Professors Fred Robinson and Tony Chapman

This action research project aims to: encourage social enterprises to assume responsibility, through asset transfer, for community buildings in County Durham; produce an environment which is conducive to the development of social enterprise in the delivery of public services in Northumberland; explore ways of examining the contribution of the third sector to ‘social growth’ in Northumberland; and, improve understanding about the relationship between the public sector and third sector in Northumberland

The project was commissioned by the Institute for Local Governance in collaboration with Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council. The first phase of the research took place in 2012-2013 and has been extended for a further year in County Durham.
A report on the Northumberland project will be published in January 2014.