Last week, in the lead-up to the Labour Party Conference, the Prime Minister announced the “Pride in Place” programme, which will allocate some £5 billion to 339 neighbourhoods across England, Scotland and Wales.
The official press release states that “169 areas will receive £2 million every year for a decade, giving long-overlooked communities the certainty and control they need to plan for the future,” while “a further 95 areas will receive an immediate £1.5 million to upgrade public spaces with new green spaces, play areas and sports and leisure facilities.” Reference was also made to 75 areas, previously announced through their Plan for Neighbourhoods.
I am absolutely appalled that not one of these 339 neighbourhoods are in Cornwall and that we have not been allocated one penny of the funding associated with “Pride in Place.” It is a project described by the Labour Party as “landmark” – though clearly not for Cornwall!
On the BBC Politics SW television programme, in an interview with broadcast journalist Martyn Oates, the Prime Minister was challenged that the Government seems to favour investment in urban mayoral authority areas and places such as London, Birmingham and Manchester. His response mentioned how some places in the “South West” would benefit from “Pride in Place” and he said that the neighbourhoods which will benefit were “carefully chosen.” He added that these were the places that, in his view, “had been the most overlooked over the years.” It is my view that if not one neighbourhood in Cornwall meets their criteria for investment – then their criteria is wrong.
I have gone through the list of places that will benefit. Many are in the north of England and in large cities, and I looked in particular at Wales. There are 22 local authorities to the west of Offa’s Dyke and nine of these will each receive £20 million for a neighbourhood within their boundaries. I also found it interesting that even though the PM said that the communities identified for investment were carefully chosen, an associated list showed that, for each of these nine council area, the specific neighbourhood was to “be selected at a later stage.” In addition, a further £1.5 million to upgrade public facilities has been allocated to every single one of the 22 councils in Wales.
All decisions are political. So what are the reasons that Cornwall has been allocated nothing while, for example, Wales has been allocated £213 million? Wouldn’t be anything to do with next year’s elections to the Welsh Parliament, would it?
Article published in the Cornish Guardian (1st October 2025) and the West Briton (2nd October 2025).