The Government has been accused of leaving Tiverton and Minehead “out in the cold” by Conservative campaigner James Wright after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that the area was passed over for a major £20 million investment fund without a single local person being consulted.
The Pride in Place programme, a multi-billion-pound initiative aimed at rejuvenating the UK’s towns, expanded its reach in late 2025 to include 169 new locations. However, the new Tiverton and Minehead constituency was missing from the list, prompting local campaigners to demand answers as to why the area was ignored.
In a formal response to the FOI request, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) admitted it had “no recorded representations or correspondence” from anyone in Tiverton or Minehead during the design of the funding phase. More controversially, the Department refused to release the scores that determined which towns got the cash and which did not.
The response also confirmed that the Government did not perform any impact assessments on why specific places, like Tiverton and Minehead, were excluded, stating the process was “undertaken entirely through quantitative assessment”.
James Wright, a local farmer and campaigner who spearheaded the investigation, said the findings prove that rural communities are being governed by “faceless spreadsheets.”
“Government by spreadsheet is leaving areas like ours behind” Mr. Wright said. “Imagine the impact in towns like Minehead, Tiverton, Watchet or Wiveliscombe this money would have had? “
“It a rigged game. While we are told to wait, billions are being funnelled into urban areas where the Labour is more worried about the vote. We don’t want secret scores; we need the investment we were promised for our high streets and communities.”
The “Pride in Place” funding is designed to support areas suffering from high deprivation and weak social infrastructure. While towns like Bridgwater and parts of Plymouth have secured 10-year investment deals worth up to £20 million, Tiverton and Minehead remain ineligible for the current round of support.
The Government maintains that its methodology identifies the “most in need” neighbourhoods using national data. However, critics argue this approach systematically overlooks the unique challenges of rural poverty and the “hidden” deprivation found in market and coastal towns.
