Report explores challenges in delivering £5.8bn Pride in Place programme

Research from our Centre for Place has informed how to empower communities to make the most of the Government funding in the ‘Whose neighbourhood?’ report
Whose Neighbourhood? report front piece with youths high fiving

Report explores challenges in delivering £5.8bn Pride in Place programme

Research from our Centre for Place has informed how to empower communities to make the most of the Government funding in the ‘Whose neighbourhood?’ report
A report authored by the Key Cities innovation network and informed by the University of Plymouth’s Centre for Place has explored the early challenges facing the Government’s Pride in Place programme, highlighting the importance of building community capacity alongside devolving funding.
The report, 'Whose neighbourhood? Early challenges in delivering Pride in Place' (published September 2026), is the first to examine how the £5.8 billion, 10-year programme is being implemented across 284 neighbourhoods in the UK. Each neighbourhood can receive up to £20 million in funding and support, with local people intended to play a leading role in deciding how investment is used.
A formal dinner in the House of Commons followed the report's publication to ensure its findings were shared, debated and understood. Speakers included Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport; Jim McMahon, Minister for Local Government, Devolution and Growth; and Baroness Taylor of Stevenage, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Luke Pollard speaking at Key Cities event at House of Commons
Luke Pollard MP
Katharine Willis at Key Cities event at House of Commons
Professor Katharine Willis (centre)
Jim McMahon at Key Cities event at House of Commons
Jim McMahon OBE MP
Drawing on research in seven Pride in Place neighbourhoods, including Plymouth, the report considers how government, councils, MPs, universities and community organisations can work together to support neighbourhood-level decision-making.
And while it welcomes the ambition and scale of the programme, it identifies a gap between devolving funding and creating the conditions for communities to exercise meaningful influence.

We know that place matters, and for 268 neighbourhoods across the UK from Plymouth to Aberdeen, the UK government Pride in Place programme provides a significant opportunity to recognise the role of place in shaping communities and to put people at the heart of decisions about their neighbourhoods.

This report shows that genuine community power requires investment in the relationships, skills, confidence and capacity that enable communities to shape their neighbourhoods.

Katharine WillisProfessor Katharine Willis
Co-Director of the Centre for Place, University of Plymouth

‘Whose neighbourhood?’ makes a series of recommendations for the programme, including greater investment in genuine co-design with residents, building on existing grass-roots organisations and community networks, and creating the conditions for communities to take on greater responsibility over time.
It also calls for a greater focus on long-term stewardship rather than simply delivering individual projects, as well as shared learning between neighbourhoods and the use of universities as civic partners to help measure and understand long-term change.
Attendees at the Key Cities meeting at House of Commons
Attendees at the House of Commons Key Cities event
The research comes as local communities begin to develop their plans for the investment. In Plymouth, residents have already identified potential priorities including renovating historic buildings, regenerating local streets, increasing affordable housing, improving public transport, expanding youth services, creating more green spaces, supporting local businesses and improving accessibility.
After speaking to the Key Cities innovation network about the research, Luke Pollard said the funding represented an opportunity to put decision-making power into the hands of local people.

Regeneration works best when it is done with local people, not to them. That means listening to communities, focusing on their needs, and putting power in the hands of those impacted by decision-making.

Luke Pollard profile.jpg

Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport 
 

The main takeaway from this research is that the success of Pride in Place should ultimately be measured not only by the projects delivered or the money invested, but by whether communities gain the agency, relationships, skills and confidence needed to create lasting change in their neighbourhoods.

Centre for Place

The Centre for Place is an interdisciplinary research hub that tackles contemporary societal and global challenges through place-based inquiry. 
The Centre integrates creative placemaking, arts–health research, and advanced quantitative methods within robust humanities and social science frameworks, seeking to become a world leader in place-based research, emphasising the importance of place in shaping communities and individuals, and providing innovative, interdisciplinary solutions to urgent global research challenges.
Centre for Place Aerial view of crowd connected by lines