If governments want to increase the power of communities, they need to bring a fresh philosophy and bold proposals that can enable citizens to create visions for their own areas and give them the resources to put their aspirations into practice. Importantly, we must not confuse devolving power to political institutions with community power. Citizens, individually and collectively, also need to be able to strengthen their own power and not simply rely on state actors.

To do this, government needs to build the foundational power of communities. This means strengthening and building the institutions that enable citizens to exercise their creative and economic power, to deliver their ideas and hold public and private sectors accountable. Without foundational power, there will be severe restrictions on the ability of citizens to take back control over their local areas.

The aim of this paper is to develop a series of proposals that could be adopted by government and policymakers to achieve this. It is in line with Demos’ vision to build a collaborative democracy, in which citizens, politicians, policymakers and other experts find news ways to work together in order to improve policy-making, strengthen citizenry and increase trust in politics.