Across the country, Poverty Truth Commissioners, host organisations and local Commissions are beginning to engage with Pride in Place, the government initiative designed to give communities greater influence over the future of their neighbourhoods.
In Morecambe West and Boscombe West, Poverty Truth Commissioners have been appointed to neighbourhood boards that will help oversee the allocation of £2 million a year in funding over the next decade. In Warrington, Warrington Voluntary Action, which hosts the Warrington Poverty Truth Commission, has been invited to contribute to local consultation activity. Meanwhile, in Foyle, Pride in Place investment is providing three-and-a-half years of funding for the development of a new Poverty Truth Commission.
With Poverty Truth voices involved in a growing number of areas, we brought together people from across the Network recently to share experiences, reflect on emerging challenges and explore how Poverty Truth principles might shape the programme as it develops.
The discussion highlighted both the opportunities Pride in Place presents and the tensions that will need to be navigated if communities are to have genuine influence.
Shared challenges and tensions
The discussion highlighted a series of connected tensions at the heart of Pride in Place. Participants reflected on the difference between genuine participation and consultation, questioning how communities can help shape priorities rather than simply endorse decisions that have already been made. They also recognised the challenge of balancing the relationship-based pace of Poverty Truth work with a programme that operates to fixed deadlines and early spending plans.
Questions of power and accountability ran throughout the conversation. How can decision-making be genuinely accessible while still meeting the governance requirements that come with managing significant public investment? How can communities remain at the centre of decisions while acknowledging the need for professional support and oversight? Participants also recognised that neighbourhood boards can never include everyone, making wider opportunities for involvement, scrutiny and feedback essential.
Underpinning all of this was a recognition that many communities are sceptical about regeneration initiatives. Building trust will require transparency, honest conversations about expectations and visible evidence that community voices are making a difference.
Morecambe: An emerging model of community accountability
The discussion drew particular attention to the approach emerging in Morecambe, where Poverty Truth relationships have helped shape local Pride in Place structures from the outset.
Building on more than a decade of local relationship-building, partners have developed a layered model designed to keep participation broad and accountability strong.
Alongside the neighbourhood board itself, two additional structures have been created:
- An expert panel for people with relevant knowledge and experience who are not members of the board.
- An open community voice panel where local residents can share views and help shape priorities.
Street champions and members of the community voice panel are expected to play a direct role in identifying spending priorities, rather than simply advising decision-makers.
Poverty Truth Commissioners are represented across all three structures, and the neighbourhood board has adopted the Commission’s Access to Services principles. Meetings are designed around food, accessible language and genuine dialogue, with Commissioners already helping to challenge jargon and scrutinise spending decisions.
The model also allows for different levels of participation. Some residents may want to contribute a single idea or attend an occasional meeting, while others may choose to take on a more sustained role in shaping and overseeing projects.
Perhaps most significantly, the board remains accountable to a wider group of residents and local experts. Rather than being imposed from the centre, this structure has been developed locally in response to the opportunities created by the national programme.
Practical learning for local Poverty Truth teams
As participants reflected on their experiences, several practical lessons emerged:
- Use the Pride in Place prospectus as a tool for accountability. Ask how board members were selected, whether they live or work locally, and how residents will influence decisions.
- Build accountability at every stage. Before boards are established, questions may need to be directed to councils and MPs’ offices. Once boards are in place, accountability should increasingly sit with the board itself.
- Treat early submissions as the beginning, not the end. They provide an opportunity to set out how deeper participation will be built over time.
- Create multiple routes for involvement. Representation on boards matters, but so do opportunities for wider participation, scrutiny and feedback.
- Allow people to choose their level of involvement rather than assuming everyone wants the same commitment.
- Prioritise transparency, particularly through clear “you said, we did” communication.
- Think beyond the current phase. Over time, local Pride in Place arrangements are expected to become standalone organisations with their own governance structures, creating further opportunities for community leadership.
Learning together as Pride in Place develops
There were no simple answers, and that was part of the value of bringing people together.
Pride in Place is still taking shape, and the relationship between the programme and Poverty Truth work will look different in different communities. What emerged clearly from the discussion, however, was a shared commitment to ensuring that local people are not merely consulted but are given meaningful opportunities to shape decisions about the places where they live.
As the programme develops, we will continue creating opportunities for people across the Poverty Truth Network to compare experiences, share learning and explore how Poverty Truth ways of working can help keep people, relationships and shared power at the heart of Pride in Place.