The government in a press release on 21 May launched a neighbourhood guarantee scheme. It stated
“Communities are set to benefit from clear expectations around the level of public services they should expect to see in their area, under bold changes announced today.”
We welcome in principle this initiative that is aimed to tackle potholes, litter etc, as well as 25 community power pilots and measures to address profiteering by private companies who deliver public services.
But we do this with caveats:
- · Details so far are vague eg what funding is available?
- · Lack of coordination with very similar ventures – we already have, for example, the neighbourhood policing guarantee launched in 2025 as part of the safer streets project
- · No definitions – what is meant by a neighbourhood?
- · Clarity over powers.
In relation to the latter, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, 2026, sets out a series of relevant measures such as new powers for councils to take enforcement action against dangerous pavement parking and tackling the proliferation of gambling shops on high streets and shopping parades. Similarly, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) also emphases the importance of community and community-led development.
More broadly, we are concerned with the apparent lack of joined-up thinking on neighbourhood and community initiatives. Transparency is especially needed on the relationship between neighbourhood guarantees and the 370 pride in place projects targeted at some of the most deprived and forgotten neighbourhoods. For instance, will neighbourhood guarantees and community power pilots be part of pride in place schemes?
But there are also many other neighbourhood programmes including:
- · Neighbourhood health plans and services
- · Community right to buy
- · Neighbourhood net zero schemes
- · Low traffic neighbourhoods
- · Neighbourhood development plans.
There appears to be little national or local coordination.
But this is not a new problem! Over the last 60 years, we have had a proliferation of area and neighbourhood based initiatives beginning in the 1960s with education
priority areas, community development projects, and general improvement areas. Some neighbourhoods have had over 75 of these types of projects in the last six decades yet still are in the worst 10% of neighbourhoods in the current index of multiple deprivation.
So should we, as a few commentators suggest, abandon such initiatives?. Definitely not! There is masses of evidence that people and households have strong connections and social networks with their neighbourhoods. Often in the poorest communities, there are strong committed residents and tenants groups who are frustrated about how their area is stigmatised by outsiders and the lack of response from the public and private sectors to their concerns. Many of the initiatives have been led, facilitated and funded by local authorities. However shifts in priorities, changes in political leadership and reduced funding has meant they have lost the capacity, competency and skills to support them.
So what’s the way forward? A great starting point is to learn the lessons from 60 years of neighbourhood initiatives. These include:
- · Neighbourhood programmes need a shelf life of 10 or more years to make a significant impact
- · At the end of the programme, resources must be in place to continue the work (this is often referred to as mainstreaming from existing budgets)
- · Realism is required – ten year programmes can make a transformational positive change to the built and natural environment but social and economic benefits (such as improved health, better educational attainment and stronger local economies) require wider societal changes
- · An obsession on the physicality of a place through capital projects is inevitable, but that is no reason to avoid quality of life issues which are far more difficult to see
- · Coordination between neighbourhood initiatives is essential
- · Lastly, and most importantly, community involvement is indispensable and this requires substantial resources to build up skills, capacity and confidence.
We will be judging government initiatives, such as the neighbourhood guarantee, against this challenging checklist of lessons learnt.