Pride in Place Programme: Pride in Place Plans for Phase 2 places

As part of the Pride in Place programme,Programme, all Neighbourhood Boards must submit a Pride in Place Plan,Plan to MHCLG, setting out yourthe area’s overarching vision for change over the next 10 years, and how youit will deliverbe it.delivered. This is comprised of a:  a:

• 10-year vision: This willforms formmost the majority of youra Pride in Place Plan. It should outline yourthe local community’s vision for the future, with a clear plan guided by community engagement for how yourthe Neighbourhood Board will deliver this change over the next decade. We haveexpect publishedall anplaces updatedto contentpublish checklisttheir forvision youronce it has been agreed with MHCLG. We have published the 10-year vision above.   content checklist above.

• 4-year investment plan: This is a shorter and more technical form that youplaces will submit to the department, focusing on yourtheir indicative interventions, paymentindicative profilesspend profiles, projects, management arrangements for the first investment period (2026 to 2027 financial year to the 2029 to 2030 financial year) and declarations. Wefinal willdeclarations publishrelated furtherto detailstheir submission. We have published above a list of thisthe inquestions on the autumn,Phase ahead2 ofplan openingform to help with completion of the online portalform. We have published above an indicative spend profile template (MS Excel format) to assist places in preparing their indicative spend payment profile and spend information for planinput submission.  onto the online form.

ForThe PhaseNeighbourhood 2Board areas’and Prideaccountable body in Placeeach Plansplace weshould work together to develop the plan, taking account of the local priorities for investment that the board and community have madeidentified someand changesthe resources required to simplifymanage the informationfunding thateffectively. weTo request,support this, the list of questions and Excel workbook above will assist partners in working on draft versions offline.  

The plan must be co-designed with local stakeholders and communities, underpinned by evidence of engagement to reflect local investment priorities for the short, medium and long-term. It will be used as the basis for agreeing the release of programme funding to each place and agreeing a memorandum of understanding with the accountable body.  

Plans are not expected to be exhaustive documents that provide detail about all interventions that will be funded across the programme’s lifetime - we expect and encourage areasplaces to emphasiserefine howtheir plan as they areundertake meetingfurther community engagement, react to external events, align with match-funding sources and respond to the corepracticalities fundamentalsof delivery.  

The funding profiles provided in plans are indicative only and should be based on best estimates of when spend will occur. During delivery, places will report their actual spend and activity to MHCLG through the programme.  monitoring process.

Next steps: 

Submitting plans

It is the responsibility of local authorities, in their current role as the accountable body, to gosubmit livethe 10-year vision and 4-year investment plan that make up the Pride in SeptemberPlace 2026.Plan via our online form. Details ofon thishow to access the form will be sent to the local authority officers in Phase 2 areas.  

The plan should be approved by the Neighbourhood Board and local authority Chief Financial Officer prior to submission. The appropriate constituency MP should have been consulted on the plan and reviewed it prior to submission. Draft submissions, or those without approval, will not be accepted. 

Submission deadlines

The 160 Phase 2 Neighbourhood Boards named in September 2025 should submit their Pride in Place Plans to MHCLG for assessment and approval by 30 November 2026.  

We recognise that places are at different stages of readiness and that in some places additional time has been required for Neighbourhood Boards to be established and for meaningful community engagement to take place before they can move onto the development of a plan. Therefore, we will be offering some additional flexibility to all areas viacurrently correspondence,working towards the 30 November deadline. 

While we would encourage and updatedwill support those places to submit as close to the November deadline as possible, we will allow places to submit plans at any point up to 26 February 2027, where additional time is required. All later submissions will be assessed in order of receipt and therefore, the timing of submissions will impact on thiswhen webpage.a place’s plan is approved and when next year’s delivery funding can be paid. 

 If a place thinks that they will need additional time to submit their plan, they should contact their delivery manager to discuss what is right for their place and next steps. 

The 40 Neighbourhood Boards in Phase 2 places named in March 2026 and Phase 2 places in Wales should submit their Pride in Place Plans to MHCLG for assessment and approval by 26 February 2027, as previously indicated.  

How we will assess plans 

We will assess plans upon receipt. The assessment process is not competitive. Its purpose is to provide assurance to government that each place’s plan is robust, realistic and has community-led design and engagement at its core. 

Where ‘off-menu’ interventions are proposed within a place’s 4-year investment plan, these will be assessed in principle as part of the assessment of the Pride in Place Plan. 

Where queries or areas of concern are raised during the assessment, we may seek further information from places or request that they make changes to the plan.  

Assessment outcome 

Once a plan has been assessed, we will communicate the outcome to the place. 

We may confirm conditional approval of a Pride in Place Plan, if we consider that the plan is sufficiently robust to be approved but require key actions to be taken either prior to release of the next tranche of programme delivery funding or in the delivery phase. 

Acceptance of plans and funding release 

Once a place’s Pride in Place Plan is accepted, a memorandum of understanding will be agreed between the local authority (as the accountable body) and MHCLG. 

Where pre-contract conditions are included in the acceptance of a plan, these must be satisfied before the memorandum of understanding is issued. 

The 2027 to 2028 annual payment of programme delivery funding will be released once the memorandum of understanding has been executed.