Emma Lloyd, partner in the property team at Anthony Collins, explores the Government’s new Pride in Place Programme, which will invest £5bn over 10 years to help local authorities and community organisations revitalise overlooked areas, create vibrant public spaces, and support town centre regeneration.
The new Pride in Place Programme is music to the ears of many local authorities and community-based organisations that have witnessed the steady decline of neglected areas over many years, largely due to an absence of funding and private sector investment.
To address the problem, the Government’s new programme will invest £5bn over 10 years to support the regeneration of up to 250 areas that may have been ‘overlooked’ previously. With the aim of tackling deep-rooted deprivation and regional inequality, neighbourhood boards will be created to empower local communities to breathe life back into the neglected areas.
Specifically, the Pride in Place Programme will be managed by local authorities, with the aim of revitalising spaces and places that are most in need. Supported by their local authority, communities will be able to buy neglected assets such as derelict pubs, youth centres that have been closed for some time and similar assets to create new parks and other highly valued community spaces. Local authorities will have the power to acquire vacant shops and disused businesses, with the aim of turning them into places where local startups can thrive. Extended compulsory purchase powers will also make it possible for local authorities to purchase larger premises, which could be repurposed as community-run affordable housing or a local health centre. They will also be able to block plans for ‘new betting shops, vape shops and fake barbers’.
A key difference with the Pride in Place Impact Fund is that proposals put to the local authority for consideration will require meaningful consultation with local residents. The Government’s new prospectus for the programme explains that community-backed proposals will have to meet at least one of three objectives - improving community spaces, improving public spaces or delivering high street or town centre regeneration. The local authority will be accountable for any investments it makes under the programme and it is likely that proposed schemes will have to consider an analysis of the subsidy control regime before any funding is allocated. The prospectus for the Pride in Place Programme also sets out a clear timeline for local authorities to prepare and submit their spending forecasts for the funding allocated to them, with all money to be spent by 31 March 2027. Once the spending plans for 2025-26 and 2026-27 have been submitted, each of the 95 local authorities earmarked to receive funding will receive their allocation in November 2025.
Historically, funding mechanisms for regeneration and ‘levelling up’ programmes have relied on competitive local authority bidding processes, which can be costly and time-consuming for community-based organisations and charities to navigate. There is also a tendency to pit one good community-backed idea against another. This can mean that the real needs of the local community are overlooked. The hope is that the Pride in Place Impact Fund will ensure resources are well deployed and deliver maximum benefit to neglected communities.
Whilst the Pride in Place Impact Fund is widely welcomed, the short timescale given for spending the funding allocated to local authorities could create practical issues. In particular, seeking a compulsory purchase order can be complex and challenging, with the process taking anything from 18 months to three years plus. A detailed business case is required to explain the reasons why the local authority and/or community-run organisation is seeking to acquire the asset compulsorily and that all attempts to acquire it commercially have been exhausted. New planning policy is on the way that could help to streamline CPO processes, but it hasn’t arrived yet.
Development viability and land remediation could pose additional challenges, and broader business support would be vital to the success of any projects that receive funding.
For every new regeneration project seeking funding there will inevitably be economic constraints, especially in deprived areas of the country with limited employment opportunities and low property values. Community-based organisations and charities will need to build a strong case for funding by demonstrating what could be achieved. Local authorities may also require professional advice to ensure they understand the full extent of the social and economic value that each project could generate. Where possible, organisations should emphasise their plan to build on existing assets, for example, by making the most of local transport links.
With so much focus on neighbourhood renewal, there is now a real opportunity for community-based organisations and local authorities to work together to breathe life back into neglected areas by repurposing existing assets or creating new ones. Collaborating at an early stage with local planning teams and securing the support of a dedicated team of advisers, could help them to turn their vision into a reality.
