Place Policy Checklist

At the People & Places Partnership we have been working carefully over the last year to piece together a place policy checklist.  Our aim is to help guide council, community and commercial place partners through the raft of new national policy initiatives in a way that can help apply them to their neighbourhood, town or city centre. 

Below is our checklist of the many different national policy and funding initiatives that impact on places.  Though different place partners may focus on particular issues and accompanying policies, its great when different aspects of place come together in a coordinated way.  After all, that is how our towns and neighbourhoods work well, with people’s different needs being met in one place.

1. Delivering devolution and local government reorganisation

a. Devolution

This is the big opportunity to watch and, as we reflect in our blog on “how local is local“ when the Devolution White Paper was launched, it remains important to find ways to follow through on the government’s aspiration for stronger community arrangements for the way councils engage at a neighbourhood or area level.  The White Paper also stated a desire to “rewire the relationship between town and parish councils and principal local authorities, strengthening expectations on engagement and community voice.”

Equally, the new unitary authorities need to find a way to help places and their partnerships to feed in local understanding and enable delivery of Strategic Authority policies and programmes that cover: transport and local infrastructure; skills and employment support; housing and strategic planning; economic development and regeneration; environment and climate change; health, wellbeing and public service reform; public safety.

The intent in the Devolution White Paper was for new unitaries of upwards of 500,000 residents to cluster with maybe two neighbouring councils to be part of Combined or Strategic Authorities. The term “Strategic Authority” is simply the Government’s new collective noun for Combined Authorities or other permutations such as Mayoral Authorities, that it is devolving some responsibilities to. Our extended blog on devolution’s different paces in different places, looks at the varying timetable for the creation and establishment of Combined/Strategic Authorities as the holders of devolved responsibilities and budgets.

Already established Strategic Authorities are leading the way with tailored approaches to revitalising towns including the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s £10million Vibrant and Sustainable High Streets Fund, while the North East Combined Authority have set-up a new High Streets Commission with an initial £850,000 allocation to support its work.  Our detailed analysis of progress with local government reorganisation and the creation of strategic authorities, shows the knock-on effect of devolution’s different paces in different places.

The Devolution and Empowerment Act, as it became called, passed into law at the end of April 2026. The act paves the way for new neighbourhood governance arrangements to be established in every area of England, but doesn’t set out what these will look like in practice.

b.  Local Government Reform

Our post on devolution’s different paces also focused on the differing timetables for creating Unitary Authorities as an indicator of how to shape the local governance and community empowerment promised by government legislation. It identified six different rates of progress for devolution and counted how many areas of the country fell into each:

1. DEVOLVED & REORGANISED

A. Established Strategic Authority; 7 areas; no local government reorganisation; extended responsibilities and integrated funding settlement; currently fully operational; e.g. Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

B. Mayoral Strategic Authority; 3 areas; no local government reorganisation; comprehensive responsibilities and funding; operational and eligible for established status within 18 months of formation subject to procedures being in place; e.g. Tees Valley Combined Authority

2. PARTIALLY DEVOLVED OR REORGANISED

C. Mayoral Strategic Authority; 4 areas; proposed local government reorganisation; comprehensive responsibilities and funding; operational though relationships to local authorities in transition until spring 2028; e.g. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

D. Foundation Strategic Authority; 3 areas; no further local government reorganisation necessary; partial responsibilities; mayoral elections due in May 2027; e.g. Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority.

3. INITIATING DEVOLUTION & REORGANISATION

E. Forthcoming Foundation Strategic Authority; 6 areas; proposed local government reorganisation; partial responsibilities and funding; limited operation with local authorities in transition until spring 2028 and mayoral elections now delayed until then in at least 4 areas; e.g. Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority.

F. Proposed Strategic Authority; 11 areas; proposed local government reorganisation; limited responsibilities and funding; early stages of transition with no new responsibilities or funding; new unitary authorities expected to be in place by spring 2028; e.g. Leicestershire Combined Authority.

c. Creating a new neighbourhood governance system

Towards the end of the Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill there is an intriguing commitment to “introduce a requirement on all local authorities, in England, to establish effective neighbourhood governance.”

There is mention of an intent that “Before those regulations are made, government will be undertaking a review as to the best way to achieve the aims including speaking to the sector to ensure they have the opportunity to contribute and share existing good practice.”

There is then an intriguing and ominous paragraph that suggests town and parish councils might be effectively sidelined: “Local authorities can still set up town and parish councils, and town and parish councils which exist now can continue. Our guidance will say how neighbourhood governance structures can work well with town and parish councils. Town and parish councils are independent of local authorities. We want to make sure that all local authorities have a way of working with people in their neighbourhoods, so they are not relying on town and parish councils to do it.”

This seems a short statement that could represent a big change.  It is something we tracked with much interest as part of our involvement on an Institute of Place Management roundtable on devolution and which is reflected in our recently published paper on options for improving place-based governance.

The 2025 Budget included the announcement of the piloting Place-based Budgets with five Mayoral Strategic Authorities to apparently test how pooling public service budgets could break down siloes and deliver better outcomes.

Our blog on options for improving place-based governance, that accompanies the academic journal paper, assesses the options for improving place-based goverance that will ensure better local decision-making following devolution and local government reorganisation in England. It initially defines five different models of local governance, framed by consideration of their national coverage, an appreciation of varying levels of participation achievable and a belief that they can be combined in oine area. These are:

1. Area committees: This might be considered the default mechanism for existing and proposed new unitary authorities that offers them some local representation and serves their needs for local consultation.
2. Existing town and parish councils: Though the most local tier of democratic accountability, there is a need to address apparent central government ambivalence through the application of consistent standards of governance, community engagement and development.
3. Place-based, systems approach: Common characteristics of local authority place-based approaches that have much in common with a place management perspective, include working with communities to develop collective priorities and building relationships based on balanced power and capacity.
4. Place partnerships: At the core of place management initiatives there will normally be a coming together of key stakeholder representatives in some form of partnership. These are most effective when their role blends strategic influence and tactical delivery, whilst adopting a ‘people and place-led’ approach.
5. Community anchors and covenant: These are voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations, rooted in their local area and that have a track record of responding to the needs of their communities by offering support, delivering activities and collaborating with others. A national campaign to create a ‘community covenant’ aims to agree standards for the relationship between such community anchors and councils.

Whilst the Devolution and Empowerment Act paves the way for new neighbourhood governance arrangements to be established in every area of England, it does not set out what these will look like in practice. This is an issue that will likely to be continued to be hotly debated over the coming months, as the shape of a next wave of unitary authorities becomes clearer.

The new legislation requires local authorities to engage with existing town and parish councils about their representation as part of neighbourhood governance arrangements. This goes further than the original intent though does not mandate a role for existing and new town councils, as some sector representatives have called for.

d. Sharing the roles of civil society and government

In a busy July 2025, the Department of Culture, Media and Sports published guidance on what it called a new Civil Society Covenant. The Covenant is described as seeking to create an environment in which civil society is respected, supported and listened to by government and the shared roles in serving the public are recognised.

Civil society includes charities, social enterprises, co-operatives, trade unions, faith organisations, informal community groups, philanthropists and social investors. The principles in the Covenant apply to government and public bodies across the UK including: UK government departments; strategic authorities and English local authorities; wider public sector bodies including NHS organisations and partnerships.

The Covenant aims to underpin a partnership between government and civil society in a way that complements the representative democracy of elected local authorities and includes:

• resilient, connected and empowered communities with inclusive opportunities for participation which strengthen our social fabric
• invigorated decision making which embraces civil society’s insight, expertise and constructive challenge
• a strong democracy where all people can participate and where all voices are heard

e. Neighbourhood Guarantee for Communities

In May 2026, the Government announced proposas for a new “Neighbourhood Guarantee for Communities” that will set-out basic standards that residents can expect from local councils. Under the new guarantee seemingly, councils will be asked to work closely with central government to meet minimum standards for very localised issues ranging from cleaner streets, filled in potholes and other vital public services.  People will be able to monitor whether the guarantee is being met in their area through new published data on a Local Outcomes Framework platform.

f. Community Power Pilots

The Government has announced plans for new Community Power Pilots that will apparently lead to councils, community groups and residents co-designing local services in a very localised form of devolution. The pilots will be launched in up to 25 areas across the country, and can cover services such early years provision, youth services and community safety.  Another example given was that residents will be invited to design what services they want to see in their park or community hub.

2. Supporting local growth

a. Transitioning from Shared Prosperity to targeted Local Growth

A new Local Growth Fund is being established across England from 2026-27 to complete the transition from the U.K. Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Allocations of UKSPF for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2026-27 to 2028-29 will be at the same level as 2025-26.

The Local Growth Fund for England seems set to be weighted to boost key areas. The 2025 Budget says that a £902 million fund over four years will be launched for the following eleven Mayoral Strategic Authorities: East Midlands; Greater Lincolnshire; Greater Manchester; Hull and East Yorkshire; Liverpool City Region; North East; South Yorkshire; Tees Valley; West Midlands; West Yorkshire; York and North Yorkshire

The government is also providing financial investments to capitalise a new £500 milion Mayoral Revolving Growth Fund for six mayors in the North and Midlands with an integrated settlement.  This is likely to cover the North East, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Liverpool City Region from 2026‑27, in addition to existing integrated funding commitments to Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.

All Strategic Authorities are required to prepare Local Growth Plans that provide a long-term 10-year strategic framework for growth in their region. They set out ‘agreed priorities’ with Government for where the authority will seek focus its devolved powers and funding to drive productivity and growth. Consultation with stakeholders appears rudimentary and is not required to go down to the community level.  Agreed shared local growth priorities cover areas like transport, innovation and skills, with the South Yorkshire Combined Authority identifying placemaking, investment and communities as a shared investment priority.

The Local Government Association is amongst those calling for those places not currently in a strategic authority area or at the ‘foundation’ stage, to receive greater clarity about how and when they can access the Local Growth Fund.

Our expectation and experience at People & Places, from having served on the West Midlands Mayor’s Town Centre Task Force for 4 years, alongside the new Government’s growth-driven Plan for Change, is not to expect the fine-grain of investment at the community level that has been delivered in some locations through UKSPF.

In addition, the 2025 Budget included confirmation of the creation of a £95 million annual fund to support the domestic fishing sector and coastal communities.

b. Backing ‘Your Everyday Businesses’

July saw the launch of, ‘Backing Your Business‘, the Government’s plan for small and medium businesses,  targeting growth and productivity across the UK and including High Streets or the ‘everyday economy’ as one of its five core policy pillars.

Amongst a re-statement of other recently launched policies grouped under a chapter on High Streets, or the ‘everday economy’, were mention of two seemingly new, spatial solutions:

1. ‘High Streets and Growth Incubators’ aimed apparently at backing high street businesses, redeveloping commercial space and triggering private investment. Initially these will delivered through Mayoral Strategic Authorities in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands.
2. ‘Hospitality and Night-Time Economy Zones’ where it will be easier to receive permissions for alfresco dining, pubs, bars and street parties, apparently. This comes alongside wider changes to planning and licensing rules to make it quicker and easier for new cafes, bars and music venues to open.

This section of the plan also curiously pondered councils needing the capacity and expertise for placemaking; the value of communities driving positive change and animating centres; and a need for businesses to be part of partnerships pulled togeter to improve places.

It will be especially interesting to know more about the type of area considered suitable for ‘hospitality zones’ or ‘growth incubators’, the provision for local stakeholder input in determining them, and how the former, for example, is managed alongside a priority to reduce anti-social behaviour.

The ‘Backing Your Businesses’ plan in many ways reads like a promotional brochure setting the scope for more detailed negotiations between Government and a layer of Strategic Authorities.

c. Investing in creative industries

Strategic Authorities also seem set to have a leading role in directing investment in creative industries as part of the Government’s newly launched Industrial Strategy. As placemakers, we recommend skipping to the section of the Creative Industries Sector Plan on “unleashing the full potential of our cities and regions”.  This which begins with a commitment to correct an imbalance that sees two-thirds of the value of creative industries concentrated in London and the South East.  The main way that the Government seeks to achieve this is through focusing its efforts in places identified as having high-potential clusters with the greatest projected growth.  These for example, include:

• West Yorkshire: Music, Film&TV, Video Games, Createch, Fashion/Textiles.
• Greater Manchester: Film&TV, Music, Advertising and Market Research.
• West Midlands: Film&TV, Video Games, Createch, Music & Performing Arts, Design

This regional approach includes supporting the growth corridor across Northern city regions through the partnership of northern Mayors and creative leaders in One Creative North, which is backed by all northern Mayors, as a key priority for the newly formed Great North Partnership.

3.  Delivering pride in place

a.  Pride in Place Programme

A key focus of the Government’s place-based policies appears to be directly supporting a limited number of neighbourhoods that are judged to be in greatest need. As summarised in our coverage of the announcement of the Pride in Place Programme, a key funding announcement is 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 original ‘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.

b. Immediate Impact Fund for Spaces and Places

As part of its Pride in Place Strategy, the Government has announced that 95 local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales will each recieve £1.5 million for investing in spaces and places over 18 months. The funding to support the development of shared spaces, revitalise local high streets and improve public spaces, needs to targeted in one or more of three possible ways:

1. Community spaces: Investing in community facilities by refurbishing or taking ownership of underused but valued buildings to create welcoming places for connection, support and shared activity.
2. Public spaces: Enhancing the physical environment by improvements to green areas, play and leisure facilities, and thoughtful design features such as seating, signage and public art to make spaces more inclusive and inviting.
3. High street and town centre revitalisation: Revitalising high streets by improvements to buildings, streets and public spaces to increase footfall, help small businesses thrive and create opportunities for social and cultural activity.

There is no requirement for local authorities to meet all of the objectives for investing in spaces and places or spend a specific percentage of funding on any objective. One building in one community could absorb all the cash, or access improvements could be spread across a range of places.

c. Targeting neighbourhoods in need

There seems a very strong read-across from the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods’ data-driven assessment of need and the selection of these “trailblazers”. ICON’s map of “mission critical neighbourhoods” shows 613 communities in England where Government missions to tackle inequities in economic growth, health, education, exposure to crime and access to clean energy, are most challenging:

• 43% of working age people are on Universal Credit, compared to 17% nationally.
• 33% have no qualifications compared to 18% elsewhere.
• 26% have a long-term health problem compared to 17% nationally

In addition, the Government is supporting the launch of a new £175m Community Wealth Fund (CWF) managed by the National Lottery Community Fund, the delivery body for the CWF. The Fund will give between £1 million and £2.5 million over ten years directly to communities to spend on what they identify as most needed in their local area, such as after-school clubs, employment support, community facilities and improvements to the look and feel of the neighbourhood. This funding will be backed up by wrap-around support to develop local confidence and capacity.

The Goverment has also pledged to establish a Network for Neighbourhoods across the UK, with the Pride in Place Programme at its heart, to build connection and learning between community leaders and embed participatory approaches in how local decisions are made.

4.  Revising local business taxes

a. Offering fairer Business Rates for High Streets

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced its first steps to reform the business rates system, which it is branding as fairer for High Streets. The 2025 Autumn Budget confirmed these first reforms. From April 2026, a new five-category multiplier structure will apply. Crucially, it introduces a clear distinction between Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) properties and all other commercial properties, as well as a new band for high-value premises.

The new categories (with 2026/7 multipliers in brackets) are:

1. Small Business Multiplier – non-RHL properties with a rateable value under £51,000.00 (43.2p)
2. Small Business RHL Multiplier – RHL properties under £51,000.00 (38.2p)
3. Standard Multiplier – non-RHL properties £51,000.00–£499,999.99 (48.0p)
4. Standard RHL Multiplier  – RHL properties £51,000.00–£499,999.99 (43.0p)
5. High-Value Multiplier – all properties £500,000.00 and above (50.8p)

The changes come in at the same time as a new revaluation of business rates and accompanying transitional relief.

The Government also consulted on ‘Reset’ proposals to determine the mechanism for how Business Rates income and growth will be retained and redistributed in different local authority areas from 2026-27, to better balance need and opportunity.  The 2025 Budget confirmed the following arrangements for Business Rates Retention (BRR) Schemes.

• BRR Extension: The Greater London Authority enhanced BRR arrangements and the 100% pilots in Cornwall, the West of England, and Liverpool City Region will be extended for a further three years, to 2028-29.
• Leeds City Fund (BRR zone): Subject to a business case, a BRR zone will be established in Leeds city centre, allowing Leeds City Council to retain 100% of business rates growth above an agreed baseline for 25 years.
• Wider BRR Zones: The government is seeking to improve the BRR system to better support Mayoral Strategic Authorities, considering options like allocating a direct share of business rates and establishing BRR zones based on set criteria.

5. Re-using high street properties

a. High Street Rental Auctions

Under this scheme, local authorities can take action where landlords have not taken sufficient steps to rent property –auctioning-off leases on premises that have been vacant for more than a year –and granting local businesses and community groups the ‘right to rent’ such empty buildings.  Eleven councils are now piloting the High Street Rental Auctions schem as Early Adopters, and benefit from resources to contribute to additional costs including the refurbishment of the properties. Our hope is that the scheme is more benefitial as a stick that produces the carrot of local place partnerships focusing on a proactive approach to re-letting empty properties as set out in this guide to Tackling High Street Vacancy, published by the High Streets Task Force.

b. Community Right to Buy

This new ‘right’ offers community groups the right of first refusal on the sale of assets of community value. This is backed by an extended period delaying any sales other than to the community group for 12 months. As seasoned campaigners have been quick to point out, the new Right to Buy currently comes with a limited government funding commitment to assist with purchasing assets. The prospect is that devolved strategic authorities might be partly directed to do so, alongside other fundraising options such as crowdfunding  or opportunities that arise through organisations such as the Architectural Heritage Fund. As our detailed guide to “Getting ready for a Right to Buy” demonstrates, raising funds for the purchase, is just one of five key steps in a rigorous process for acquiring and operating community assets.

The Right to Buy came into law with the passing of the Devolution and Community Empowerment Act in April 2026.

In June 2026, the Government said it will introduce a new £61million Pride in Place Community Right to Buy Fund, to empower communities in the most deprived areas, to take ownership of valued local assets “such as pubs, clubs and community centres”. This funding is part of £301m already earmarked to support ‘High Street Innovation Partnerships. Te Government stratement said that it will directly support communities in taking advantage of Community Right to Buy, created by our English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act.

6. Streamlining planning processes

Planning processes are both being streamlined at the local level and coordinated strategically, away from communities. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is presented as central to the government’s plan to “get Britain building again and deliver economic growth“, was introduced to parliament in March 2025, with the intention of it becoming legislation by the summer.

Two key strategic measures in the Bill aimed accelerating large-scale developments are:

1. Spatial Development Strategies (SDS): The Bill places a duty on Strategic Authorities, County and Unitary Councils to prepare an SDS for their area, overseen  by “strategic planning boards” of these authorities.  SDSs must include policies on the use and development of land that are of strategic importance to the area and can include policies on housing and identify infrastructure requirements.  They will be part of the overall development plan for the wider area and Local Plans will have to conform with them.
2.  Development Corporations: The Bill introduces significant updates to the legislation for development corporations including new objectives on sustainable development and their use for urban extensions, not just as entirely new settlements. Importantly, the remit of mayoral development corporations is extended to include greenfield land and empower mayors to be more proactive in using the development levers they hold.

Measures contained in the Bill that will impact on localised decision-making include:

• Delivering a more efficient and predictable system for energy infrastructure projects. As well as introducing a bill discount scheme, new guidance will show how communities hosting transmission infrastructure can benefit from funding for projects like sports clubs, educational programmes, or leisure facilities.
• Unlocking land and securing public value for large-scale investment through reforms to the compulsory purchase order process and compensation rules. This includes town councils to acquire land at existing use value to deliver affordable social housing.
• Improving certainty and decision-making in the planning system, including introducing a new delegation scheme to modernise local planning committees and mandatory training for planning committee councillors Streamline and improve the efficiency of delivering transport infrastructure projects, including the installation of electric vehicle public charge points.

7. Building homes not houses

Two key policy strands of the Government’s commitment to create 1.5 million new homes that can impact existing towns and cities are:

1. New Towns Programme:  High-level aims have been agreed by the Government’s New Towns Task Force are:

• Unlocking potential economic growth
• Accelerating housing delivery with a mix of tenures including affordable homes and high-quality social housing
• Building strong communities with the necessary infrastructure, services, and amenities
• Creating environmentally resilient places that support the government’s net zero agenda
• Contributing to transforming the way that large settlements are delivered, including through longer-term planning and the approach to infrastructure provision

2.  Affordable and Social Housing: £39 billion for a successor to the Affordable Homes Programme that will run           over 10 years from 2026-27 to 2035-36.

8. Localising health services and prevention

a. Providing neighbourhood health services

Fit for the Future is the NHS and Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England published in July 2025.  In its chapter on proposals for a Neighbourhood Health Service, the plan portrays an NHS detached from communities that organises its care into multiple, fragmented siloes. Instead, it proposes the alternative of the neighbourhood health service that will bring care into local communities, convene professionals into patient-centred teams and end fragmentation.

There will be a shift in investment over the next 3 to 4 years as local areas build and expand their neighbourhood health services.  This aims to ensure that neighbourhood teams will have the necessary equipment, working space and technology by establishing a Neighbourhood Health Centre (NHC) in every community.  This will begin with the places where healthy life expectancy is lowest and will seek to maximise value for money by repurposing poorly used, existing NHS and public sector properties.

The 2025 Budget confirmed plans for the delivery of 250 new Neighbourhood Health Centres, with 120 operational by 2030, through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme (public sector investment and Public-Private Partnership).

The NHS appear to define neighbourhoods on a much larger scale than elsewhere within government, with ‘single neighbourhood providers’ delivering services over single neighbourhood (c 50,000 people) and ‘multi neighbourhood providers’ (250,000 people) working across several different neighbourhoods.

The Government says it is committed to a place-based approach to physical activity across government departments: through £250 million of investment into 100 places by Sport England; new partnerships on school sport, and local health plans. The Department of Culture Media and Sports says that it will set out more detail on the strategy for physical activity in due course.

In the 2025 Budget, the Government announced an investment of £18 million over two years in up to 200 playgrounds across England. The announcement comes of yhe back of research that shows that children in more deprived communities often have significantly fewer places to play, with major gaps in access, quality and inclusion. Play England commented that the commitment is an important shift in recognising the role of play in children’s health and wellbeing.

b. Creating healthy high streets

From a different perspective, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) has recently published its report Streets Ahead that includes research and guidance on “building health on the high street”. RSPH research demonstrates that the 10 building blocks of a healthy high street are community empowerment, transport links, inclusive design, safety, good quality retail, social spaces, health services, healthy food, green spaces and supportive work. They set-out how to positively influence the health of people who visit high streets in ways that will also help communities thrive. Chief amongst their calls are proposals for less fragmented system of coordinated delivery with a strong leadership, clear accountability and long-term funding could help improve the health on the high street.

9. Celebrating our communities’ culture and heritage

a. Creative Foundations Fund

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport launched a new £85 million Creative Foundations Fund with the Arts Council England in summer 2025.  This support arts and cultural organisations in England to revitalise, restore, retrofit or renew cultural assets, including urgent work which prevents organisations from effectively delivering work for the public.  The short application window has now closed.

b. Heritage Revival Fund

A seperate Heritage Revival Fund was launched earlier in the year in conjunction with the Architectural Heritage Fund.  Its purpose is to help rescue and repurpose neglected historic buildings in England, enabling community organisations, charities and social enterprises to take ownership and repurpose sites such as theatres, department stores and former banks.

c. Heritage at Risk Fund

An Heritage at Risk Capital Fund has again been launched in 2026 by Historic England. Grants of up to £1 million are available for the conservation, repair and conversion of designated historic buildings and monumenmts. Priority will be given to projects delivering strong community benefit and investment in areas of greatest need.

d. Culture Priority Places

In May 2026, the Department of Culture, Media and Sports announced a set of Culture Priority Places, guided by its broader approach to place targeting. This list has been developed specifically for application in programmes relating to museums, libraries, the visual and performing arts. It does not cover other areas of culture and the creative industries, and prioritisation lists for programmes focussed on other sub-sectors may be developed separately later. DCMS says that it will work with funding partners (including the Arts Council), to determine which policies, programmes, and funds this list of Culture Priority Places will be used, and in what way.

10. Tourism

Local overnight visitor levy

In the 2025 Budget, the Government announced outline plans and a consultation process on the introduction of a local overnight visitor levy in England.  The idea is that granting local leaders new powers to charge a visitor levy on paid overnight stays will enable them to increase local investment to support new and existing infrastructure and enhancing the overall appeal of their areas for residents, businesses, and visitors.  It is proposed that the levy will be administered by Strategic or Combined Authorities. One of the points for discussion in the consultation is whether this responsibility should initially only be granted to already well established Mayoral Combined Authorities and whether local government
reorganisation processes need to be embedded elsewhere before all areas are included.

Another issue for consultation is how Mayors should be able to invest the revenues from a levy in interventions to support economic growth, including the visitor economy, and the level of local involvement.  The availability of such additional local investment can help to make areas a better place to live, whilst also growing the visitor economy. Arguably, giving these sub-regional leaders the powers and revenues to maximise the potential of their areas will unlock interventions which are simply not possible without investment from the public sector. However, there is also a strong case for the Mayoral Authorities working through local authorities, place partnerships and Business Improvement Districts, to determine and distribute such investment.

The Kings Speech in May 2026, confirmed that an Overnight Visitor Levy Bill will be introduced to give local mayors in England powers to levy “tourist taxes” on overnight stays, bringing them into line with local leaders in Wales and Scotland.

11. Easing travel to town

Coming down to a practical level, increasing the ways people can travel to town and easing the journey can be an important part of increasing footfall. Broadly the 2025 Spending Review confirmed a boost for sustainable forms of transport that provide opportunities for a modal shift

Sustainable travel

The Government has significantly increased funding support for local transport by committing to provide £15.6 billion through the Transport for City Regions settlements by 2031-32 for, yes you’ve guessed it, the Mayoral Strategic Authorities mainly in the Midlands and North, though including the West of England. This will enable investment in their local transport priorities, including zero emission buses, trams and local rail. Other areas will be eligible for a share of the £2.3 billion Local Transport Grant for improvements including bus lanes, cycleways and congestion improvement measures.

The Spending Review confirmed a welcomed boost to walking and cycling with a £616 million settlement for Active Travel England for the period 2026 to 2030. This still leaves local authorities and partners looking for other sources of funding including developer contributions, to deliver priorities agreed in Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plans.

‘Better Connected’ Integrated Transport Strategy

Another area of travel policy to watch is the roll-out of the Government’s ‘Better Connected’ Integrated Transport  Strategy forEngland. The strategy addresses the need for a seamless journey experience across different transport modes, including rail, road, bus, active travel and emerging mobility services. 

The Strategy sets the direction for a more joined-up transport network that aims to work better for passengers, drivers and communities across England. Of course, at the People & Places Partnership, we are going to be pleased by a strategy that sets out its guiding principles as combining People, Place and Partnership, namely by:

• putting people at the heart of everything they do
• using transport to create better-connected places
• working in partnership with local leaders and experts

Beneath these guidelines, the strategy focuses on key priorities of creating a transport system that is people-focused, safe, reliable, affordable, and accessible, helping people make the journeys they need more easily. As our review of the strategy reveals, Better Connected makes important distinctions about the prospects for integrated transport in urban and rural areas.

One of the leading areas to watch in terms of improving integrated transport is Greater Manchester through its yellow-liveried Bee Network, which in January 2025 became the first area outside London to bring all local bus services under local control in almost 40 years. The aim is that the Bee Network will become a ‘one-stop-shop’ for local journeys by creating the U.K.’s largest active travel network and bringing eight local commuter train services into its operation.

Other Combined Authorities are set to take control of their bus services through what is known as franchising schemes, including Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. The introduction of such local control will:

• Make more efficient use of available public resource by enabling cross-subsidy between commercial and non-commercial services -rather than operators making a separate profit from both
• Create one network, one fare, one brand, one responsible body
• Enable enforceable standards for performance, cleanliness, reliability etc. up to and including sacking the operator

The 2025 Budget included announcements to support the roll-out of electric vehicle chargepoints including funding of £100 million to help local authorities boost their capability to accelerate the installation.

The UK government has said it plans to change regulations in the second half of 2026 to enable driverless taxis to operate in the city but has not given a specific date. Waymo, the US driverless car firm, says it hopes to be operating a robotaxi service in London as soon as September 2026.

Parking

The prospects for town centre parking post-devolution and local government reorganisation, is another example of the need for a coming together of place-based thinking. It is a great example of the potential opportunities from the ongoing devolution process and the challenges of balancing local and strategic decision-making. Parking in town and city centres is both a very local issue, a key council service and an end point for strategic transport policy.

You only need to look at the complexities of current parking provision and finances across our ‘home’ county Cambridgeshire, and you begin to see the nature of the challenges and opportunities.  Our extended article on public parking profits in perspective, demonstrates how with the merger of local authorities, town and city centre businesses and customers will become even keener to compare and contrast parking provision between places. It therefore becomes both more important and achievable for councils to be consistent in how they manage the quality, availability, convenience of parking between places.  Using a tried and tested methodology like the People, Places & Parking Process in the run-up to such reorganisation, we think it’s timely to assess and plan the area-wide adoption of the best of existing local practice.

The U.K. Government has announced plans to make it easier for local councils to define areas where pavement parking is restricted.  The Department for Transport says that it will set out guidance to help local authorities use these powers in “a proportionate and locally appropriate way” later in 2026.  Adoption of the localised approach means that there will still be a variety of legal frameworks governing parking on the footway, with a different approach being applied in London, where pavement parking is prohibited unless explicitly allowed. There are also different approaches in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Another policy initiative that may impact on travel towns is the proposed introduction Parking Code of Practice aimed at creating standards for the management of private car parks that are likely to cover issues including standards in relation to signage, periods of grace, the handling of complaints and the levels at which parking charges and debt recovery fees should be capped.  This might typically effect how supermarket car parks in town centres are managed.

12. Tackling street crime

The new Crime and Policing Bill has a very broad scope which the government says supports the delivery of its ‘safer streets’ mission.  This includes targets to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls in a decade, and ‘transform neighbourhood policing’. Through the Bill the Government has committed to tackle anti-social behaviour by employing the following measures:

• Introducing respect orders to better enable police and others to tackle persistent antisocial behaviour
• Developing a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker
• Repealing legislation which downgraded the police response to so-called low value shop theft
• Increasing the maximum penalties for offences relating to the sale of weapons whilst introducing a new offence of possessing a bladed article with intent to use unlawful violence

The Crime and Policing Bill 2024-26 is in the final stages of parliamentary scrutiny as of April 2026.

The government has set out its priorities on neighbourhood policing and town centre crime in its ‘safer streets mission’.  This includes a “neighbourhood policing guarantee” that “each neighbourhood will have named, contactable officers to tackle the issues facing their communities, helping to restore trust that policing is working to keep people safe and meaning no community feels ignored when they need help.” The will include “dedicated teams who will spend their time on the beat with guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas at peak times such as Friday and Saturday nights” as well as a dedicated ASB lead in every force, to develop tailored action plans for every community.

In April 2026, a Government update stated that the “delivery of additional neighbourhood officers marks a major milestone in meeting the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which will ultimately see 13,000 additional neighbourhood personnel by the end of this parliament.”

The 2025 Budget confirmed funding for establishing a High Streets Illegality Taskforce as a dedicated cross-government taskforce to develop an intelligence-led understanding of organised crime in high streets and disrupt money laundering. As of January 2026, Dan Jarvis as Minister of State at the Home Office, confirmed, “The Taskforce is currently being established… Further details will be announced in due course.”

13. High Street Strategy and ‘smorgasbord’

A discernable trend since the change of Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in September 2025, apart of the Pride in Place ‘rebadging’, is the increasing references in official statements to “High Streets”. Chief amongst these is the Government’s tantalizing pledge in February to unveil a national High Streets Strategy later in 2026.

Most meanigful of these mentions is probably the March trailing of a £301 million commitment to High Streets Innovation Partnerships that will seemingly “support local communities to reimagine and revive struggling high streets and make them fit for the future.”  Through these partnerships, the apparent intent is that “town centres should be transformed into mixed-use spaces with new homes, health services, libraries, community hubs and green spaces.”

Locations will seemingly be confirmed in due course, though at People & Places we like how the commitment to High Streets Innovation Partnerships is framed. It combines two of our favourite asks for town and city centre revitalisation (aka High Streets to many) by focusing on the ‘how’ of partnerships and framing the ‘what’ with mentions of multi-purpose uses.

This announcement of an announcement about Innovation Partnerships, follows references backing everyday businesses covered above, for i). ‘High Streets and Growth Incubators’ and ii). ‘Hospitality and Night-Time Economy Zones’.  Alongside mentions of support for the ‘Community Right to Buy’, the September 2025 annnoucement of tbe Pride in Places Strategy, also covered the proposed clarification of compulsory purchase powers, together with expanded powers to block unwanted shops such as bookmakers.

The Devolution Act contains two measures designed to help in support a diverse and viable high street business mix:  a. Gambling Impact Assessments will be introduced to address the proliferation of gambling shops; b. Upwards Only Rent Review clauses in new and renewal commercial leases will also be banned.

In April 2026, the Communities Secretary Steve Reed outlined intentions to give councils more powers to restrict some kinds of shops -such as vape shops- and mentioned new powers to take over empty shops, and use the spaces to run services or activities or help businesses to start up or grow. The latter could be a restatement of the existing commitment to the Right to Buy.

Carrying out your local place policy check

At People & Places, we are able to use our national knowledge to help carry our a place poilcy check for your town, city or local authority area.  Contact services@people-places.net for more information.