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Labour Councils up and down the country are helping to improve the lives of their residents.

Week in, week out, Labour councils, working in partnership with the NHS, Homes England and the Labour Government, are getting things done for their local communities on the things that matter to local people.

Every week, LabourList brings you a selection of the great work being done by Labour Councils and Labour Mayors. 

This week we feature:

• • Liverpool Council brings NHS-style health checks to community venues
  • North East Mayor’s £250 million skills plan gets underway
  • New community garden delivered in Hammersmith & Fulham
  • Former shops brought back into community use in Swansea
  • £31m funding to unlock housing and regeneration across the East Midlands
  • New homes on former Castleford swimming baths site
  • Work underway on enterprise campus in West Cumbria

Please send news from your council to Paul Dimoldenberg at .

Liverpool: Council brings NHS-style health checks to community venues

Residents in Liverpool can now access quick, free health checks in convenient community settings, as Labour Liverpool City Council’s Public Health team supports the introduction of new self-service health stations at Alsop and Garston. The new stations, funded by Public Health Liverpool, give people the opportunity to complete a simple health check in under five minutes, helping to spot early signs of serious conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and dementia.

The Health Stations measure key health indicators including blood pressure, BMI, heart rate and body composition. They also assess lifestyle factors such as physical activity and alcohol use and provide an estimated ‘heart age’. Users receive instant, personalised feedback, including advice on whether to follow up with a pharmacist or GP. With consent, the stations can also signpost residents directly to local services such as stop smoking support or adult weight management programmes. The initiative aims to reach residents who may not routinely engage with traditional healthcare settings. 

North East: Mayor’s £250 million skills plan gets underway

A £250 million to help North East residents access jobs in some of the region’s fastest-growing and most in-demand industries. The first trainees have begun courses through the Adult Skills Training Programme, which forms part of Labour’s mayor for the North East, Kim McGuinness’, New Deal for North East Workers. Backed by investment of around £80 million a year, the programme will focus on areas including construction, manufacturing, technology and the green economy, alongside foundational sectors such as health, care, logistics and community services.

Support will particularly target adults with low qualifications, people facing health barriers, women looking to enter technical careers, care-experienced young adults and those seeking to progress in work. The programme is structured around three strands:

• Skills Foundation will focus on essential skills and confidence 
• Skills Activation will provide technical training and apprenticeships
• Skills for Work will offer employer-designed courses aimed at providing direct routes into jobs.

The investment is designed to address skills shortages while ensuring residents can benefit from growth in areas including clean energy and innovation. The programme also forms part of wider efforts to reduce economic inactivity and make training more accessible to communities that have historically faced barriers to employment and skills development.

Hammersmith & Fulham: New community garden delivered through Green Investment funding

A local community food hub, a gardening association and residents have teamed up to deliver a new green space outside the front door of food charity Nourish Hub on the Edward Woods estate, near Westfield. The forecourt is being transformed into a place where local people can grow food, learn new skills and sit together in the fresh air. It is funded through Labour Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s £5million Green Investment scheme and part of its fight to end food poverty and ensure that no one in the borough goes hungry.

Volunteers and local people will be able to connect with nature and neighbours through hands-on workshops. Tall planters, climbing arches, shrubs and flowers will help improve biodiversity, cut pollution from the busy roads and make another corner of the borough greener and kinder. The Nourish Hub is already a popular choice for its £3 three-course weekday meals, noon to 3pm on weekdays. Their top-quality vegetarian meals are prepared by professional chefs with support from volunteers, using surplus food which would otherwise go to waste.

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Swansea: Former shops brought back into community use

A row of long unused shops in the heart of Swansea is being given a new lease of life as Dyfatty Junction officially launches as a new community space. Labour Swansea Council has brought the former empty units on High Street, Dyfatty back into use, transforming them into a community‑focused hub designed to support local residents and partners. They will provide flexible space for drop‑in sessions, advice and support services, training opportunities and community‑led activity, helping to reconnect people with services and with each other.

The launch marks a major milestone in the Building a Better Dyfatty initiative, a partnership led by the Swansea Public Services Board and South Wales Police to tackle serious and organised crime while supporting long‑term neighbourhood regeneration. The aim is for Dyfatty Junction to become a community‑led facility, with the Council stepping back as local ownership and partnerships grow. In the four months between January 15th and May 15th, police figures show an overall reduction in crime in the area of 11.5% compared to the same period last year and a reduction in anti-social behaviour of 63.2%.

East Midlands: £31m funding to unlock housing and regeneration across the East Midlands

More than £31m has been announced by Clare Ward, Labour Mayor of the East Midlands, to drive regeneration across the East Midlands and to bring empty homes back into use. The proposals include £30m for a new Housing and Regeneration Fund and £1.6m to bring empty homes back into use and help tackle homelessness.

The Housing and Regeneration Fund would help unlock sites that have struggled to move forward, supporting the development of new homes and the renewal of underused land and buildings. The fund would provide loans to help get projects off the ground, supporting work such as preparing sites, building infrastructure, and starting construction. As loans are repaid, the money will be reinvested into future projects. The Empty Homes Fund will support a range of pilot projects to find the best ways of bringing long-term empty properties back into use. The programme will also support efforts to prevent homelessness by increasing the number of homes available to people who need them. 

West Yorkshire: New homes on former Castleford swimming baths site 

A new development off Aketon Road in Castleford will create 69 homes, with 52 for social rent and 17 available to buy through shared ownership, on the site of the former Castleford Swimming Baths, which closed in 2017. This has been made possible through funding from Mayor of West Yorkshire, Labour’s Tracy Brabin’s, Brownfield Housing Fund, alongside grant funding from West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Wakefield Council and Homes England. 

Brabin said: “As someone who grew up in social housing, I know how important it is to have a safe home, so I’m determined to invest in the affordable, much needed housing our region needs. Together with our partners, we’re working hard to tackle the housing crisis and ensure everyone across West Yorkshire has a safe and secure place they are proud to call home.”

Cumberland: Work underway on enterprise campus in West Cumbria

an enterprise campus based in West Cumbria being developed by the Industrial Solutions Hub (iSH) at Leconfield Industrial Estate in Cleator Moor. The development forms part of a wider regeneration programme across the region by iSH which is focused upon delivering economic growth opportunities around robotics, manufacturing and digital. The new units are expected to be available from late 2027.

The iSH Enterprise Campus is an economic regeneration initiative led by Labour Cumberland Council with funding and support from Government through Town Deal and Levelling Up programmes, and other strategic partners including the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd. iSH delivers programmes that build on the region’s nuclear heritage to showcase its capacity for industrial innovation and technical capability.

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