Funding: Putting Local Residents in Charge of Neighbourhood Renewal?

Ever felt like decisions about your town are made by people who’ve never even walked down your high street? You know, when a new, weird-looking sculpture appears in the town square, but the community centre has had a leaky roof for years. It’s a common feeling. For ages, big choices about how to improve local areas have come from the top down. But a change is on the horizon. On 25 September 2025, the government announced a new plan, the Pride in Place strategy, which flips the old way of doing things on its head. It’s all about giving the power back to the people who actually live in the communities, an idea championed for years by an organisation called Local Trust.

The big announcement: the Pride in Place strategy

The new Pride in Place strategy is a huge step in this direction. It takes the lessons learned from the twelve years of the Big Local programme and applies them on a national scale. It’s a shift away from the old top-down model and towards genuine, local-led regeneration. This is a massive win for organisations like Local Trust, which have been campaigning for this kind of change for years. The plan is a key part of the vision for national renewal, recognising that a stronger country is built from stronger communities.

Rachel Rowney, the Chief Executive of Local Trust, puts it perfectly:

“The Big Local programme has shown that to improve local communities, you have to trust and give power to people who live locally. It’s great that the Government has heeded the lessons from this – put residents in charge of decisions that affect them, and you will see transformative results. People will participate in efforts for national renewal if you give them the tools and trust them to do so.”

“The Government’s decision to give 339 local communities funding and control on what it should be spent on is excellent news for communities across the country, especially in doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods.”

This new approach means real funding is going directly to communities, giving them the power to shape their own futures.

How do they decide who gets help?

It’s a good question. How does the government figure out which areas need this support the most? In the past, this was often just based on how much money people in an area had. But community strength isn’t just about cash. That’s where a clever tool called the Community Needs Index (CNI) comes in. Pioneered by Local Trust, the CNI looks deeper. It measures the social and cultural things that affect people's lives – like having good places to meet, access to community groups, and feeling connected to your neighbours. It helps identify what are called doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods. These are places that not only face high levels of economic deprivation but also have weak social infrastructure. They are the communities that have been hit hardest by the closure of social hubs and youth services.

Rachel Rowney added:

“I’m proud that the Community Needs Index (CNI) tool that we pioneered with OCSI is clearly the foundation for the new approach the government is taking to regeneration. The CNI is a way of measuring the social and cultural factors that can impact people’s outcomes and life chances. Of the 146 areas announced today, 130 are doubly disadvantaged according to the CNI and therefore among the neighbourhoods we have long argued need to be prioritised.”

This means the funding is being targeted in a much smarter way, going to the places where it can make the biggest difference.

In your local area

Yorkshire programs under the scheme:

• East Cleveland Good Neighbours
• North Ormesby
• Barrowcliff
• Dewsbury Moor
• Goldthorpe with Bolton-on-Dearne
• Greatfield
• Greenmoor
• Hawksworth Wood Estate, the Abbeydales and the Vespers (HAVA)
• Keighley Valley
• North Cleethorpes
• Rastrick
• REMAKe (Revolutionary East Marsh Arts Kollective)
• Selby Town
• Tang Hall
• Thurcroft
• Thurnscoe
• Warwick Ahead
• Westfield Estate
• Winterton
• Withernsea
• Woodlands Speaks

Find out more.