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

It will rigorously examine 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 will also establish ‘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. Its work will examine 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 will be supported by an academic panel, a lived experience panel and a representative group of community sector organisations.

Individuals and organisations are invited to contribute evidence to the Commission responding to the question(s) below. The window for submissions will be open until the end of 2024.

  1. There are different conceptions/definitions of a neighbourhood, which makes most sense given the Commission’s remit?
  2. Why do neighbourhoods matter: what do we know about how different socio-economic needs cluster and interact at the neighbourhood level?
  3. How do people experience living in the most deprived neighbourhoods?
  4. What are the interventions that have had most impact at a neighbourhood level?
  5. What does this mean for building an effective neighbourhood policy both nationally and at regional and local authority levels?

Any questions about the Commission or early submissions of evidence can be sent to