research: performed desk-based research into global and national examples of community engagement and place-based working. We translated these insights into a series of case studies to inform the council’s strategy.

• Document and data review: systematically analysed NCC’s strategic documents, data sets, and previous engagement summaries. This ensured the new model was evidence-led and built upon existing frameworks rather than starting from scratch.

Outcome achieved:

Utilising this research, Mutual Ventures worked with the council to develop a scalable community engagement model grounded in the principles of Radical Place Leadership.

The proposed model introduces Neighbourhood Area Committees and Integrated Neighbourhood Teams to empower frontline staff and reset relationships with residents. To support the new council(s) to act as a genuine partner with communities, the work highlighted several enabling conditions:

• Developing a "one team, one council" leadership approach to foster shared accountability and dismantle departmental silos.

• Empowering frontline staff by reducing red tape and encouraging autonomous, professional judgement to improve decision-making speed and quality.

• Creating a new social contract through "people pledges" that shifted the focus from a deficit-based model ("what's wrong?") to an asset-based approach ("what's strong?").

The partnership resulted in a comprehensive blueprint for neighbourhood action, which has been published as part of NCC’s formal LGR business case to the government. The model provides a practical path for the council to shift power and resources closer to residents, ensuring services are co-designed. By establishing a feedback loop between democratic committees and operational teams, the council is now better equipped to tackle issues through proactive, preventative measures.

Client quote:

“I really enjoyed working with Mutual Ventures. It felt like your team jumped in and wrapped around us seamlessly during what was a very intense project. We always felt prioritised, communication was consistently quick and clear, and there was always someone available to support us. The whole team seemed completely up to speed (at all times!), which was impressive given how fast-moving everything was.

"From the outset, we were able to work in a really honest and trusting way, and I think that’s a testament to your approach and the wider team’s ethos. There was a great balance of supportive challenge and encouragement throughout, and your expertise really shone through.”

Hannah Edge, Head of Communities and Customer Service, Norfolk County Council