Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities (): On 25 September, the
Government announced our plan to restore Pride in Place.
We are a nation of a thousand neighbourhoods, where our identity,
our sense of patriotism and feelings of belonging, all depend on
what we can see from our doorstep. A decade and a half of
underinvestment and neglect under the Conservatives has held back
too many of our communities and bred a sense of decline. The
impact of this has been corrosive. It has divided communities,
deprived public institutions of trust and emboldened extremists
to attack the foundations of our country.
The causes aren't straightforward – austerity,
deindustrialisation, an uncritical embrace of globalisation are
all a part of it – but what connects it all is a style of
government that deprived people of control of their own lives and
their surroundings. Pride in Place is a new way of governing, and
it surpasses anything that has come before.
We will invest up to £5 billion through a new flagship Pride in
Place Programme to the 244 places which need it most. In
hyper-local communities across England, Scotland and Wales, we
will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support, to be
spent by a local Neighbourhood Board over the next decade to
drive local renewal. A separate Pride in Place Impact Fund will
deliver a cash injection of £150 million to an additional 95
places, to be spent by the local authority to improve high
streets and community spaces.
Investment is being targeted in neighbourhoods with both the
highest deprivation levels and weakest social infrastructure, but
we are also taking steps to ensure every community has the powers
to renew their local area. Our Pride in Place Strategy introduces
an action plan of new policies focused on three themes: building
stronger communities; creating thriving places; and helping
communities to take back control of their own lives and areas. As
part of this, we have given councils the power to take over the
lease of boarded-up shops, creating opportunities for community
businesses, and we will go further to establish a new Network for
Neighbourhoods, refresh guidance on using clean-up powers and
open a new Co-operative Development Unit within MHCLG.
When the decline in pride in place so often stems from a ‘we know
best' attitude from those at the top, the answer can only be
found in communities themselves. The cure for our problems today
is in the pit villages, where hands that once took coal from the
ground also built welfare halls for their families to make
memories. The cure is in the classrooms, where under crumbling
roofs, parents put on after-school clubs and summer fetes. The
cure is Sunday league football grounds, where the next generation
support their town with the same passion as they'd support their
nation in the World Cup. This is our alternative to the forces
trying to pull us apart. This is our answer to those who feel
silenced, ignored and forgotten
