Urban Forum, along with Ipsos Mori, have just published an interesting piece of research. ‘Citizens and local decision making: What drives feelings of influence?’ aims to better understand whether people feel they can influence decisions in their local area – an important National Indicator for many Local Authorities.

 Interestingly for the Pathways project, the research found that individuals’ perceptions of influence change over time and that experiences and circumstances throughout the life course has an impact on perception of influence. The research found that events or incidents such as a successful or unsuccessful attempt to influence decisions, joining a community group, starting university, becoming less interested and having children all have an impact on feelings of influence. The report also finds that the more urban an area is, the lower the feelings of influence; the region that the local authority is in also has an impression; and the higher the ethnic diversity, the higher the feelings of influence.

Click here to download the report.