IPM joins new national partnership to support community-led high street regeneration
The Institute of Place Management is proud to support Community-Led High Street Innovators, a new 12-month learning partnership launched today by Power to Change. To find out more about the funding for the five Innovators, visit: www.powertochange.org.uk.
Led by Power to Change - the independent trust supporting community businesses in England - the programme will support five pioneering community organisations as they test new approaches to revitalising high streets and town centres through local leadership, shared learning, and policy innovation.
Five places in England, including Bristol, Stockport, Birkenhead, and Dewsbury, have been selected to take part, each representing a different model of community-led intervention. From reactivating vacant buildings to piloting new powers like High Street Rental Auctions, the programme will generate vital insight into the barriers and enablers facing communities as they seek to reclaim and repurpose their high streets.
As part of this initiative, Ian Harvey, Head of the Institute of Place Management, has joined the new High Street Policy Reference Group - a cross-sector body convened by Power to Change to share best practice, shape ideas, and champion evidence-informed policymaking. The group will help ensure learning from the Community-Led High Street Innovators informs national strategies and local decisions on place regeneration.
Ian said:
“At the Institute of Place Management, we see first-hand how community place leaders are playing an increasingly central role in shaping the future of high streets. The Community-Led High Street Innovators represent many of the most inspiring and innovative examples of this in action. But there’s still plenty of work to do to create better policies so the communities that want to have a say in their high street can. Power to Change’s High Street Policy Reference Group provides an exciting opportunity to ensure the evidence emerging from the Innovators can help inform better policy and practice for community-led high street regeneration. I am looking forward to making visits to these inspiring projects during 2025/2026 and highlighting these success stories to many others across the country.”
This work aligns closely with IPM’s ongoing commitment to promoting inclusive place leadership, strengthening local partnerships, and championing best practice in high street transformation.
To find out more about the programme and the five Innovators, visit: www.powertochange.org.uk
About the author
Formed in 2006, the Institute of Place Management is the international professional body that supports people committed to developing, managing and making places better.