£5.8bn Pride in Place scheme meets reality on Grimsby's high street

Grimsby has received £59m in government-backed regeneration funds since 2021 — and its high street is still gap-toothed with vacant shops. That tension is the test case for the UK's £5.8bn pride in place programme, the latest attempt to revive struggling town centres after nearly £12bn spent over seven years failed to deliver widespread regeneration.

"It is nice to see something happening for once," says Jack Vincent, a Grimsby resident. In June, King Charles visited the Lincolnshire coastal town, opening a youth centre in a derelict Victorian warehouse and a community drop-in centre in a vacant bank. One end of the town's shopping centre is being converted into leisure facilities, including a cinema and a food market.

What is pride in place?

The scheme, launched under Keir Starmer as a revamp of previous Conservative plans, offers 284 deprived communities up to £2m a year for 10 years. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has backed the programme and made reviving town centres a priority within his wider devolution drive.

Communities Secretary Angela Rayner said: "Our pride in place programme is a break from past approaches by putting local people in charge … no more 'Whitehall knows best'. This is local people deciding what matters most to them."

Unlike its predecessors, pride in place can cover running costs, allocates money based on published deprivation and community need data, and allows spending beyond high streets — on skills training, social housing modernisation and space for nature. Communities must also create neighbourhood boards of residents, businesses and local authorities to allocate funds.

Why did earlier schemes fall short?

The track record is sobering. In 2011, David Cameron commissioned retail guru Mary Portas to propose solutions, leading to 10 pilot revamps. Margate, Stockport and Stockton are now lauded as successes; Croydon and Wolverhampton continue to struggle.

Successors included the towns fund — wrapping together £2.3bn for 101 places in 2019 and £830m for 72 places from the future high street fund in 2020 — and the £4.8bn levelling up fund launched in 2021. Many recipients scaled back, paused or redrew plans as the pandemic, construction inflation, and difficulty securing sites or planning permission bit in.

Almost £1.8m of town deals awards is only being released this year and next, according to a government evaluation report. At least £1bn of the levelling up fund remained "stuck in limbo" by 2024, according to the campaign group Power to Change. Predecessor funds were folded into the local regeneration fund last year, with the spending deadline extended from March this year to March 2028.

What does Grimsby's experience show?

Once the world's largest fishing port, Grimsby has declined since its trawler fleet collapsed from the 1950s. North East Lincolnshire council is now spending a further £20m from pride in place, and has brought in Our Future — a local group backed by Jason Stockwood, the entrepreneur behind Grimsby Town football club — with £850,000 in grant funding to make use of vacant buildings.

Progress is real but patchy. Three redevelopment projects are complete; several more remain in progress after Covid-related delays. Large buildings, including a former Wilko and House of Fraser, plus Victoria Mills and the Grimsby Ice Factory, sit empty — some picked up cheaply by out-of-town investors who underestimated redevelopment costs. The Riverhead building, empty since 2024, welcomed an inflatable play park in September. As Spencer Hunt of the local council admits: "We still have issues."

Residents want action on antisocial behaviour. "People need to feel more safe," says Ewan Challender, 18, in town with Demi Sowerby, who says her shop is frequently shoplifted. Linda Hooper, 75, wants an end to "yobs going up and down the walkway". Voters registered their frustration in May, giving Reform minority control of the council.

Despite hopes for more money in Chancellor John Healey's first budget on 28 October — and £210m announced last month to convert boarded-up shops into community spaces — the underlying problems run deeper than funding.

Can £2m a year fix a town?

Not on its own, argues Neela Parker Talwar of the Centre for Cities. "£20m is not so much money," she says, and is unlikely to fund buying large empty buildings. She notes the causes of high street vacancies — "access to jobs, transport, schools" — often lie beyond a local authority's reach. "You can't expect Blackburn to become Cambridge," she says.

Local businesses point to the economy, not grants, as the real engine. "For Grimsby the stars aligned when we stopped thinking about fishing and started thinking about wind. We stopped looking back and started looking forward," says Mark Webb, who heads the Grimsby 2025 business group. "People look at the town now and it is a bit of a mess, but it is a brilliant mess because someone is doing something behind those hoardings."