Local Government Association

The thing that most makes my heart fill with happiness is the moment a local resident says thank you.

If young girls can see someone like me – from a working-class background and a home where domestic abuse was prevalent – now thriving in a public role, I hope it may inspire them.

It took a lot of encouragement for me to understand that being elected could be a platform to increase the impact of the work I was already doing.

As a young councillor, it’s easy to feel a sense of imposter syndrome, but remember: you’ve been elected and entrusted by your community to represent and speak for them.

Democracy is strongest when elected representatives actually represent the whole gamut of lived experience in our society.

In this blog, Ruth Tennant, Director of Public Health at Solihull Council and ADPH Board Member, unpacks the vital but often invisible systems that protect our health every day.

In his blog, Mike Barker argues that neighbourhood health must be treated not as a service redesign but as a way of governing, rooted in local leadership, relationships and genuine devolution if national policy intent is to become lived reality.

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