Pride in Place Only Works If Local People Shape It

Pride in Place is a government programme supporting investment in highly localised areas across the country, with a focus on improving town centres, high streets and neighbourhoods through locally-led priorities and long-term regeneration.

At the heart of the programme is the same principle that has guided PLACED since the beginning: local people should be able to meaningfully shape the future of the places they live, work and play. 

Across the country, local authorities and those that have already appointed Neighbourhood Chairs are balancing significant expectations with limited capacity, complex local dynamics and the challenge of building trust quickly. 

Many Boards already have excellent local knowledge and established community relationships. However, delivering engagement that is inclusive, evidence-based and reaches beyond the usual contributors can be difficult within tight delivery timeframes and alongside wider programme responsibilities.  

Building on their experience of delivering Long Term Plan for Towns - the precursor to Pride in Place - PLACED are supporting several Pride in Place areas, including Radcliffe for Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, and Runcorn Old Town and Hough Green for Halton Borough Council, amongst other local authorities. 

Our team are helping these local authorities with challenges including:

• Mobilising quickly in the context of incredibly tight timeframes ahead of autumn plan submissions

• Limited capacity at both local authority, Chair and Board level

• Communicating how Pride in Place aligns with existing funding and investment

• Reaching less heard voices in meaningful, accessible and equitable ways

• Ensuring engagement is properly evidenced and clearly recorded

• Involving children and young people in shaping local priorities

At PLACED, supporting conversations, building trust and helping communities shape decisions about place is at the heart of what we do. We deliver engagement that is practical, inclusive and locally responsive, helping our clients move forward with confidence.

Our current Pride in Place support ranges from youth-focused conversations and targeted engagement activities to full engagement programmes combining open and focused community discussions. In some places, we are leading the engagement process entirely, whilst in others we are supplementing local capacity and supporting delivery.

Our work is shaped around the needs of each area, but often includes:

• Pop-ups and drop-in events

• Co-design workshops

• Digital engagement platforms

• Targeted stakeholder and community conversations

• School and youth engagement

• Reporting and evidence gathering

Through our recent work supporting Pride in Place programmes in areas including Newton-le-Willows and Runcorn Old Town, we’re helping clients to build trust, engage representative populations and develop plans grounded in local priorities. 

In Newton-le-Willows alone, almost 700 people shared their views, with tens of thousands reached through wider engagement activity. In Runcorn Old Town, PLACED engaged 367 local people through a programme of stakeholder workshops, community drop-ins and digital engagement, helping ensure local priorities directly informed the emerging vision and strategy.

Great Pride in Place plans are not simply shaped by investment priorities; they should be shaped by meaningful conversations with communities, especially those who are too often excluded from decisions about place. 

Find out more

If you are delivering Pride in Place and would like to discuss how PLACED could support your engagement activity, we’d be happy to have a conversation! Drop Jo an email on: info@placed.org.uk