Neighbourhoods and Public Services

Since the election, this Government have taken steps to support local renewal, including investment through the Pride in Place programme, fairer local government funding, publication of the northern growth strategy, and further progress on fiscal devolution and community empowerment. Today I’m announcing a new programme of reform to further restore people’s pride in their areas and communities, and help deliver effective local public services centred on communities and users.

We will take further action to address excessive profiteering in children’s social care, where the market is failing users and taxpayers. We are already reforming the placements market to put children first, and we have legislated for powers to enforce a cap on profits in children’s social care. We will monitor the market carefully, including learning early lessons from our expansion of regional care cooperatives, but—based on our assessment and subject to consultation—we will not flinch from capping the profits of private providers placing vulnerable children in care.

We are giving local councils stronger tools to shape and improve their high streets. We have already brought forward gambling impact assessments to allow councils to limit the number of gambling premises in their areas. And now we are giving councils new powers to restrict certain shops on the high street, take over empty shops, and use the spaces to run services or activities or businesses. We are also setting up a new high street organised crime unit in the Home Office to take out organised crime on our high streets, and we will give the police new powers to close down those that do nothing about antisocial behaviour. We also recognise that councils need funding to build the high streets of the future, which is why we are committing £300 million for high streets innovation.

We will set out a neighbourhood guarantee to set clear expectations of local, regional and national Government, to bring real change that can be seen and felt in every town, city and village. This will include basic public service provision, cleaner streets, better-maintained public spaces and a stronger sense of local safety and pride. We will publish an easily accessible digital tool showing progress, so that residents can see how their neighbourhood is performing and hold the relevant bodies to account for delivery.

We will put more power in the hands of the nations’ mayors. Our new English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 means that mayors can request the new powers and funding they need. As part of the first round of that new right-to-request process, we are now signing off on a series of new power transfers. As previously announced by the Transport Secretary, we will devolve decisions on Transport and Works Act orders to mayors, with a consultation to be launched in the autumn to consider the scope of powers to be devolved. This will provide mayors more tools to get on with building public transport, like tram networks. We will also go further on the devolution of public services. We have already announced plans for Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire to pilot a deputy mayor for health. We will now work in partnership with the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region to drive up attainment and standards in local schools. In the run up to autumn Budget, we will also work with mayors to explore further devolution, as we know it means better local services for our communities.

We will soon be launching a new programme of community power pilots which will support councils, community groups and local residents to co-design solutions to local problems, explore longer term models of community involvement in service delivery, and help build neighbourhood and community capacity for the future.

Finally, we want to give social housing tenants greater control of their homes and communities. Our Renters’ Rights Act 2025 has already given tenants greater control and our leasehold reforms will do the same for homeowners. We are committed to social tenants’ right to manage, and we are reviewing how the existing process works, so we can make it as easy as possible for more tenants to take on management duties, with effective support and oversight.

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