Politics is the lifeblood of local government - it’s what connects councils to their communities. At their best politicians know and understand their communities intimately, create aspirations out of local desires, draw compelling pictures of the future and bring people together to achieve great things.

Today’s local leaders are expected to shape the place where their local residents live and work, the Civic Pride initiative is designed to encourage the sort of confident, capable and visionary local leadership that will create thriving and prosperous communities.

Civic Pride, made up of five programmes, has also been developed to address the imbalance between the development opportunities available to officers over the years in comparison to politicians in local government.

Each programme in Civic Pride promotes and supports local politicians at each stage of their political lives, helping to reinvigorate local democracy and encourage more people to get involved, creating a greater sense of civic pride in our communities. This work will help to shift politicians’ thinking on leadership so they can fundamentally transform their communities for the better.