Government launches ‘Pride in Place’ programme: how do our sectors factor?
On 25 September 2025, the UK Government launched its Pride in Place Strategy as part of the Plan for Change. What began as a pilot is now a flagship national policy - backed with long-term funding and new powers for communities. We’ve taken a first look to see how the creative, cultural and heritage sectors might feature.
Headlines
£5 billion committed over the next decade for neighbourhood renewal.
Investments expected in public spaces, community hubs, high streets, heritage and culture.
New community powers will help local people influence development - from tackling boarded-up shops to reviving high streets.
75 pilot areas already confirmed, with expansion to nearly 250 neighbourhoods nationwide.
Neighbourhood Boards will set local visions and oversee the distribution of funding, supported by councils.
Enablers, Not Extras
The guidance for the new programme cites “culture and heritage” as eligible interventions. This reflects what we’ve long argued in our conversations with the UK Government; that our sectors aren’t “nice-to-haves” - they’re are key enablers of community renewal:
Growth: cultural and heritage assets and the creative industries generate jobs, attract investment and reanimate high streets.
Belonging: festivals, heritage projects and creative spaces strengthen identity and cohesion.
Wellbeing: arts participation can improve mental health and tackle isolation.
Opportunity: creative programmes give young people skills, confidence and pathways into work.
Neighbourhood Boards are now the decision-making engine of Pride in Place. Those that new want to deliver on their full brief will need culture and creativity right in the centre of their strategies.
Governance & Participation
The how matters as much as the what here.
Government rules on transparency - publishing membership, agendas and minutes - set a baseline for how we can monitor Neighbourhood Boards. But transparency alone doesn’t equal legitimacy.
Our own research tells us that:
People want genuine influence on cultural decisions, not just one-off consultations (see our commissioned research).
Good governance needs breadth and accountability, including marginalised voices (see our research co-produced with Prof. Leila Jancovich, University of Leeds).
Open spaces for new and diverse voices can help avoid “usual suspects” syndrome and open opportunities to test approaches like Culture Forums or citizens’ assemblies with micro-grant funding (see our Insight Paper on ‘Local Voice’).
Neighbourhood Boards are now well placed - to experiment with these models. If they do, culture won’t just be an output of renewal, it will be a method of building it.
Our Sector Can Help
Part of the job of the Neighbourhood Boards will be to foster pride, belonging and resilience. Culture, creativity and heritage can make that real by:
Celebrating creativity in and of itself. Communities want more than fixes for local “problems”. They want festivals, art, theatre, live music, murals, maker spaces and heritage trails that bring joy, beauty and energy back into civic life and spaces.
Partnering to take forward local priorities. For example:
Youth programmes that build skills and confidence.
Festivals and late-night openings that animate high streets and improve safety.
Heritage projects that root identity while attracting tourism and investment.
Designing better participation. Our sectors can help residents engage with neighbours through storytelling, performances, heritage walks, pop-ups and digital archives - turning consultation into a cultural experience.
Piloting governance models. Boards could test:
Local Culture Forums (a recent Culture Commons recommendation).
Cultural citizens’ assemblies (taking inspiration from Citizens in Power).
Micro-grants to spark grassroots and everyday creativity.
What Next
The real test of Pride in Place lies in how Boards use their new powers. We’ll work to ensure culture, creativity and heritage are at the table for key discussions - not just as optional extras, but as essential drivers of renewal.
Over the coming months we will:
Map & monitor - tracking how Boards are embedding our sectors in membership, agendas, decision making processes and decisions.
Build feedback loops - using transparency to create a live evidence base and feed insights into national policy on devolution and funding.
Support engagement - equipping cultural organisations with simple tools to engage Neighbourhood Boards confidently.
Test governance models - promoting and evaluating new forms of participation, from forums to citizens’ panels.
Join up the dots - connecting local practice to national debates on cultural devolution and funding.
“Pride in Place is a bold and welcome step forward, showing real commitment to neighbourhood renewal. To deliver lasting impact, culture, creativity and heritage needs to run right through the fabric of the programme. We look forward to working with partners on the ground and in government to ensure our sectors are recognised as the powerful drivers of thriving, resilient and proud communities they are.”
