New Spaces, Old Mindsets

New Spaces, Old Mindsets? Conference reflects on partnership working between local authorities and faith groups. University of Chester 4th November 2015. Delegates from eight local authority areas across the North of England came together at the University of Chester’s Riverside Innovation Centre to discuss partnership working between faith groups, local communities and local authorities. The conference, entitled New Spaces, Old Mindsets? Meeting the Challenge of Creating Hopeful and Flourishing Communities in an Era of Austerity, was designed to engage with senior personnel from public and faith sectors. Participants came together to discuss the new policy landscape that has emerged out of the 2008 financial crash and which has been shaped by policy frameworks of both localism and austerity. The day was organised by the University of Chester’s Centre for Faiths and Public Policy, Cheshire West and Chester Council, and Link Up, which is a relational network of churches and church leaders in and around Chester, West Cheshire and the wider region.