A Civic Future for Community Media and Library Services in Leicester

As Leicester City Council embarks on a public consultation about the future of its Library and Information Services, there is a valuable opportunity to open a wider conversation about the role of communication, creativity, and civic storytelling in the life of the city.

This consultation process comes at a time when the needs of communities are shifting. In an era of rapid social and technological change, there is a growing recognition that access to editorially independent news, opportunities for meaningful discussion, and platforms for sharing stories that reflect the lived experiences of communities are essential foundations of civic life. Libraries have long provided a trusted and accessible space for reading, learning, and social participation. It is now timely to consider how community media — understood as media made by, for, and with communities — can be developed alongside libraries as a peer civic resource, serving the evolving needs of Leicester’s residents.

Across Leicester, there is a deep well of creativity, diversity, and resilience. Longstanding communities and new arrivals alike contribute to the city’s character and vitality. Yet the spaces for local expression, shared dialogue, and community-driven storytelling are under increasing pressure. The potential exists to strengthen and renew these spaces by embedding community media practices within the evolving framework of Leicester’s Library and Information Services.

A Community Media Hub model could offer a practical and sustainable framework for this development. A Community Media Hub would not focus on any single medium, but would act as a meeting point for a diverse range of community-driven media activities. Radio producers, local news writers, video makers, bloggers, podcasters, photographers, citizen reporters, and oral historians could come together in shared spaces, supporting each other’s work, developing skills, and collaborating across forms and platforms. These hubs could act as points of access where residents are encouraged not simply to consume media but to participate in its creation, guided by the principles of inclusivity, editorial independence, and civic responsibility.

This idea is not entirely new. Leicester has a strong legacy of innovation in community media that can provide valuable lessons for the future. The work of John Coster in pioneering the Citizens Eye project and the Community Media Café model demonstrated how public spaces could be used as accessible hubs for training, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas. John’s work showed that community media flourishes when it is open, informal, supportive, and connected to the wider civic life of a place. Similarly, the longstanding efforts of Helen Pettman and the team behind the Evington Echo illustrate the value of community newspapers in sustaining local identity, offering a platform for community concerns, and recording the ongoing life of neighbourhoods. More recently, the work of Soar Sound in establishing a place-based community radio station for Leicester has shown the continuing appetite for community-led broadcasting that reflects local voices and strengthens connections across communities.

These initiatives share an understanding that community media is a form of social infrastructure. It is not simply a tool for communication, but a space where trust is built, skills are shared, and the social fabric is strengthened. This perspective is closely aligned with the principles of the Foundational Economy and, more recently, the concept of Foundational Media. In this model, communication services are seen not as commercial commodities or one-off projects, but as part of the essential, regenerative services that sustain communities over time. Foundational media recognises that storytelling, civic dialogue, and community-led communication contribute to the everyday wellbeing of a place, in the same way that libraries, healthcare centres, schools, and adult education services do. Rather than extracting value for private profit, foundational media supports community resilience, shared identity, and collective capacity.

Decentered Media believes that this is the moment to explore how such a model could be realised in Leicester, in partnership with the future development of Library and Information Services. An invitation is extended to all those interested in the role of community-led communication: community media practitioners, advocates for public service innovation, communications managers and professionals, and others who are committed to sustaining the civic life of Leicester.

Rather than proposing a fixed plan, Decentered Media proposes the formation of an informal discussion group. This group would provide a space to explore how the idea of Community Media Hubs could be developed within Leicester’s library service, how they could serve the needs of diverse communities, and how they could contribute to a broader vision of civic participation, learning, and creativity.

This is a forward-looking opportunity. By building on Leicester’s experience, and learning from what has worked in the past, it is possible to shape a model for community media that is firmly embedded in the civic infrastructure of the city, standing alongside libraries, theatres, galleries, and colleges as a shared public good. In doing so, Leicester can demonstrate how local communication and local culture can be renewed and sustained in a way that is inclusive, democratic, and resilient.

Anyone interested in being part of this conversation is invited to get in touch with Decentered Media. Together, there is an opportunity to help define how community media can form part of Leicester’s civic future.