Overview

• The IPPR’s anniversary report proposes funding a 21st-century welfare fund through levies on online retailers and distribution centres of companies with annual revenues above £1 million.
• A government spokesperson highlighted that the £1.5 billion Plan for Neighbourhoods is investing across 75 areas to restore community services and local gathering spaces.
• Researchers warn a pincer movement of abandonment and gentrification has erased civic assets—50 pubs close monthly, about 600 youth clubs shut between 2012 and 2016 and nearly 10 local authority venues lost annually in London.
• Experts say the loss of physical meeting places has driven political organising into private messaging apps and social media, creating fertile ground for far-right recruitment.
• Public and policy debates now centre on rebuilding civic infrastructure to reverse social fragmentation and guard against future extremist mobilisation.