The U.K. Government has announced a new ‘Pride in Place Programme’ with the prominent promise of new powers to help community-based partnerships improve town centres. This post cuts through some of the rhetoric and explains about those powers; sets-out the programme’s three geographical levels of support; and assesses the requied role of ‘Neighbourhood Boards’.
The Pride in Place Programme, which seeks to revive high streets, parks and public spaces with up to £5 billion in funding, was unveiled by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on September 25th. The money is part of the communities funding plan announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her June 2025 spending review, which promised new investment for 350 deprived areas across the U.K.
The Pride in Place funding will be delivered in England, Scotland and Wales, with corresponding funding provided to Northern Ireland. A full list of areas receiving support through the Pride in Place Programme is available in this BBC article on ‘which areas are due to get a share of the £5bn funding boost‘.
Powers for council and community partnerships
Under the Pride in Place Programme, communities and councils are promised the following new and enhanced powers:
- Community Right to Buy: The previously announced policy to a Community Right to Buy assets of community value such as shops, pubs and leisure facilities, when they come up for sale.
- Compulsory Purchase powers: The implementation of poreviously agreed reforms to the compulsory purchase process and land compensation rules, making it clearer how local authorities can use these powers.
- Power to block unwanted shops: Proposed new procedure to manage the business mix as requested by communities, including introducing Cumulative Impact Assessments in gambling licensing and updated guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework that allows councils to block new hot food takeaways close to schools or where a concentration is having an adverse impact on local health or anti-social behaviour.
The use of these powers is not limited to the key target areas summarised below, although they will have addional funding and support to help enable such powers.
Ten year neighbourhood mission
The announcement of the Pride in Place Programme is accompanied by support for people across the most in-need neighbourhoods, with a 169 areas receiving £2 million every year for a decade, totalling £3.5 billion. This is on top of an existing commitment to 75 areas, costing £1.5 billion, through what have been known as the ‘Planning for Communities’ (aka Long Term Plan for Towns) and the ‘Trailblazer Neighbourhoods’ programme, now referred to as phase 1 of the Pride in Place Programme.
The new tranche of 146 neighbourhoods in England are larger than the Trailblazers and have been selected using data from Index of Multiple Deprivation and the Community Needs Index, aggregated to the Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOAs). These larger neighbourhoods comprise between 2,000 and 6,000 households and usualy have a population of between 5,000 and 15,000 persons. On their own, this second tranche of neighbourhoods represents just over 2% of the total number of MSOAs in England. There are slightly different methodologies for the neighbourhoods selected in Scoltland, Wales and Northeren Ireland. The full list of places selected for both phases of the Pride in Place Programme can be found at the bottom of this methodology note.
Underpinning this tranche of funding are three core objectives focused on empowering communities to create thriving neighbourhoods where there is a greater sense of belonging:
a. To build stronger communities with a collective sense of belonging where people feel proud and safe to live.
b. To create thriving places with vibrant neighbourhoods of busy high streets, a good range of local amenities and high-quality physical infrastructure.
c. To empower people to take back control so that individuals have a sense of control of their lives and have a say over the future of their community.
It will be important to focus on and measure such outcomes, rather than just perpetually focusing on spending money on a series of interventions. Approval of spending plans and the use of the enhanced powers will depend on community groups having been involved in decision-making through Pride in Place Boards.
Immediate Impact Fund
Separately, a further 95 local authority areas will receive an immediate £1.5 million cash injection through the Pride in Place Impact Fund to support the development of shared spaces, revitalise local high streets and improve public spaces.
Underpinning the funding are three core objectives (imagine an Arts centre next to a play area and on a busy high street, and you’ve got it!):
a. Community spaces – Investing in community facilities by refurbishing or taking ownership to create welcoming places for connection, support and shared activity.
b. Public spaces – Improvements to green areas, play and leisure facilities, and thoughtful design features such as seating, signage and public art make spaces more inclusive and inviting.
c. High street and town centre revitalisation – Revitalising tiwn centres by improvements to buildings, streets and public spaces, makes them more attractive and welcoming, encouraging people to come together and boosting local
pride.
These objectives seem much more focused on ‘quick wins’ than the long-term outcomes of the 10-year approach.
Joining-up place policy
Beyond this targeted funding, the Government has committed to provide neighbourhoods across the country with a range of levers to promote thriving places, to build stronger communities and to take back control. They say that they want to make it as easy as possible for communities to make the changes they want to see in their neighbourhoods because “local people are best placed to understand local need“. We will review these ‘levers’ and the mechanisms for empowering communities, in an updated version of our place policy puzzle.
Neighbourhood Boards
It seems that Neighbourhood Boards will only be a requirement in areas receiving the 10-year funding commitment. The Boards “should put local people at the centre of defining their town’s future”, in partnership with the local authority, to deliver the strategic objectives of the programme. The guidance says that they should bring together residents, local businesses, grassroots campaigners, workplace representatives, faith groups, the local MP, at least one ward councillor, community leaders, “and those with a deep connection to their area“.
The guidance to-date states that involving their community (presumably through wider engagement), the board should “generate a vision for the future of their area and set-out a pathway to deliver that over the course of the 10-year programme (and beyond)“.
Each Neighbourhood Board will be led by an independent chair, appointed by the local authority following consultation with the local MP. The chair should act as a champion for the place and provide leadership for the board, ensuring it is community-led and embedded within the local area.
Helpful information
You can read and download a copy of the Pride in Place Strategy that sets-out the different elements of the approach in the Government’s words.
People & Places have a strong track record in delivering the community-focused, revitalisation of town and city centres, including the revitalising town centres toolkit, crerated for the Local Government Association in 2018 and updated during the pandemc. The toolkit includes good practice guides featuring People and Places’ work gathering town centre evidence with Southwold Coastal Community Team and reopening and revitalising Selby town centre.
You can read helpful information relating to creating a ‘Pride in Place Board’ in our guide to ‘creating a partnership behind a plan‘ and learn more about acquiring community assets in our advice on ‘getting ready for the right to buy‘.
