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Support for Local Authorities

How the Network supports Local Authorities

Across the UK, the Heritage Network supports local authorities to deliver impactful heritage-led regeneration and work in partnership with their local communities. We help local authorities find sustainable solutions for heritage at risk and deliver capacity raising programmes to help local communities become successful stewards of local built heritage.
We do this through bespoke 1:1 support to local and strategic authorities, our local authority networking events, and commissioned capacity building programmes.

Key contact

Brigid Golden

Events and Partnerships Officer

Email:

brigid@heritagenetwork.org.uk

What support does the Network offer local authorities?

Our support addresses a range of needs, including:

  • Building strong foundations: governance, leadership, and staff development
  • Organisational sustainability: business and financial planning, fundraising, and creating relations with funders
  • Community engagement: Equality, diversity and inclusion, working with young people, storytelling
  • Digital skills and activities delivery: audience research, digital heritage tools, event promotion
  • Project management: strategic planning, networking and relationship building, monitoring and evaluating progress
A photograph our a walking tour in Bradford. The group are gathered round the guide who is pointing out features on the buildings either side.

Local Authority Networking Sessions

We offer quarterly networking sessions for local authorities designed to unite colleagues across the UK. This is particularly aimed at colleagues working in heritage-led regeneration, planning, placemaking and community consultation.
To get access to this session, please contact Brigid Golden at Brigid@heritagenetwork.org.uk
A group of people walking together outside of a grand and ornate victorian building

Local Capacity Building Programmes

We offer bespoke programmes for Local Authorities to help build capacity in their locality within community heritage and creative sectors.
In 2025, Create North East Lincolnshire (Create NEL) (external link) (opens in new tab)commissioned Heritage Lincolnshire (external link) (opens in new tab) and the Heritage Network to plan, develop and deliver a ‘Development and Growth Programme for Creative and Heritage Practitioners and Organisations in North East Lincolnshire’. Between March and July 2026, Heritage Lincolnshire and the Heritage Network delivered 5 workshops in locations across Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
We offered workshops focusing on:
  • Getting up an organisation, good governance, and developing policies
  • Growing and sustaining volunteers
  • Fundraising, diverse funding models, and financial resilience
  • Equality, diversity, and inclusion
  • Working with young people
  • Developing partnerships
  • Digital skills
  • Marketing, websites, and reaching new audiences
  • Using film and audio in heritage
  • Developing building restoration projects and taking on historic buildings
  • Storytelling and project pitching
  • Impact and evaluation
A group of people sat around chatting and smiling.

Membership

Local Authorities can join us as members to access our online resource toolkit, our member’s only Network Hub, and discounted or free access to our events, tours, and annual Conference. Joining as a member is an excellent opportunity to engage with a variety of heritage organisations, businesses, and other Local Authorities for peer-to-peer learning.

Join us

Testimonials from community group participants in our North East Lincolnshire Capacity Building Programme:

Attending your workshops definitely gave a better understanding on how to run our CIC and a greater confidence in moving forward to achieve many goals, your guidelines are excellent and learning by interactions with yourselves and other members of the group is a big win situation.
Participant
If this support was not available then I honestly feel people would not know what tools are available for them. The workshops help to develop the confidence needed to allow people to turn their ideas into reality. Often people want to do something but don’t really know where to start, especially in our area when people haven’t generally applied for funding.
Participant
The opportunity to talk to a smaller group in a more information environment helped me to understand the challenges we are all facing and the opportunities we can pursue. Both worships provided new contacts and opportunities for collaboration, offering mutual benefit. Workshops like these are vital to the development and success of the cultural and heritage sector in NEL. More please
Participant
Two people having a conversation whilst sat down in an auditorium

Heritage Led Regeneration

Our Heritage-led Regeneration series is a collection of events, both online and in-person, designed to bring people together from across the UK who are shaping the futures of our towns, cities and high streets through heritage-led schemes. This series of events is particularly useful for Local Authorities working on regeneration schemes in their area.

Find out more
A group of people watching a powerpoint presentation at the Heritage Network 2025 conference

Impacts of changes to local authority funding on small to medium heritage organisations

This report was published by the Department for Culture, Media & Sports in September 2025.

Read the report (external link)
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Be part of the Network preserving heritage and building communities

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