Govt’s £5bn Pride in Place to bolster North West neighbourhoods
“This is a huge investment, but what matters most is who decides how it’s spent: the neighbours, volunteers and parents who know their communities best – the people with real skin in the game,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer, when announcing the scheme.
The government’s Pride in Place programme will pull from a £5bn fund to award a series of grants to 339 neighbourhoods across the country, including more than 35 in the North West. Scroll down to see the list.
Among those named as programme beneficiaries are Everton East in Liverpool, Gorton South in Manchester, Raffles and Morton in Cumberland, Seacombe in Wirral, Laithwaite and Marsh Green in Wigan, and Ellesmere Port Town and Rossmore in Cheshire West.
Most of the communities will receive £2m every year for a decade, while 95 of the 339 will secure £1.5m to immediately upgrade play areas, public spaces, green areas, and leisure facilities.
Neighbourhood boards will be convened to decide how best to spend the cash, which comes as an open funding grant rather than project-specific report. They will also be given powers around community right to buy, compulsory purchasing, and blocking unwanted shops.
“Building pride in place starts with people, not politics,” said secretary of state for housing, communities, and local government Steve Reed.
“Local people know what they want to see in their neighbourhoods – and they don’t need government to dictate it,” he continued.
“This plan will spark an historic grassroots movement that will restore local people’s power, boost national pride and help people get on in life across the UK as part of our Plan for Change.”
Pride in Place builds upon the government’s Plan for Neighbourhoods, announced in March 2025, which essentially did the same thing but for 75 places. Those 75 have now been wrapped into the Pride in Place scheme and will receive their first tranche of funding next spring. The latest additions will look to have their funds issued in spring 2027.
Manchester City Council Leader Cllr Bev Craig welcomed the funding announcement. Her city has four communities in the programme: Hapurhey South and Monsall; Clayton Vale; Gorton South; and Benchill South and Wythenshawe Central, which was originally part of the Plan for Neighbourhoods.
“In Manchester, the council is working to hard to make every neighbourhood somewhere local residents are proud to call home, with real investment on the ground,” Craig said.
She added later: “In the coming months we’ll be launching big community conversations and creating neighbourhood boards to oversee the funding and improve our neighbourhoods.
“This is a great example of what we can do when national government works with councils to listen to and empower residents, putting power in their hands.”
Brabners’ Roy Barry, partner and regeneration lead at the law firm, looked at the broader Pride in Place programme rather than just the funding element.
Barry said: “Regeneration happens at pace when legal and procedural tools are aligned with policy intent, so it’s key that this alignment is achieved. One area in particular where greater clarity would be welcome is compulsory purchase reform.
“While the Pride in Place strategy references the use of CPOs to bring vacant and underused properties back into productive use, we continue to see unnecessary barriers and delays stemming from current legislation,” he continued.
“Reform that truly reduces red tape, offers appropriate compensation and builds in community accountability would significantly enhance the ability of local authorities and developers to drive genuine transformation.”
Below you will find the full list of North West neighbourhoods that are part of the Pride in Place programme. Those with a * were part of the March 2025 announcement.
Blackpool
- Little Layton & Little Carleton*
Blackburn with Darwen
- Shadsworth & Intack
Bolton
- Breightmet North
Bury
- Radcliffe
Cheshire West and Chester
- Blacon South
- Ellesmere Port Town & Rossmore
Cumberland
- Raffles & Morton
- Flimby, Ellenborough & Broughton Moor
- Mirehouse, Kells & Woodhouse
Halton
- Hough Green
Knowsley
- Page Moss & Fincham
Lancaster
- Morecambe West End
Liverpool
- Speke East*
- Everton East
- Norris Green East
- Fairfield West & Newsham Park
Manchester
- Benchill South & Wythenshawe Central*
- Hapurhey South & Monsall
- Clayton Vale
- Gorton South
Oldham
- Alt
Preston
- Ribbleton
Rochdale
- Hurstead & Smallbridge
Salford
- Pendleton*
- Peel Green
Sefton
- Bootle South*
St Helens
- Town Centre East & Fingerpost
Stockport
- Brinnington*
Tameside
- Hattersley
Warrington
- Hulme
West Lancashire
- Skelmersdale South East
Westmorland and Furness
- Barrow Central*
Wigan
- Laithwaite & Marsh Green
- Platt Bridge & Spring View
Wirral
- Birkenhead Central*
- Seacombe
- Woodchurch
Wyre
- Fleetwood Town
Didn’t realise Starmer could smile..don’t suppose he has a lot to smile about usually. This sticking plaster for huge gaping wound is it either. Don’t know what the answer is but I know it isn’t this lot.
By Anonymous
New Deal for Communities started off with all these intentions of being community led, neighbourhood boards etc. However, the world all changed when the Councils, as the Accountable Body, for the money intervened when certain schemes / approaches being suggested were deemed not to comply with procurement rules and so on. So lets see if this new initiative requires local government to abandon some of it “requirements” for the management of public money!
By Anonymous
What’s the saying? ..’as false as a politicians smile’..says it all.
By Anonymous
Interesting group of town selections, and as 11:44 Anonymous says, it will be good sport to see how much money actually gets to be spent in the community for the community.
It works out to approximately £15 million per designated area or 15 youth clubs for what are quite deprived areas.
By Steve5839
People who take it upons themselves should not smile. We all know they are liars and democracy as an experiment has failed. Bring back dictators and pure capitalism, so we dont have to decide anything or vote.
By Anonymous
Its a start. Certainly more than any Southservative government. However, let’s not forget the never ending “Loudly Announce It Then Quietly Cancel It” omnishambles that is Northern Powerhouse Rail. Another multibillion loud announcement cancelled. This new Loud Announcement is barely crumbs from the heaving table of spending in the Southeast. Promised over a decade, this will wither and die and get quietly cancelled in a few years.
By Bernard Fender
So much for axing all the separate funding pots
By Anonymous
I know several of these places in Manchester Wirral etc.. some of the Manchester ones don’t need investment… They just need policing.. proper policing.
By Anonymous