16 Dec Town centre renewal: A year of changes, surprises and turnarounds
What has changed with town centre renewal in the last year? The Assembly Line founder, Diane Cunningham looks back on some of the changes and highlights from visits around the country.
Funding changes
While dedicated High Street funding is still being spent, projects are concluding as the final months of The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) approach.
A new fund, Pride in Place, was announced by the government, with funding decisions made by local community Neighbourhood Boards supported by the local authority, MP and the Local Growth Fund
It’s welcome to see the government taking a longer-term approach to regeneration, but as usual, it won’t be enough in some places.
Looking ahead
Next year, all eyes will be on local government reorganisation and how that may change where funds go.
Potentially more will go to the combined authorities, but will this make it easier or harder to develop projects in the places where they are needed?
We expect to see a continued focus on partnership structures, which have been shown to be key in securing funds and delivering projects.
As budgets remain challenging in local authorities, other organisations from business improvement districts (BIDs) to Community Land Trusts and developers will need to fill the gap. Many of them are well equipped to do so.
From surprises to turnarounds: travel highlights
It’s been a year packed with visits and tours to places around the country, from the north east, including Newcastle and Sunderland and Birkenhead in the north west, to Hastings on the south coast, while still discovering unfamiliar and new parts of London.
Highlights include:
Place that surprised: Barking & Dagenham
I was part of a working group which created a town centre vision a few years ago for Barking, but I hadn’t seen the rest of the borough.
A tour with the former council leader revealed how much land is available and the scale of development delivered so far, from film studios to housing. Crucially, the developments connect with local residents.
Place that’s seen the biggest turnaround: Sunderland (when finished)
The scale of regeneration in Sunderland city centre is staggering, with the aim of creating jobs, housing and more leisure uses.
Strategic phasing is naturally important, but also a sense of realism for what can be delivered and when.
Having the right partners, collaboration, and inclusive engagement are proving highly effective in driving forward the regeneration.
Place with the most unique approach to town centre renewal: Hastings Commons
It’s inspiring to see the community’s tenacity and hands-on approach in acquiring buildings to bring them back into use for the benefit of local people.
The town’s iconic Observer Building is just one example of how local people are getting on with revitalising the town, where the private sector has failed.
The place doing the most with little: Station to Station – Business Improvement District
I met with the BID recently for a walkabout in West Norwood and Tulse Hill, discovering a range of interventions from greening to murals and a local app. It’s a lean team with a low levy income, but it is delivering a lot in south London.
One to watch in 2026: Birkenhead
While there is funding, there is a lot of scepticism swirling around the plans for Birkenhead on the Wirral.
At a grassroots level, change is happening, but the trials and tribulations around the council-owned shopping centres and plans to relocate the market keep grabbing the headlines in a bad way.
But, to counterbalance this, the former gas works on Hind St is earmarked for transformation into a new neighbourhood called Borough Yard.
Will 2026 be the year that there’s a shift to positive coverage of Birkenhead’s plans?
Key town centre renewal themes
How can we make high streets easier to fix?
As part of the Policy Liaison Group for Housing Delivery & Growth’s boosting Britain’s High Streets campaign, I highlighted some ways to deliver renewal that reflect the current funding and policy landscape.
This included shifting away from a top-down approach to one that empowers and supports local communities to help them bring about change, particularly through meanwhile use.
Bridging the gap between public and private sector communications
There’s a gap between public and private sector communications born out of different organisational structures and constraints, but there are plenty of ways to bridge that gap.
The overarching advice is to ask the critical questions upfront to understand the local authority’s internal structures, key players, processes, and timelines, and then adapt your project approach and communication strategy accordingly.
How many reports does it take to revitalise a place or bring about change?
I explored the curse of the report that gets commissioned then shelved, suggesting ways to break the cycle and start delivering real change.
These include professional partnerships between practitioners (consultants) and local authorities, focusing on clarity, scope management, and actionable outcomes from the start.
But also highlighting how important it is to look at what you already have and join the dots between existing reports and alternative forms of engagement.
What else have we been up to in 2025?
- Devising a city centre action plan to tackle vacant units, public realm, events and markets.
- Running a business improvement district (BID), combining our place, marketing and governance expertise.
- Creating a roadmap to identify viable options for meanwhile use on a large, empty site.
- Working with a high street group and housing developer to identify projects for a Section 106 agreement.
- Developing a tender framework and marketing pack for a local authority to find a new market operator.
If you need support on projects like these next year, get in touch via hello@theassemblyline.co.uk
We’ll be back in the new year with more travels and observations, so don’t forget to subscribe to get notified when a new article is published.
In the meantime, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy 2026.
This is our December newsletter where we discuss things we have seen and lessons learnt monthly.
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