Thriving Places

A partnership between us, Natural England and the National Trust brings together organisations from across the UK to improve the quality of and access to urban green spaces in towns and cities.

In the fourth year of our Areas of Focus initiative, we examine how our support is benefiting communities and their heritage in our 13 target areas.

How we’ve used data about heritage, society and investment levels, alongside local insight, to select an initial nine locations across the UK for strategic investment.

We take a look at the progress we’ve made through our Areas of Focus programme three years in, and what we still need to do to meet future goals.

We take a look at the ongoing impact of our Great Place Scheme in England, a year on from our original end of project evaluation.

We compare the findings of our two £22m Great Place Schemes to learn how culture and heritage can drive positive change locally.

We investigate the impact of our funding for placemaking and explore how our we can better support people and places to thrive across the UK.

We look at the key learnings and recommendations from the first 24 months of our Areas of Focus initiative.

This report presents insights from local authorities to help deliver resilient heritage and long-term improvements to places and communities.

Between December 2017 and March 2018, The Fund awarded through Great Place Scheme Nations (GPS Nations), grants ranging between £150,000 to £500,000 to 18 places in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

BOP Consulting evaluation of the Great Place Scheme, an initiative which is piloting new approaches to putting culture at the heart of communities and local policy-making.