Guidance

Pride in Place Programme: prospectus

Updated 20 March 2026

On 5 February 2026, the government announced that a further 40 places will join the Pride in Place Programme. This brings the total investment to up to £5.8 billion for 284 communities over the next decade, targeting neighbourhoods that have for too long been overlooked and left behind. We will confirm which places will be in receipt of this funding in due course.

The Pride in Place Programme is our flagship communities programme which empowers local people to shape the future of their neighbourhood. Supported by up to £5 billion in funding over 10 years, this programme represents a long-term strategy to fix the foundations in hundreds of communities across the country.

Fund summary

Type of fund: Un-competed.

Eligibility: 284 communities across Great Britain, including 75 phase 1 places and 169 phase 2 places. The government announced that the programme will expand to a further 40 places on 5 February 2026. We will confirm which places will receive this funding in due course.

Funding available: Up to £20 million funding and support for each place over a 10-year period.

Important dates:

• 28 November 2025: 75 phase 1 Neighbourhood Boards submit their Pride in Place Plan to MHCLG for assessment and approval. 
• From April 2026: phase 1 programme delivery funding released to local authorities, and delivery phase begins. Phase 2 areas begin to receive delivery funding. 
• 17 July 2026: 169 phase 2 Neighbourhood Boards to confirm finalised membership and any proposals to alter the ‘default’ area boundary.

A message from Steve Reed MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

If you are reading this, then the chances are you will soon be part of the Pride in Place programme; a new way of driving change in your neighbourhood.

The prospectus we are publishing today will be the go-to guide for anyone who wants to take part. In each of the selected areas, a new Neighbourhood Board will soon represent local residents. Led by a Chair supported by both the local authority and the constituency MP, they will be tasked with getting the right people around the table. Every Board must be in place by 17 July 2026 at the latest, but the sooner the better.

Neighbourhood Boards will co-create a Pride in Place Plan, together with their community, setting out how up to £20 million will be spent over the course of a decade. It’s up to the Board – alongside the local MP and Council – to decide what’s in the Plan, but they must be able to show that it’s a genuine reflection of what local residents want.

Up to £20 million is to be spent gradually over the next decade. This isn’t about pet projects, it’s serious investment for the priorities of local people. We’re publishing an indicative list of how it could be spent – proven ideas that are value-for-money, like new places to meet and ways to improve how residential areas look – but this is only the start. Whatever local residents want, the Plan should deliver.

This isn’t just about money, it’s a new way of delivering change. Beyond funding, the Pride in Place Strategy sets out a range of new powers and tools that communities can use to renew their neighbourhoods and high streets, building on the toolkit published earlier this year. Local Boards should consider deploying community powers, like the right to buy local spaces, or push local authorities to use their powers, like clean-up notices, or shop-front design guides. These new powers mean that it’s local people who will decide how best to restore pride in their areas – not us in Westminster. 

This programme aims to deliver lasting change beyond the 10 years of investment. This prospectus sets out an expectation that each Board must transition towards a community-led model of delivery by year three of the programme. This might mean an established local community organisation acting as an anchor institution, or the Board itself becoming a co-operative, community interest company, community benefit society or charity. A new Communities Delivery Unit in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will work with you to support the transition.

We know that Britain’s neighbourhoods are impatient for change. When the decline in pride in place so often stems from a ‘we know best’ attitude from those at the top, the answer must be to put communities in control. The prospectus we publish today is the next step towards that.

Introduction 

No one knows the priorities of the community better than the people who live there, which is why on 25 September we announced the Pride in Place Programme.

The Programme goes further than anything we have done before, giving communities the resources and tools to drive change themselves and shape their neighbourhoods for the better. Local residents know what changes their areas need, and that is why communities will be leading the delivery of the programme, calling the shots on how funding is spent. This community-led approach means that decision-making power sits squarely with local residents, giving people the power to shape the future of their areas.

We have built on the successes of the previous Plan for Neighbourhoods programme, expanding to an additional 169 of the most in-need neighbourhoods across the UK. This expanded programme will take a neighbourhood-level approach to deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade into areas that are ‘doubly disadvantaged’ by both the highest deprivation levels and weakest social infrastructure.

The expanded Programme retains the core components from the existing 75 areas within the Pride in Place Programme.  But we have also strengthened our approach. The additional 169 places focus on smaller geographies of around 10,000 people, targeting neighbourhood-level pockets of deprivation which have too often fallen through the cracks of national interventions. More information is available on our methodology for phase 1 and methodology for phase 2 and our funding profiles as part of supporting guidance for Boards that accompanies this prospectus.

Taken together, the two phases of the Pride in Place Programme represent one of the largest investments in deprived neighbourhoods for a generation - up to £5 billion over 10 years to support 244 places.

Guiding principles

This long-term funding is intended to support communities in shaping their place. Neighbourhood Boards, made up of local people, will decide how to invest this funding, supported by their MP and the local authority. The Pride in Place Programme is designed to be:

Community-led

Neighbourhood Boards made up of local people must develop Pride in Place Plans together with the wider community. Government will provide funding to support broad, deep and sustained engagement with the people who live in the neighbourhood, so that decisions about spending are informed by residents. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will require evidence of this engagement before Pride in Place Plans are agreed, and the Communities Delivery Unit will support councils and MPs in setting up their boards and developing their plans.

Flexible

Neighbourhood Boards can choose what to invest in and when. The Programme has been designed so that communities can make ambitious plans for the future, rather than waiting for money to arrive before considering how to spend it. This guidance proposes a list of activities Boards may want to consider in their area, but the money can also be invested in other activity if that is what the community wants to see. Find full details of the funding provided.

Long-term

The programme provides certainty and security of funding over ten years, giving places the opportunity to create lasting change that outlives the programme itself.

Neighbourhood Boards should lay the foundations for community-led partnerships that continue to drive change well beyond the ten years of funding. The money provided by the Programme should sow the seeds for longer-term transformation, with communities using it to: take ownership of assets to ensure they benefit local people or bring in revenue; crowd in philanthropic funding; or leverage in social investment, so that Neighbourhood Boards leave a lasting legacy in each area.

Case study: preserving local heritage

Tafarn y Plu pub received a total of £300,000 Community Ownership funding to restore and extend the building to secure its future. It secured further National Heritage Lottery Funding (£1,055,089) for the development phase. The project includes a new kitchen, dining spaces and refurbished community rooms.

​The project will preserve local heritage and promote the Welsh language. It will provide accessible facilities for all, supporting social clubs and community meals. It will create jobs and offer volunteer opportunities. The project will strengthen health, well-being and community connections.

Supportive

We want communities to succeed in bringing their visions to life. That is why we are providing a comprehensive package of support to each Pride in Place area, to ensure that communities have the resources, tools and skills they need to drive the change they want to see. Through targeted capacity funding and support activities, we will empower people to build the skills and confidence they need to make a lasting difference to their neighbourhoods and communities.

Programme objectives   

The Pride in Place Programme is, at its core, a partnership between the Neighbourhood Board, local government and local MPs, with the backing and support of central  government. To deliver the greatest impact, we encourage Boards to focus the funding and interventions on those communities within their boundaries that have the greatest need.

The Board, working with the local MP and local authority, is responsible for producing a 10-year Pride in Place Plan for their area, setting out the activity that will be pursued to achieve the 3 strategic objectives of this programme.

While success will look different in every place, we have set three overarching aims of this programme:

• stronger communities
• thriving places
• taking back control

Stronger communities

Recent polling has found that 81% of Britons believe society is divided and 68% feel it is more divided than it was ten years ago. We want to empower Neighbourhood Boards to tackle the root causes, by rebuilding relationships, restoring a collective sense of belonging to the community, and bringing people together so they can feel proud of their area and safe in their neighbourhood.

Tackling this division will have a direct, positive impact on growth: when people get on with each other, it benefits the economy. For example, where parents know each other, children skipping school is noticed and addressed more often, improving education outcomes and future earning potential. If the UK improved social trust to Nordic levels (an increase from around 35% to 65%), research shows this could generate growth of £100 billion a year.

Case study: bringing together diverse faith communities in Leicester

Near Neighbours is a programme of the Church Urban Fund (CUF) – the Church of England’s social action charity and funded by MHCLG. The programme brings people together who are neighbours in communities that are religiously and ethnically diverse, so that they can get to know each other better, build relationships of trust and collaborate on initiatives that improve the local community they live in.

The Real People Honest Talk Big Conversation event held in Leicester brought together neighbourhoods and representatives from local councils, schools and the police with faith leaders and representatives from statutory and voluntary organisations across Leicester. The participants had the opportunity to discuss the development of Leicester as an ‘Intercultural City’ together, sharing ideas, learning and networking.

Reflecting on the Big Conversation event, Near Neighbours’ Leicester hub coordinator, Reverend Dr Tom Wilson, shared: “The Real People Honest Talk Big Conversation/Intercultural City event showed the power and impact that community groups can have when they collaborate and work together across their differences. There were a lot of different organisations and groups that participated. My key learning was around the power of personal invitation - most people came because they had been approached individually and invited personally. Ideas are developing for how to continue the journey of Leicester becoming an ‘Intercultural City’, including ideas for music, the arts, a “culture day” and small group interactions.”

Case study: a community centre in Sheffield

Zest is a community centre located in Upperthorpe, Sheffield, where people can access leisure and swimming facilities, a volunteer-led library with computers, work and training advice, health and well-being services, early years services and youth clubs. The non-leisure facilities are largely free at the point of use, with the option to make ‘pay-what-you-can’ donations for some services, for example, meals at the Foodworks café, which served 6,000 hot meals last year.

Beyond facilities, Zest also delivers community outreach, support and guidance services, running a support line where residents can receive personalised information and guidance, either in-person  or over the phone, alongside employment advice, support for vulnerable adults and those with mental health problems and access to foodbank vouchers.

The holiday activities and food (HAF) project, one of Zest’s programmes, supported holiday activities but in the Malin Bridge and Loxley area only 30% of eligible children were attending. By partnering with the local school and building on existing trust networks, they increased attendance by 400%, including families that were previously disengaged from school. This highlights the power of trust and collaboration in strengthening community ties.

Between 2023 and 2024, Zest’s health and well-being services supported over 1,300 people, and their youth programmes engaged 213 young people, helping them build confidence and life skills. With a 50% increase in volunteering last year, Zest is helping to bridge the gap between the community and wider services, fostering a sense of belonging and relieving pressures on external resources to create a more cohesive and resilient community.

Thriving places

People take immense pride in their local areas, but too many of our high streets and estates have been neglected. Town centres and neighbourhoods must evolve to better reflect the needs and habits of their community, and residents should have a greater say in how they look and feel.

We also want the UK to be a country with world-class public services that work for everyone, from the NHS and social care, to schools, children’s and youth services.

Take healthcare, for example. The most disadvantaged places are most likely to experience the worst health outcomes – according to the Office for National Statistics in 2020 to 2022, women in the most deprived areas of England can expect to live 20 years fewer in good health compared to women in the least deprived areas.

Places should be able to design public services that are accessible, responsive, and tailored to local need. Investing in our young people’s futures and in preventative measures now will ease pressure on services over the longer-term.

Case study: integration and co-location of health services

The Community Diagnostic Centre at The Glass Works in Barnsley, supported by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council in partnership with the NHS and the Integrated Care Board, has significantly enhanced healthcare accessibility while contributing to the towns economic and social regeneration.

Opened in 2022, the centre has delivered over 100,000 diagnostic appointments, reducing waiting times for tests and screenings, and cutting the backlog of appointments.

Strategically located in the town centre, it exemplifies a ‘health on the high street approach’; integrating healthcare into community spaces to improve access and reduce inequalities. Its proximity to public transport has minimised missed appointments, leading to a 22% increase in attendance for mammograms and a 24% reduction in ‘did not attend’ rates. By using retail units, the initiative aligns with national recommendations to use high street spaces for health-promoting services, attracting an additional 55,000 visits to the town centre, and supporting local businesses.

This is an example for public sector innovation and partnership working driving improved health outcomes and economic growth, improving patient care, and fostering a greater sense of community.

Taking back control

Talent is spread equally but opportunity is not. People want to be empowered and in control of their lives, to have a say over the future of their community. But this can feel a distant prospect when you are living payslip to payslip or stuck on a waiting list. The life chances of a child born in the North East today should not be so drastically different from someone born in London.

We want to make sure children have the best start in life and that adults can live the life they want to. Whether that is accessing the skills required for emerging job markets as we transition to net zero or supporting the thousands of would-be entrepreneurs through their first steps into self-employment.

We will empower people to have more of a say in how their local area is shaped, a central component of this programme and this government’s vision for communities.

Case study: Coleraine Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership, Northern Ireland

In Coleraine, the Neighbourhood Renewal Partnership (NRP) Board are working to address the inequalities that result from deprivation. It does so by making a long-term commitment to communities, working together to jointly identify the best means to resolve the underlying causes of poverty. The Partnership draws members from local communities, voluntary groups, elected representatives, businesses, and public sector organisations.

One project delivered by the NRP was the West Bann Regeneration project. This brings together and coordinates services that meet health, education and training needs in the local community. An early years programme, including creches, provides families with the support they need to engage with other services or employment. The project also provides low-cost business units and facilities for the use of the community. By bringing different services, the project better allows West Bann residents to pursue different opportunities.

Neighbourhood Boards

To deliver on these objectives, we will provide support to councils so that, alongside the local MP, they can begin to establish Neighbourhood Boards in all funded areas. These Neighbourhood Boards will give local people the power to decide how funding is spent, putting communities in charge of the future of their neighbourhoods. Each Board must work with the wider community to develop a Pride in Place Plan, setting out a vision for their area and the projects that they would like to prioritise. These plans will set out a pathway for delivery of these projects over the course of the 10-year programme and beyond, considering opportunities to attract and combine new and existing private, public, and philanthropic funding streams.

Board Chairs

Each Neighbourhood Board will be led by an independent Chair, appointed and approved by the local MP and local authority. The Chair should act as a champion for the place and local people, organising engagement that reaches out into the community, to ensure decision-making is community-led. The Chair will lead the process of recruiting and convening the Board, with the support of the local authority and the local MP. We encourage Chair selection to be expansive, looking both to established community leaders, as well as people who may not have always engaged with local services or groups. The Communities Delivery Unit will support councils and MPs throughout this process.

Board make-up

The Board should bring together residents, local businesses, grassroots campaigners, workplace representatives, faith, and community leaders and those with a deep connection to their area. The local authority and the local MP must approve the final Board selection, which we expect to include local residents. Neighbourhood Boards must also include the relevant local MP and at least one ward councillor. They should be resident-led, to ensure that they are representative of the communities that they serve. The Board must ensure there are more residents and people who live or work in the area on the Board than there are elected representatives. To encourage diverse and inclusive Boards, Chairs will want to consider the following groups:

• Community leaders, organisers and activists, such as local charities, faith groups, community groups, neighbourhood forums, youth groups or social clubs
• Local businesses and social enterprises, such as key local employers, the local Chamber of Commerce or Business Improvement District, registered social housing providers or Co-operatives
• Cultural, arts, heritage and sporting organisations, such as local sports clubs or sporting organisations, local heritage groups or local museums and arts spaces
• Public agencies and anchor institutions, such as local schools, higher education and further education institutions, local health care providers, or relevant representatives from local authorities

This list is non-exhaustive, and membership will depend on the local context. More information on Board recruitment, roles and timelines can be found in the accompanying governance and boundary guidance.

Pride in Place Plans

Once established, Neighbourhood Boards must co-create a Pride in Place Plan with the wider community, supported by the local MP and the local authority. The Plan should outline the community’s vision for change over the next decade. Everyone should have a say in the future of their area, particularly those that have previously been left out of decision-making. We know the challenges in places vary, and that it is the people living and working in these areas who are best placed to identify these challenges and inform the solutions. Neighbourhood Boards must carry out extensive engagement with the community to make sure that a diverse range of voices are heard in developing this plan and at every stage of the Programme.

Engagement will look different from place to place but could include listening campaigns, community conversations, community workshops or resident forums. Evidencing this engagement to MHCLG will be required.

To ensure that Neighbourhood Boards are able to carry out meaningful engagement in their areas, we are providing a package of support and funding that will help Boards hear from everybody. Good practice principles for community engagement are set out below.  

Defining the Neighbourhood

We want Neighbourhood Boards to be able to make decisions that matter to their community, and to shape the Programme’s delivery in a way that best suits their area. For example, if a key asset sits just outside of an area’s default boundary, or if residents feel that a key street has been excluded from the neighbourhood boundary, the Board is able to amend their boundaries, upon agreement with MHCLG.

What Boards can invest in

In order to make sure Boards have maximum flexibility and are not required to regularly seek approval from central government, we have provided a list of indicative interventions that local authorities and Neighbourhood Boards can use for the Pride in Place Programme.

This list is not exhaustive, and we encourage Neighbourhood Boards to think innovatively and creatively about how to deliver the objectives of the Programme. Where activities fall outside the scope of the indicative interventions but the Board, based on their community engagement, believes they are better placed to meet local needs, the Board should seek to pursue these. In these instances, a business case can be agreed with MHCLG.

Powers for Neighbourhood Boards

The Pride in Place Strategy, published in September 2025, sets out powers and tools for communities to transform their neighbourhood. We also published a policy toolkit setting out all the levers that Boards can draw on to realise their vision for the future of their area. Boards should draw on these powers and tools, with support from the local authority and other partners, to drive the change that the community wants to see.

Towards community-led delivery

To deliver lasting change, it is vital that communities remain at the helm of long-term plans for renewal, going well beyond the decade of Pride in Place Programme funding. That means that delivery is led by community institutions and partnerships that have been built-up through the Pride in Place Programme, backed up by sustainable funding and with the support of the local authority, acting initially as the accountable body.

Community-led delivery will look different from place to place, and the pathway to get there will vary too. It might mean an established local community organisation acting as an anchor institution, or the Neighbourhood Board transitioning to become a Co-operative, Community Interest Company or charity. We expect all Pride in Place areas to transition towards a community-led model by year three of the Programme and would like to work with areas who want to become early adopters of new models of community delivery. If you are interested in a further discussion, please contact your designated lead within the Communities Delivery Unit.

How to get involved

If you are a local resident of a Pride in Place neighbourhood, you are encouraged to share your thoughts on the future of your community. Neighbourhood Boards want to hear from everybody, and all ideas are welcome. If you want to have your say on how this funding is spent or are eager to find out more about sitting on a Neighbourhood Board, please write to your local MP or local authority for more information.

Neighbourhood Boards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The government has also committed to resetting relations with the devolved governments, and close collaboration within communities and with wider government will make Boards stronger and more effective.

In Scotland, Neighbourhood Boards should consider the policy objectives of the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Strategy, which sets out Scotland’s commitment to support the regeneration of the most disadvantaged urban and fragile rural communities and how the interventions delivered can complement Scotland’s Town Centre First Principle and Town Centre Action Plan. We recommend that Neighbourhood Boards have early conversations with their respective MHCLG contact and the Scottish Government Regeneration Unit to consider opportunities to align objectives and maximise funding opportunities.

In Wales, Boards should consider how their Pride in Place Plan interplays with the objectives of the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government, The Well-being of Future Generations Act (including its 5 ways of working and seven well-being goals), the Transforming Towns programme, and the Future Wales: National Plan 2040 planning framework, alongside other relevant strategies such as regional economic frameworks and local well-being plans developed by Public Services Boards.

In Northern Ireland, phase 1 Boards should consider how their Pride in Place Plan interplays with the objectives of the Northern Ireland Executive’s Programme for Government, alongside other existing strategies and local development plans such as Council Community Plans and Local Development Plans.

Involving the community in decision-making

Communities know what changes they want to see – that is why we are establishing Neighbourhood Boards in every area to put local people in the driving seat. Everyone should have a say in the future of their area, particularly those that have previously felt left out of decision-making. Pride in Place Plans should represent a shared vision for the future, that the whole community supports. To make this happen, Boards must lead organising across their community, carrying out extensive engagement with the people who live there and use a range of approaches to involve different people in decision-making, in a way that works for them.

When it comes to involving the community in decision-making, it is important to ensure this is not dominated by those with the sharpest elbows. That is why we are providing the time, funding and support for Neighbourhood Boards to avoid generic, one-off consultations and hear from everybody, including groups who have been marginalised or whose voices are less often heard. These underserved groups include those whose socioeconomic circumstances, language or culture mean that they struggle to access ‘usual’ methods of engagement. Examples of this might be people experiencing homelessness, without access to the internet, who do not speak English, or the elderly.

Community engagement should be proactive and ongoing, so that people understand how their priorities are being delivered over time. It should happen consistently throughout the course of the Programme, as the needs and priorities of communities evolve, and should ultimately outlive the Programme’s 10-year lifecycle.

Feedback and follow up are crucial: Boards must return to the groups they have engaged to set out any progress made, or barriers preventing this, so it is clear how their concerns and priorities were accounted for. Boards are ultimately delivering for local people, so they must also create space for communities to hold them to account for delivery and scrutinise how plans are being put into practice. MHCLG will require evidence that this engagement has taken place and that community feedback has been meaningfully considered throughout.

Boards should consider how local community organisations could be used to help deliver engagement that reaches out across the community.

Case  study: community-led regeneration

Co-operatives UK led the £1.455 million Community Economic Development (CED) programme, which empowered 71 communities in England to create locally driven economic plans. Through partnerships with groups like Locality and the New Economics Foundation, Co-operatives UK provided grants and technical support, helping communities develop sustainable, co-operative-led strategies. Unlike traditional top-down approaches focused on economic growth, CED empowered residents to shape their economies by generating wealth and jobs that stay within their communities.

Safe Regeneration in Bootle joined the CED programme with ambitions to extend beyond their existing business incubation hub, aiming to significantly increase their impact and activities to benefit the broader economy. Their projects include: acquiring a derelict pub - purchasing from the brewery to create guest accommodation, a music venue and a gastro pub, partnering with the Canal and River Trust to revitalise the nearby canal towpath, both to boost foot traffic and strengthen the local economy. 

This model of community-led, asset-based development allowed Safe Regeneration to drive sustainable economic growth tailored to local needs.

Case study: improving community outcomes across Wales

Building Communities Trust (BCT) is a third sector advocacy and umbrella organisation operating across Wales. Its core programme, Invest Local, aims to strengthen vulnerable Welsh communities by empowering its residents through community-led regeneration. Invest Local provides up to £1 million for a 10-year period, and the funding allocation is entirely community-driven as residents are given the opportunity to identify goals and develop activities that will bring positive change to their communities. An officer from BCT is assigned to each place to provide support, help build capacity, and act as an enabler.

Since 2016, Invest Local has helped improve community outcomes in 13 places across Wales. For example, in Trowbridge and St Mellons, residents used some of the funding to create a pantry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pantry proved an invaluable asset that made the community more resilient by providing an array of support services.

More than 60 volunteers worked around the clock to:

• purchase and deliver goods to households
• take calls on the helpline
• provide moral support
• help vulnerable individuals in-person when necessary (almost 300 residents were supported in these ways)
• create and deliver more than 350 ‘activity packs’ to support the well-being of children and young people during lockdown 
• provide tailored assistance to vulnerable households facing various challenges such as bereavement or a risk of homelessness

Best practice for community involvement

Whilst there is no one-size-fits-all approach to involve communities in decision-making, all Neighbourhood Boards are expected to develop plans to carry out deep, broad and sustained engagement with their community.

All Boards must submit evidence showing that they have delivered engagement which aligns with the best practice principles set out below when submitting their Pride in Place Plan. These principles have been designed to guide Boards whilst offering the flexibility for areas to consider a range of tools, recognising that different approaches will work for different communities.

The Communities Delivery Unit will work with Boards to ensure that plans are in place to involve the surrounding community in decision-making. We will also establish a Network for Neighbourhoods to share learning and best practice across the Neighbourhoods Boards. 

Engage from the start

Right across the community, people will have ideas about the future they want for their place. Early engagement will enable Boards to tap into these ideas and understand what matters to the surrounding community. This helps to ensure the plans are co-created and co-owned from the start.

Effective community organising

Actively reach out into the community to bring people into the conversation about what sort of neighbourhood they want to live in, and the change they would like to see to bring that about. Build effective listening campaigns and deliberative engagement to get wide community buy-in. Work with community groups, grassroots organisations, and faith   organisations with trusted relationships and networks to reach different parts of the community. 

Focus on those less likely to be heard

Consider how you can best engage those who may not usually feel listened to or have been left out of decision-making. Use and build relationships with community groups to establish how engagement could be improved to overcome barriers such as income, ethnicity, age, disability and language.

Build on existing assets and connections in your community

Use local assets to build on existing strengths, and work with community groups who have existing relationships and expertise in community development to design engagement and ensure sufficient reach. Consider using allocated capacity funding to invest in these organisations to support engagement.

Involve people in decision-making, taking a participatory approach

Go beyond consultation and involve the community in coming up with ideas and making decisions. This could mean running a co-production workshop, delivering a participatory budgeting process, or establishing a residents’ panel or running a citizens’ jury. This can act as a hook to engage residents, helping to identify local solutions and bring forward innovative ideas.

Make time for meaningful engagement

When planning community engagement, ensure that enough time is allocated to allow for meaningful engagement with all sections of the community. Boards will need to use a range of approaches to keep the community engaged over time and avoid one-off consultations. It is also vital to build in enough time to follow-up with participants, so it is clear how their ideas have shaped activity.

Actively listen to the local community

Be comfortable in straying from a list of pre-determined questions and be open to new ideas. Let conversations flow organically and recognise when people do not agree with diagnoses or preferred solutions - let different groups direct the course of the conversation, and do not always be led by the loudest voices.

Invite challenge and scrutiny

Consider the role that the community could play in holding the Board to account. That might mean creating a residents’ panel to shadow the Board. Keep the community engaged over time and invite feedback regularly - online and offline - to understand how priorities are changing and how delivery of your Plan is being felt across the community.

 

Case study: Stranraer place plan 

Stranraer was chosen as one of the places to be included in the Borderlands Growth Deal Place programme. As part of this, the town required a place plan to identify projects and investments. Many partners and members of the public felt that they had previously been ‘consulted to death’ with limited outputs, so Stranraer Development Trust worked with a group of six community partners to broaden reach and build ownership.

They created a ‘town team’ that drew broadly from stakeholders and sectors in the community to develop the plan. When engaging the public, they also looked widely, building stakeholder connections through local activists and organisations. They undertook an inclusive 6-month consultation, meeting people ‘where they’re at’ in schools, existing group activities, and in the streets, rather than insisting local people come to scheduled events. This resulted in a 5-strand approach with collaborative decision-making and public voting to identify priority projects. Six strategic projects are now moving into design for implementation starting in 2025 to 2026.

Get out into the community and be creative

Meet people where they are. Hold engagement events in the spaces where people and communities meet, whether that is a local high-street, youth club, pub, school or community centre. Reach those that might not attend a consultation event and use a range of approaches that work for different people, including digital and in-person engagement.

Delegate roles to community groups

Identify where ownership of the planning and delivery of Pride in Place Plans can be given to community groups, facilitating improved local capability by bringing these groups into the planning and delivery process. Consider how community organisations can have a clear role in the process to drive interest in the Programme. This could also include devolving budgets and delivery to community groups for neighbourhood priorities.

Case study: co-operation at the grassroots

Members of the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network (CCIN) are encouraged to suggest projects where they can work with other members to find co-operative policy solutions to the challenges facing local government. The CCIN work programme is divided into larger projects called Policy Labs, and smaller projects called Policy Prototypes.

Between 2019 and 2021, 4 councils worked together on a Policy Lab project to explore co-operative models for improving community engagement and delivering better local outcomes. The councils involved were:

• Burntwood Town Council
• North Herts District Council
• Stevenage Borough Council
• Sunderland City Council

Each council, despite differences in size and resources, adopted neighbourhood-level strategies to enhance services.

Burntwood focuses on empowering community groups to deliver services, while North Herts created a food network during the pandemic to ensure equitable food access. Stevenage implemented a Co-operative Neighbourhood Programme for collaborative decision-making, and Sunderland transformed an abandoned golf course into a community park through local engagement.

These models highlight how councils can collaborate with communities for more effective and efficient service delivery.

Case study: resident-led transformation in Lawrence Weston

The Ambition Lawrence Weston (ALW) initiative, based on a post-war housing estate in north-west Bristol, is a community-driven project supported by funding from Big Local and local partnerships. Through a community development plan and a neighbourhood development plan, residents influenced policies such as ensuring that 50% of new housing is allocated to local families. ALW facilitates a community network of over 45 organisations, fostering collaboration on impactful projects such as a solar farm powering 1,000 homes and a planned wind turbine.

These efforts have attracted over £5.5 million in investment, significantly boosting the local economy, and transformed the area through new infrastructure, improved transport links, enhanced facilities for young people and support for local businesses. By circulating wealth locally and empowering residents, ALW has created a stronger, more self-reliant community with lasting benefits.

Support for neighbourhoods

We want communities to succeed in turning their neighbourhood visions into reality. We will provide every area with the resources and tools they need to do this, with a comprehensive package of support available at every stage of the Pride in Place journey.

To help areas to build connections and share learning, we will establish a Network for Neighbourhoods across the UK. This network will bring together community organisations and leaders from across the third sector and beyond, giving Neighbourhood Boards access to expertise and learning that they can draw on as they move through delivery. This includes access to technical advice on issues such as planning, architectural services and place management, along with training and mentoring opportunities to build skills and capacity at a local level. The network will also share advice and best practice on community engagement and participatory approaches, empowering Boards to consider new and original ways to connect with their communities. By bringing the community sector together to share key learnings and experiences, the Network will help to build strong, capable communities who are empowered to lead change locally.

Alongside the Network for Neighbourhoods, the government has set up a designated Communities Delivery Unit, sitting within MHCLG, to provide direct ongoing support to local authorities, MPs and Neighbourhood Boards. A dedicated government official in every place will be a “point person” for that Neighbourhood Board, acting as a critical friend throughout the delivery plan process; monitoring the depth of engagement; spending time in the area; providing cross-government advocacy and escalating concerns within MHCLG, as needed. This means that every single neighbourhood has a “direct line” to government support, whenever they might need it.

Boards should also build partnerships with community organisations, businesses, philanthropists and other funders to support them in delivering their Pride in Place Plan. This could mean bringing in an established community organisation to provide secretariat support for the Board or to help deliver other aspects of activity like capacity or capability building, or the delivery of community engagement. We also want to support Boards to build partnerships with philanthropists and businesses that are rooted in place, to help build more sustainable funding models and crowd in more capital over the long-term. Ultimately, we want to shift central government’s role from one of delivery management to delivery support, as experience suggests that more can be achieved when government plays more of a proactive, supportive role. This package of support will also reduce the need for places to source help from third parties, supporting the government’s commitment to curb public sector use of consultants.

Next steps

Placing communities at the heart of the regeneration process has defined previous successful government initiatives, including John Prescott’s New Deal for Communities. By consistently investing time in good conversations with residents, leaders build trust and social capital within communities to ensure funding was spent on things that mattered to local people. The principles set out in this prospectus are just the starting point – as places move into delivery and beyond, we will continue to support a community-first approach in all Pride in Place neighbourhoods. This marks a long-term commitment to giving power back to communities, where residents are emboldened to drive the change they want to see in their areas.

The Pride in Place Programme provides the funding and support to build trust, drive growth and release the potential of 244 areas across the UK. Alongside this, the Pride in Place Strategy sets out a range of powers and tools for community-led regeneration, enabling people across the country to come together and build strong communities, revitalise their neighbourhoods and take control of the future of their area. Local authorities and MPs have, in many instances, begun the process of recruiting Boards that represent their communities. We will now work alongside all remaining areas to do the same.