Earlier this year, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published analysis of the Government’s Pride in Place Programme (PiPP), highlighting challenges within the £5.8 billion funding package intended to build stronger communities over the next decade.
JRF identified 79 neighbourhoods across the North East as “doubly disadvantaged”, facing both high levels of deprivation and weak social infrastructure. While Pride in Place represents significant investment in some of these communities, not all will receive funding through the programme.
With Pride in Place now moving from funding allocation into implementation, the question is how this investment can build on the social infrastructure already present in communities and ensure local organisations are meaningfully involved in shaping and delivering change.
The Pride in Place Programme in the North East
The Pride in Place Programme is a long-term neighbourhood regeneration programme focused on improving disadvantaged communities. It is structured across two phases, with the North East securing investment through both.
Phase 1, formerly the Long Term Plan for Towns, focuses on safety and security, high streets, heritage and regeneration, and transport and connectivity. Delivery began in April 2026, with funding allocated to Blyth, Darlington, Eston, Hartlepool, Jarrow, Spennymoor and Washington.
Phase 2 operates at a more localised neighbourhood level, with funding awarded to 169 additional places across the UK. It aims to build stronger communities, create thriving places and empower people to take back control.
In the North East, Phase 2 funding has been allocated to:
- County Durham - Crook North & Tow Law, Peterlee East, Stanley South
- Gateshead - Beacon Lough & Wrekenton
- Middlesbrough - Park End, Thorntree
- Newcastle Upon Tyne - Elswick South, Fawdon South, Throckley & Newburn, Walker North
- North Tyneside - Percy Main
- South Tyneside - Biddick Hall
- Stockton-on-Tees - Central Stockton & Portrack
- Sunderland - Hendon & Docks, Thorney Close & Plains Farm
Across Phases 1 and 2, places will receive up to £20 million over a 10-year period.
There is also the Pride in Place Impact Fund, providing £1.5 million per selected local authority over two years to support community and public spaces, high streets and town centre revitalisation. In the North East, this funding has been awarded to Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle upon Tyne, South Tyneside and Sunderland.
The programme is now moving into implementation. Neighbourhood Boards are currently being finalised for Phase 2 areas, bringing together residents, businesses, civil society and community organisations alongside local authorities. Government guidance encourages Boards to include community leaders, including representatives from local charities and community groups, and there are already examples of VCSE involvement in the North East. Boards are developing local Pride in Place Plans, with first plans due to be submitted to Government by November 2026.
Why social infrastructure matters
JRF’s analysis highlights the relationship between weak social infrastructure and poorer outcomes, including lower economic security, poorer health and reduced civic engagement.
Social Infrastructure refers to the institutions, networks and physical spaces that support civic life, including community assets, local organisations, and the connections that bring people and places together. This is a core strength of the VCSE sector.
Across the North East, VCSE organisations are rooted in the communities they serve. Community centres, youth organisations, cultural groups, social enterprises, environmental organisations and local charities provide places where people can meet, build relationships and participate in community life.
They also provide practical support across areas including health and wellbeing, social support, youth provision, financial inclusion and employment. Community transport and digital inclusion initiatives can be particularly important in maintaining connectivity and participation, including in rural communities.
Much of this infrastructure is built over many years through relationships and trust. It may not always be visible in a regeneration plan or investment programme, but it can be crucial to whether new investment is accessible, used and sustained.
VCSE organisations are therefore not simply potential delivery partners for Pride in Place. They are part of the social infrastructure that makes thriving communities possible.
From investment to lasting change
Pride in Place represents a significant opportunity to invest in the places where people live. Investment in buildings, public spaces, high streets and other physical infrastructure can make an important contribution to neighbourhood regeneration.
But such capital investment alone does not create the relationships, participation and local capacity needed to sustain long-term change. A new community space needs people and organisations able to bring residents together and create activity. Improvements to a high street need to sit alongside the networks and initiatives that encourage people to use and participate in their local area. Investment in facilities needs to reflect how residents experience and use their neighbourhood.
The Government's approach recognises some of this, with Pride in Place funding intended to support community engagement, local capacity and community-backed delivery alongside physical improvements. The opportunity now is to ensure that this translates into meaningful partnership with the VCSE sector.
Working with existing VCSE organisations and local infrastructure can help local programmes understand what is already happening, identify gaps, avoid duplication and make better use of existing relationships with residents.
It also means recognising that participation requires capacity. Many VCSE organisations are already operating in challenging funding environments while responding to significant local need. Being meaningfully involved in neighbourhood planning takes time, relationships and resources.
Engagement should therefore go beyond inviting organisations to attend meetings. VCSE organisations should have the capacity and opportunity to contribute their knowledge, reach communities that may otherwise be missed and help shape priorities and delivery.
What about communities outside Pride in Place?
The scale of investment through Pride in Place is significant, but it will not reach every community facing high levels of deprivation and weak social infrastructure.
JRF identified 79 doubly disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the North East. The programme does not provide dedicated Phase 2 investment to all of them. This matters because communities rarely operate within strict geographical boundaries. The places where people live, work and spend their time often extend beyond these parameters.
VCSE organisations reflect this reality, often working across neighbourhoods, local authority areas and communities with different levels of investment. The same organisation may support residents in a Pride in Place neighbourhood and those living in an area that receives no dedicated funding. This highlights the limits of place-based investment alone: to strengthen communities and social infrastructure it requires an approach that recognises and supports the wider networks through which people and organisations connect.
There is a risk that investment becomes concentrated in selected neighbourhoods while the wider infrastructure that connects communities, provides support and builds resilience remains under pressure. Pride in Place should complement this existing infrastructure rather than create parallel systems around it.
What should happen next?
The central message is clear: VCSE organisations provide much of the social infrastructure that underpins resilient, thriving neighbourhoods.
As Neighbourhood Boards develop their local plans and move towards implementation, there is an opportunity to make the role of the VCSE sector more explicit.
Three priorities are particularly important:
Meaningful VCSE involvement: VCSE organisations should have an active role in Neighbourhood Boards, local planning and implementation. This should reflect their knowledge of communities and the relationships they have built with residents over time.
Capacity to participate: Meaningful community participation requires time, relationships and organisational capacity. Local programmes should recognise and support the resources needed for VCSE organisations to participate effectively, rather than relying on already stretched organisations to contribute additional capacity.
Strengthening social infrastructure beyond PiPP areas: Investment in social infrastructure should not be limited to neighbourhoods receiving Pride in Place funding. Communities outside the programme also need strong local organisations, networks and spaces if they are to build resilience and respond to local challenges.
These priorities are particularly important as the North East takes on greater responsibility for decisions that affect local communities through devolution. More powers and resources are being transferred from central government to regional authorities, creating greater opportunities to shape investment around local priorities and circumstances.
But devolution is about more than transferring powers between institutions. For local decision-making to make a meaningful difference to people’s lives, it needs to be informed by the knowledge, relationships and lived experience within communities. The VCSE sector has an important role to play in making this connection, helping regional and local government understand community needs, reach residents and ensure investment reflects local priorities.
The Civil Society Covenant provides a wider framework for recognising the contribution of civil society and strengthening relationships between the sector and public bodies. Pride in Place offers an opportunity to put these principles into practice.
A chance to build on the North East’s strengths
Pride in Place represents a significant investment in communities across the North East. As the programme moves into implementation, its success will depend not simply on how much money is invested, but on whether that investment strengthens the foundations that allow communities to thrive.
The North East already has VCSE organisations rooted in local communities, with knowledge, relationships and trust built over many years. Recognising and strengthening this infrastructure can help ensure Pride in Place complements existing community activity rather than creating parallel approaches.
Successful place-based regeneration is about more than improving places. It is about strengthening the people, organisations, relationships and local capacity that enable communities to shape and sustain change.
For Pride in Place to deliver lasting, resident-led change, the VCSE sector needs to be recognised as an essential part of that infrastructure.
We’re keen to hear from anyone involved in a local Pride in Place Neighbourhood Board, or delivering activity through the programme. If that’s you, we’d love to hear from you and learn about your experiences. If you would like to share your views or have a further conversation about this topic, get in touch with us by contacting our Policy Manager, Siobhan Flynn at siobhan.flynn@vonne.org.uk