A new toolkit published by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) recommends Community Led Planning (CLP) as a means by which newly created local councils can engage with people in their area to identify and prioritise future work.

The free toolkit, Power to the People, provides practical advice and guidance for community activists interested in setting up and running local councils in their area and can be downloaded from the NALC website.

The publication of the toolkit follows recent changes in legislation that make it possible for communities to trigger community governance reviews which can include the creation of new local councils (usually called parish or town councils in England).

Overall, the toolkit explains what local councils are, what benefits they can bring to a community, provides ideas on how to promote local councils to residents, and suggests how to generate local support for their creation. It sets out the steps which need to be taken to trigger a community governance review and what steps a new local council can take once it has been established.