Pride in Place / Community
MenuClose
AboutContact

What if… £20m was a seed to grow something bigger?

Over summer 2026, a number of Pride in Place areas came together to explore shared challenges. On this site we share lessons from these conversations. Think of it less as top-down guidance, and more as a community sharing tips with each other, with a little help from friends.

Our conversations threw up many practical challenges, and we hope the materials linked in these pages will help. However, they also surfaced an appetite to ask a more ambitious question: how can Pride in Place go beyond being ‘just another programme’, and support the deeper transformation of local areas?

A seaside town climbing a hill, with a lighthouse, beach huts and a pier flying one small pennant
Work in progress

This site is a first edition and we would love feedback — what is helpful, and what is missing? Read how the materials were developed.

What you’ll find on this site

This site contains two types of material, both prompted by discussions with local Pride in Place areas:

  • A way to step back and ask: what do we ultimately want to achieve with Pride in Place in our area? You’ll find this under the ‘five dimensions of ambition’.
  • A set of practical materials to help with day-to-day challenges — how to chair meetings, or consult with local people. You’ll find these under ‘practical guides’.

The big picture

Five dimensions of ambition

Ways of thinking about Pride in Place that push the work beyond being ‘just another programme’.

  • 01

    Shift the story

    Changing the story a place tells about itself — and the story others tell about it.

  • 02

    Cultivate agency

    Going beyond consulting to empowering, so that local people can exercise, and truly feel, agency over their future.

  • 03

    Strengthen relationships

    Building shared purpose between local institutions, and the relationships needed to deliver together.

  • 04

    Crowd in capital

    Treating Pride in Place's £20m as a floor, not a ceiling — drawing in private, public, and philanthropic investment.

  • 05

    Shape the system

    Giving local people a louder voice to guide how money is spent.

Reflecting on your work

A self-assessment tool that local areas can use to debate where they are now, and where they want to get to.

Explore the tool →

The daily practice

Practical guides

Curated materials for the common challenges of the role — shared by areas and supporting organisations, not written from scratch.

In the pipeline

06 Going from plan to delivery07 Sustaining yourself08 Building local institutions09 Bringing in additional funding10 Reclaiming the commons
Explore the materials →