Local authorities play a vital role in shaping places, services and economies. But with tight budgets, rising expectations and public scrutiny, getting the message right is no small task. That’s where we come in.
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Local authorities PR
Challenges We Help You Tackle
- Communicating Through Complexity: Policy, funding, regeneration — we turn complicated updates into clear, accessible content that cuts through.
- Reaching and Retaining Stakeholders: From residents and councillors to business partners and media, we help you keep people informed and on side.
- Doing More with Less: Budget pressures are real. We help you deliver high-impact comms that prove their value.
Our Approach
We understand the pressures you’re under – and we’ve worked inside local government long enough to know what works. Whether it’s internal comms, crisis response, or public campaigns, we create strategies that build trust and drive engagement. We know how to manage reputational risk, handle sign-offs, and work with multiple stakeholders – without slowing things down.
Key Services for Local Authorities
- Full-service comms delivery
- Strategic PR and campaign planning
- Behaviour change and public engagement
- Internal comms and staff messaging
- Crisis communications and media handling
- Social media content and community management
Our track record includes:
- Rossendale Council – Viva has delivered all internal and external comms since 2020. We won a PRCA Grand Prix award for our community recycling campaign Check Before You Chuck.
- Blackburn with Darwen Council – From strategic campaigns to social media and media relations, including a CIPR award-winning campaign for the Barbara Castle statue.
- Hyndburn Council – Including youth health campaigns, Accrington market promotion, and launching the council’s TikTok channel.
- Burnley Council – A Gold CIPR-winning influencer campaign that reshaped perceptions of the borough.
- South Ribble Council – A two-year project Discover South Ribble, combining storytelling, website content and social to grow the local visitor economy.
We also work closely with Lancashire County Council, Chorley Council, and the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP), where we lead on media and social media strategy.
Success Story: Rossendale Council – Check Before You Chuck
Since 2020, we’ve run Rossendale Council’s comms function, delivering award-winning work on a modest budget. Our behaviour change campaign Check Before You Chuck drove positive recycling behaviours and won the PRCA Grand Prix award. From resident updates to rapid-response comms, we’ve helped the council build a strong voice with the community it serves.
Results:
- Full outsourced comms delivery
- Award-winning community campaigns
- Trusted comms partner for four years+
Here’s just some of the impact we’ve delivered for our Public Sector clients:
15%
increase in glass, plastic and tin recycling (target was 5%)
11%
increase in paper and cardboard recycling (target was 5%)
6%
reduction in general waste collected (target was 2%)
173%
increase in weekly applications
473
applications in one record week
28%
increase in website visitors
1m
people reached in one month
631%
increase in app users during the event
629
competition entries from the public
31.2m
media coverage total reach
7.8m
combined radio and TV reach
115,464
launch event social media reach