Pride in Place at Party Conferences

Look out for the NHC at Party Conferences over the next couple of weeks where MPs and stakeholders will get a first look at the findings of our exciting new research project: ‘Pride in Place’. The project heard directly from residents on what Levelling Up and Pride in Place means to them, their priorities and aspirations for communities across the North, and how housing providers, local authorities and government can help support Levelling Up ambitions.

The breakfast briefings ‘Levelling Up: What Do Northern Communities Prioritise?’ will showcase the full breadth of how NHC members contribute to regeneration in the broadest sense, tackling inequalities, and overall, improving community belonging and boosting pride in place.

Fostering pride and belonging in local areas is a source of community cohesion and social capital and will play a key role in reducing local and regional inequality across the UK.

The project is run in partnership with research agency Thinks Insight and Strategy, and supported by five housing providers across the North of England: Blackpool Coastal Housing, Karbon Homes, Livv Housing Group, MSV Housing Group and Yorkshire Housing.

The research included five three-hour deliberative workshops across the North of England; in Blackpool, Moss Side in Manchester, Prescot in Knowsley (Merseyside), Benwell in Newcastle, and Skipton in North Yorkshire; and brought together both social rent and private rented sector residents. Residents were then brought together for a co-creation workshop in Leeds alongside other stakeholders, including colleagues from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The final report will be launched at November’s Northern Housing Summit where there will be a session with Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Leanne Hearne, Chief Executive, Livv Housing Group, John Donnellon, Chief Executive, Blackpool Coastal Housing, and Jenny Summers, Research Director, Thinks Insight & Strategy.