Grantham MP Gareth Davies is calling for 'levelling up' after lockdown to focus as much on community renewal, as well as economic growth.

The MP has joined other MPs, as well as charities and other groups, to demand government hands back power to communities after the pandemic to repair Britain's fraying social fabric.

Recommendations include giving every local area the "right to self government" through a town or parish council; giving communities the power to secure land for community-led social housing; a new family tax allowance to allow couples to transfer their £12,500 tax allowance to a working spouse; and a new Year to Serve scheme to subsidise jobless young peopleto do civic service.

The report called 'The Policies of Belonging' is by the 'think tank' Onward, for which Mr Davies has previously written for, when he sought a taxpayer funded investment or development bank to help deliver capital projects to the regions, something which Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently delivered.

Onward director Will Tanner said: "Everyone focuses on the impact of lockdown on the economy but the truth is that the pandemic has taken a terrible toll on the social fabric of our lives, compounding the long-term decline of community over recent decades.

"As we emerge – finally – from the pandemic, we need to not just revive a flatlining economy, we need to take steps to empower and recapitalise communities, to give people back a sense of belonging and rekindle the social networks and institutions upon which we all rely."

When central government publishes its plans for more devolution Onward says, "ministers should pave the way for the widespread introduction of town and parish councils, while also giving town and parish councils the right to assume ownership of, and responsibility for, green spaces, community sports facilities, community centres and local high street maintenance in their area".

The 'think tank' also calls for a Year to Serve scheme where unemployed young people would be given paid placements with local charities or social businesses.

It continues: "To mitigate the long-term scarring of unemployment and to build upon the wave of volunteering during the pandemic, the Government should pay young people the national minimum wage to serve their community."

Jobs could include teaching nursery-age children, working in care homes, planting trees, or teaching migrants English.

Mr Davies said: "We will not succeed in levelling up opportunity in the UK unless we invest in the social fabric of communities as well as the bricks and mortar infrastructure of local economies.

"It is often the high street and the civic networks of a place, not the railway line, that determines people's happiness and prosperity.

"After the pandemic we need to invest in a revival in communities and empower local people as much as possible."

Last September, Onward warned of a steady fall over the past ten years in volunteering, local group membership, church attendance, community activities, family trips, philanthropy and "social trust".

Further details of Onward's report can be found here and here.