Pride in Place: From Participation to Shared Power

What it will take to make community leadership real

At All About The Place, we believe people and places thrive when communities are not just involved in change, but help shape, lead and sustain it.

A moment of opportunity for place-based working

or many working in places, there is a growing recognition that how we design and deliver change matters just as much as the change itself.

Across local government, partnerships and community organisations, there is an increasing focus on moving beyond consultation — toward approaches that genuinely reflect lived experience, local relationships and shared ownership.

The UK Government’s Pride in Place agenda sits squarely within that shift.

It raises an important and timely question:

What does it really take to move from involving communities in decision-making to enabling them to help lead it?

A welcome step forward

There is a great deal to build on.

Pride in Place reflects a wider shift in thinking — one that recognises:

• Place is more than geography; it is lived experience, identity and connection
• Communities bring insight, relationships and resilience that systems alone cannot replicate
• Sustainable change depends on working differently, not just investing differently

We see this reflected in:

• A focus on neighbourhood-level working
• New opportunities for community investment and asset ownership
• The creation of local Pride in Place Boards, bringing together residents, community organisations, businesses and elected representatives (interesting to note: that the NHS is not explicitly identified for a place on this board – hopefully that will be rectified locally)

Altogether, this matters.

It signals a move beyond consultation toward bringing people together around shared challenges and the opportunity to engage and build on the strengths already in the community. A ‘proper’ shift into Asset-based Community Development (ABCD)?

The critical distinction: presence vs power

At the same time, those of us working in practice will recognise a familiar challenge.

Creating space for communities within governance is important — but it is only part of the story.

The deeper question is about how power is held and shared, in the current model, communities are present within governance structures. But those structures are still shaped — and in key respects controlled — through institutional processes.

This introduces an important distinction, in that there is a difference between participation in governance and ownership of it.

One creates space to contribute.

The other enables communities to shape outcomes, decisions and direction.

The opportunity now is to move from one to the other, to adopt new more participatory approaches to decision making, to establish governance structures that ensure residents voice are genuinely heard when stacked against those of the institutions and other local organisations, that want to exert their own influence on how resources are used and what outcomes are achieved.

This is where clarity is still needed

Looking across the available programme information, there are still areas where the practical expression of community leadership remains unclear.

In particular:

• How priorities are set at the neighbourhood level
• The extent to which plans are co-designed with communities from the outset
• How co-production of solutions will be facilitated
• How decisions about funding and delivery are made
• The role communities will play in defining and measuring success

For those from within the community, these are not technical details — they are the points at which intent turns into lived experience.

Without clarity here, delivery will inevitably be shaped by local interpretation — and that can lead to very different outcomes across places. Lived experience can become secondary and the opportunity can very quickly slip into a ‘do to’ the community, rather than ‘do with’.

A long-term view: beyond the programme lifecycle

There is also a bigger, longer-term consideration.

Pride in Place is set within a defined investment horizon, but the ambition it speaks to — thriving, confident, connected communities — must extend far beyond that timeframe. If the benefits of this approach are to endure, then attention must be given not only to delivery but also to what kind of community agency is left behind once the programme ends.

This is an opportunity to animate communities to be the agents of their OWN change, to establish a model of continuous improvement on community development capability, to shift from the unproductive boom and bust approach to resourcing intervention and prevention practice of today.

This is where community agency and capability become vital.

Because lasting change depends on whether communities are:

• Confident to shape their own futures
• Equipped to take forward local priorities
• Connected to systems and resources in a meaningful way
• Trusted as partners, not just participants

Without this, even well-intentioned programmes risk continuing in the creation of short-term improvements rather than long-term transformation.

An opportunity for local leadership

This is where Pride in Place becomes not just a national programme, but a shared local opportunity.

Because where frameworks are flexible, local leadership matters.

Across the country, there are many place-based initiatives already demonstrating what this can look like:

• Involving communities in framing the issues, not just responding to them
• Sharing decisions about where effort and investment should be focused
• Creating governance approaches grounded in relationships, trust and shared accountability

These approaches don’t require permission — but they do require intent, openness and a willingness to work differently.

What could strengthen the approach?

If Pride in Place is to fully realise its ambition, the next step is not reinvention — but strengthening what is already emerging.

At its core, this is about moving from participation toward shared ownership and sustained capability.

That could be supported by:

Making co-design the starting point

Ensuring that priorities and plans are shaped with communities from the outset, not retrospectively.

Being explicit about decision-making

Clarifying where decisions sit, how they are made, and how community voices influence outcomes.

Connecting resources to community voice

Strengthening the link between funding decisions and community-defined priorities.

Sharing accountability

Creating space for communities to:

• Help define success
• Be part of understanding progress
• Challenge and shape delivery where needed

Investing in community capability

Ensuring communities have the confidence, capacity and support to play a sustained leadership role — not just within this programme, but beyond it.

A shared challenge — and a shared opportunity

None of this is simple.

Shifting power in place-based systems takes time. It requires:

• Trust built through experience
• Space for learning and adaptation
• A willingness to let go, as well as step up

But it is also where the real opportunity lies.

Because when communities are not just involved, but actively shaping and sustaining change, the work becomes:

• More grounded
• More relevant
• More resilient over time

Should we be excited?

Pride in Place creates the conditions for doing things differently.

It brings the right conversations into focus and opens new possibilities for collaboration.

The challenge now — for all of us working in and across places — is to build on that.

To move beyond inviting communities into the process, and towards sharing ownership of both the journey and the outcomes.

Because ultimately, pride in place is not something that can be delivered.

It is something that is built, shaped and sustained — together.

Join the conversation

At All About The Place, we are keen to support this shift — and to learn alongside others as they navigate it.

How are you approaching community leadership in your place?

Where are you seeing progress — and where are the challenges?

We’d welcome your reflections, examples and insights.