Plan for Change: Backing Local Communities
Plan for Change: Backing Local Communities
Pride and belonging go hand in hand. After years of decline under 14 years of Conservative neglect, getting Britain back on track starts with getting our neighbourhoods back on track. Labour is investing in renewal, fixing local transport, making our communities safer and our high streets more vibrant — honouring our heritage and building the future our neighbourhoods deserve.
Backing Local Communities with Pride in Place
We know people are proud of their local communities, but the Tories failed to match that ambition. So Labour is giving local people control over new money to make communities better.
The new £5.8 billion Pride in Place fund is giving communities all over the country £2 million each year for a decade, with local people taking control of how to spend money on projects to create jobs, boost growth and help their communities thrive. This is a Labour Government committed to empowering local people and putting them at the centre of local decision making.
We’re reforming planning and licensing rules to help new cafes, bars and venues open in place of disused shops and bring beloved buildings back into public use. We’re also clamping down on illegal high street activity in premises like mini-marts, barbershops, vape shops, nail bars and car washes.
We’re cracking down on fly-tipping by supporting councils to seize and crush more vehicles of suspected fly-tippers and bringing in new prison sentences of up to five years for those transporting waste illegally. Under our Waste Crime Action Plan, fly-tippers will be forced to join clean-up squads, spending up to 20 hours clearing the streets they’ve trashed.
Making Our Communities Safer
Labour is taking action to make high streets safer, so they can be places where people want to be again.
As part of our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are putting 13,000 new neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs on our streets. We reached our initial target of 3,000 extra two months early and every community now has a named, contactable officer they can rely on. We’re giving police forces new powers to tackle the crimes that matter most to communities, including the ability to seize off-road bikes and other vehicles involved in antisocial behaviour.
We’re increasing targeted visible police patrols to clamp down on shop theft and street crime in high streets and town centres. And we’re making Britain’s roads safer through our Road Safety Strategy, which includes cracking down on drink and drug driving, action against ‘ghost’ number plates and tougher penalties for uninsured drivers.
Connecting Our Communities
Labour is investing in long-overdue road repairs, improving public transport and keeping costs down for people who use it.
We’re delivering the biggest-ever investment in road maintenance to fix millions of potholes — making a visible difference and saving drivers money on car repairs.
We’re supporting local bus services, giving local councils more control over bus routes, timetables, connections and fares, and capping bus fares at £3.
We’re freezing rail fares for the first time in 30 years, saving commuters money. And we’re bringing railways back into public control, building a railway Britain can be proud of.
Bringing Services to the Heart of Our Communities
Labour is investing in new services that are close at hand, welcoming and open when you need them.
We’re creating new Neighbourhood Health Centres in your local area, offering a full range of services open 12 hours a day, six days a week.
We’ve opened hundreddshundreds new Best Start Family Hubs, where families can access a range of services and support all in one place, from pregnancy through the early years and beyond. That’s alongside free breakfast clubs to give parents more help with childcare.
Labour’s Young Futures Hubs will bring together services for teenagers and young people under one roof, with support ranging from wellbeing and mental health to careers advice — especially aimed at helping those at risk of being drawn into gangs, violence or knife crime.
The Greens offer plenty of talk, but no serious plan to fund public services or keep communities secure.
You can’t fund public services with more borrowing, or make our streets safer by legalising all drugs, or respond to global insecurity by leaving NATO and just asking Putin to give up his nuclear weapons.
What Labour Is Delivering
- £5.8 billion in Pride in Place funding is putting communities in charge of their own renewal, with £2 million a year for every area over the next decade
- We’ve already put 3,000 extra neighbourhood police on our streets, as a first step to 13,000 extra this Parliament – every community now has a named officer they can rely on
- New powers to tackle antisocial behaviour, shop theft and street crime to make high streets safer
- Millions of potholes are being fixed through the biggest-ever investment in road maintenance
- Bus fares are capped at £3 and rail fares are frozen for the first time in 30 years
- New Neighbourhood Health Centres, Best Start Family Hubs and Young Futures Hubs are bringing vital services closer to home
- Planning reforms are breathing new life into high streets, and fly-tipping is being tackled with tougher penalties
What Labour Is Delivering Locally
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