Launched in September 2024, the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods is reviewing the current state of neighbourhoods across England. 

We are rigorously examining the role of neighbourhoods in people’s lives, quantifying and qualitatively exploring the case for neighbourhood focused regeneration as a contribution to achieving wider social and economic objectives. The Commission is also establishing ‘what works’ by drawing on both international and domestic evidence, with a particular focus on the most deprived and ‘left behind’ communities.

The Commission is chaired by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top and supported by a small, cross-party group of experts, practitioners and others with a keen interest in neighbourhood issues.

We are making the case for a new focus on neighbourhoods in national policy as a means of addressing multiple disadvantage, regenerating communities and enabling government to achieve its mission objectives. Funded by Local Trust, the Commission is run by an independent secretariat and commissioners is supported by an academic panel, a lived experience panel and a representative group of community sector organisations.

You can read ICON’s Interim Report and Neighbourhood Policy Green Paper here, alongside all of our other publications.