Somerset Council and Communities

Authors: Jason Leman

Citizen Network was commissioned to review how Somerset Council can support and engage communities. This included a research project led by Citizen Network fellow Dr Jason Leman alongside Dr Amy Burnett.

A wealth of evidence was generated reflecting the experience of councillors and council staff, parishes, VCFSEs, and public services. This generated research findings that will help inform the approach of Somerset Council to communities. It is hoped it will also inform work and understanding further afield, both for unitary authorities and for the communities they work with.

From the conclusion:

“I've been around for a long time, and you think you can see what the answer is. You can see these quick wins. You can see where the opportunities are. You can see whether the resistance is. You can see it all. And it seems to me; the answers are out there. They've been out there forever, and it's just how the system supports those things to happen and to work. ”

(Public service employee)

“One of the first things that tends to go when you're firefighting and just trying to do what's on your desk is the proactive engagement conversations, keeping people up to date, reaching out to see how we can work in partnership because you haven't got the time to build those relationships.”

(Somerset Council officer)

VCFSEs wanted the Council to understand what is already in a place and to work to build on that rather than introducing new organisations or structures.

Some parishes just wanted the Council to get out of the way, others viewed their work as separate from the Council, others appreciated support from the Council to network and learn.

Public services wanted to find ways to work together, recognising the effectiveness of collaboration and the efficiencies it brings.

The key tensions evidenced are between:

1. the Council working in places – villages, towns, neighbourhoods – versus working at the unitary scale;
2. being flexible in meeting the needs of different places and stakeholders versus being consistent to provide clarity and confidence for stakeholders;
3. being responsive to needs versus managing demand that is beyond the resources of the Council to meet;
4. the need for short-term impacts versus planning for the long-term.

Read and download the free pdf in your browser, link below.

The publisher is Citizen Network.  Findings of Research into Somerset Council's work with Communities © Jason Leman and Amy Burnett 2026.