What is the Pride in Place programme?
Pride in Place is the government’s long-term neighbourhood regeneration programme, run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Rather than asking communities to bid into a national pot, it allocates funding directly to named neighbourhoods of roughly 10,000 residents, selected using deprivation data, and hands the spending decisions to local people.
The programme launched with 244 neighbourhoods and was expanded in March 2026 with 40 more, taking the total to 284 communities across the UK. Each works toward three objectives set out in the official prospectus: thriving places, stronger communities, and empowering people to take back control.
How much funding does each neighbourhood get?
Up to £20 million over ten years, about £2 million a year. The split matters for anyone planning a project: 63% is capital (buildings, facilities, physical improvements) and 37% is revenue (running programmes, events, engagement). In other words, the majority of this money is there to build and improve real places: community facilities, sports provision, parks, high streets and places to meet.
Who decides how it’s spent?
A Neighbourhood Board in each area: residents, local businesses, grassroots campaigners, workplace representatives, faith and community leaders, alongside the local MP and at least one ward councillor, led by an independent chair. Every member has an equal vote. The local authority acts as the accountable body for the funds, but the decisions are the Board’s.
Each Board must co-produce a Pride in Place Plan: a ten-year vision with a four-year investment plan, built through genuine community engagement. No delivery funding flows until the Plan shows it reflects what the neighbourhood actually wants. That makes one thing very clear: projects with visible community backing and a credible delivery route are exactly what Boards will be looking for.
What are the key dates?
- By 17 July 2026. Boards confirm their membership and any boundary changes to MHCLG.
- Winter 2026 to early 2027. Pride in Place Plans are developed and submitted.
- From spring 2027. First delivery payments are expected to begin flowing to projects.
The window between now and plan submission is when project ideas either get into a neighbourhood’s plan, or don’t.
Is your area on the list?
The full list of funded neighbourhoods is on GOV.UK (linked in the sources below). In our home city, Liverpool has four Pride in Place neighbourhoods: Everton East, Fairfield West and Newsham Park, Norris Green East, and Speke East. Each holds up to £20m over the decade. Neighbouring boroughs across Merseyside and the wider North West also feature.
If your centre sits just outside a funded boundary, you’re not necessarily out. Projects serving residents of a funded neighbourhood can still feature in a Plan, and Pride in Place is one funding route among many, including the £500m+ National Youth Strategy and sport-specific facility funds.
What should your organisation do now?
- Check the map. Confirm whether your neighbourhood, or the communities you serve, hold Pride in Place funding.
- Get known to the Board. Boards are forming and confirming membership now. Introduce your organisation, your track record and your space before the Plan is written.
- Turn your idea into a deliverable project. Boards must prove their Plan delivers real change. A costed, evidenced, community-backed project is far easier to include than a wish.
- Think enterprise, not just grant. A facility that earns its own running costs after the capital is spent is the strongest story a Board can tell over a ten-year programme.