A report highlighted the value of measuring the changing performance of public services at a neighbourhood level. It presented the findings of a pilot exercise to gather data for a range of community safety services, and the lessons that could be learnt from this and an earlier pilot study on street cleansing services. It also presented the conclusions of new work on valuing the benefits of neighbourhood management.
Source: Peter Tyler, Colin Warnock and Angela Brennan, Measuring and Valuing Public Services at the Neighbourhood Level, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report said that when schools and housing providers worked together closely they could achieve better educational performance, improve behaviour, and boost the reputation of neighbourhoods.
Source: John Thornhill and Joanne Kent-Smith, Housing, Schools and Communities, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700)
Links: Report | CIH press release | NASUWT press release
Date: 2009-Nov
An article drew on a case study of an employment project aimed at young people with learning difficulties (funded as part of the Single Regeneration Budget), to explore how such projects operated in the context of area-based renewal – and what the gains, if any, were for disabled people.
Source: Claire Edwards, 'Regeneration works? Disabled people and area-based urban renewal', Critical Social Policy, Volume 29 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Nov
A report brought together key spatial statistics to provide a longitudinal and cross-country overview of contemporary changes to housing and neighbourhoods, and an assessment of progress against key government policy objectives. It said that the government was unlikely to meet its target of 3 million new homes by 2020: in order to reach this number, a building rate would be needed that not been achieved at any point since the early 1990s.
Source: Cecilia Wong et al., Housing and Neighbourhoods Monitor: UK-wide report, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241)
Links: Report | Summary | JRF press release | Local Government Chronicle report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report examined the scope for local initiatives aimed at tackling problems of worklessness.
Source: Chris Hasluck, Graham Thom and Urvashi Parashar, Employment Recovery: Local solutions for a national challenge, SQW Consulting (020 7307 7140)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Oct
A group of linked reports examined the achievements of the housing market renewal pathfinders (a programme to renew the housing stock in areas of low housing demand). There was a greater sense of confidence among the pathfinders than previously – about their own strategies, the likelihood of continued government support, and the value in sharing good practice and developing ideas together at senior levels in the teams. At the strategic level, there had been a perceptible move from a focus on the consequences of long-term economic decline on the housing stock to stronger links being forged with the drivers of economic growth at the local and sub-regional levels.
Source: Philip Leather, Ed Ferrari and Ian Cole, National Evaluation of Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders 2005-2007, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only) | Key Messages and Evidence on the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Programme 2003-2009, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236) | David Robinson and Sioned Pearce, Housing Market Renewal and Community Cohesion, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only) | ECOTEC, Policy Alignment and Partnership Working in Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders, Department for Communities and Local Government (web only) | ECOTEC and Nevin Leather Associates, Wider Performance Measures for the Housing Market Renewal Programme, Department for Communities and Local Government (web only) | Peter Tyler, Angela Brennan, Colin Warnock and Steve Stevens, Value for Money Issues and the Evaluation of the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Programme, Department for Communities and Local Government (web only) | Ian Cole and Sioned Pearce, Housing Market Renewal and Private Sector Developers, Department for Communities and Local Government (web only)
Links: Report (Leather) | Report (Key messages) | Report (Robinson) | Report (ECOTEC) | Report (ECOTEC/Leather) | Report (Tyler) | Report (Cole) | Inside Housing report
Date: 2009-Oct
A think-tank report examined the effects of the economic downturn on the future direction of regeneration policy, and what needed to change in order to prepare the regeneration sector for the upturn.
Source: Paul Hackett (ed.), Regeneration in a Downturn: What needs to change?, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Sep
A new textbook examined urban regeneration policy.
Source: Andrew Tallon, Urban Regeneration in the UK, Routledge (01264 343071)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Aug
The inspectorate for education and children's services examined the impact of integrated services on children, parents, and families in 20 children's centres in deprived areas. The effective integration of services was having a positive impact in terms of support for children and parents in over half of the centres visited. Three centres were judged as making an outstanding difference. Challenges remained, however, in relation to onward links with primary schools, reaching the most vulnerable families, and developing data on outcomes for parents and children. The least effective partnership working seen was between the children's centres and Jobcentre Plus.
Source: The Impact of Integrated Services on Children and their Families in Sure Start Children's Centres, HMI 080253, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | New Start report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report examined the existing context for geographically focused community regeneration in Scotland, the impact of previous interventions, and future challenges for area-based regeneration.
Source: Andrew Fyfe, Tackling Multiple Deprivation in Communities: Considering the evidence, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jun
A manifesto called for government action to remove 'barriers' to investment in regeneration schemes.
Source: Regeneration Manifesto, British Property Federation (020 7828 0111)
Links: Manifesto
Date: 2009-Jun
A report examined whether a benchmarking system would support the achievement of best value for money from Sure Start children's centres, and whether it would support delivery of their key objectives. It was concluded that the wide variety of management/financial arrangements and structures would make a benchmarking system difficult to implement.
Source: HEDRA, Sure Start Children's Centres: Financial Benchmarking to Ensure Value for Money, Research Report RR123, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2009-Jun
A report by an all-party group of MPs examined conditions in the regeneration industry in the wake of the economic recession, and assessed the viability of existing regeneration financing models. It highlighted the need for cities to have additional financial tools and revenue-raising options. Accelerated development zones (ADZs) – schemes under which future increases in tax revenue caused by new development were used to fund infrastructure spending – should be introduced as a key step towards achieving this objective.
Source: Regeneration and the Recession: Unlocking the money, All Party Urban Development Group (0207 802 0128)
Links: Report | APUDG press release | New Start report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report examined the ways in which outreach was being delivered by children's centres and schools offering access to extended services. It said that children's centres and schools were successfully engaging 'hard-to-reach' families – including those affected by poverty, poor living environments, health problems, and other features of social exclusion.
Source: Capacity, Outreach to Children and Families: A Scoping Study, Research Report RR116, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2009-Jun
An article examined neighbourhoods as sites for the planning and delivery of interventions in the crime and community safety theme of the New Deal for Communities programme. Neighbourhoods had much to offer in the context of devolved governance: but it was important to recognize their limitations as well as their strengths.
Source: Sarah Pearson, 'How low should you go? Neighbourhood level interventions in the crime and community safety theme of New Deal for Communities', People, Place & Policy, Volume 3 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2009-May
The government published (following consultation) a new framework for regeneration in England. It defined regeneration as: 'reversing economic, social, and physical decline in areas where market forces would not do this without support from government'. Regeneration needed to be more tightly focused on improving economic outcomes and tackling worklessness.
Source: Transforming Places Changing Lives: Taking forward the regeneration framework, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | Hansard | Equality Impact Assessment | Consultation document
Date: 2009-May
An audit report said that Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders, designed to revive the housing market in the North and Midlands, were being hit hard by the recession and might struggle to recover.
Source: Housing Market Renewal: Programme Review 2008/09, Audit Commission (0800 502030)
Links: Report | Audit Commission press release | HCA press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2009-May
An article examined the potential relevance of the 'geographic' issues of space and scale, and the 'the politics of scale', to the New Deal for Communities programme.
Source: Deirdre Duffy, 'A new deal for political space: what effect could space have on attitudes to the New Deal for Communities?', People, Place & Policy, Volume 3 Issue 1
Links: Article
Date: 2009-May
An action plan highlighted the potential role of housing organizations in Scotland as catalysts for regenerating deprived communities.
Source: Acton Plan: Community Regeneration, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (0131 225 4544)
Links: Action plan | CIH press release
Date: 2009-Mar
A report set out the baseline position for the Mixed Communities Initiative – designed to tackle area disadvantage by bringing together housing and neighbourhood renewal strategies to reduce concentrations of deprivation, stimulate economic development, and improve public services.
Source: Evaluation of the Mixed Communities Initiative Demonstration Projects: Initial Report – Baseline and early process issues, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Date: 2009-Mar
The government published a summary of responses to a consultation on a draft new regeneration framework.
Source: Transforming Places; Changing Lives: A framework for regeneration – Summary of Consultation Responses, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | Consultation document
Date: 2009-Mar
A report by a committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly said that the neighbourhood renewal strategy had yet to deliver its objectives.
Source: Report on the Consultation on the Implementation of the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy, Second Report (Session 2008-09), Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Social Development, TSO (028 9023 8451)
Links: Report | Committee press release
Date: 2009-Mar
A report examined how different estate- and area-based transformation programmes were trying to develop more mixed communities, under the Mixed Communities Initiative. There was some confusion among practitioners about what was meant by a 'mixed communities approach', and many applied the term restrictively to creating more mixed-tenure areas. The report identified a range of barriers and tensions that might impede the development of more mixed communities – but also cases where mixed communities had been (or were in the process of being) developed.
Source: Geoff Fordham and Ian Cole, Delivering Mixed Communities: Learning the lessons from existing programmes, Department for Communities and Local Government (web publication only)
Date: 2009-Mar
A new book critically examined the notion that area-based initiatives could allow enterprise to address the complexity behind deprivation and social exclusion.
Source: Alan Southern, Enterprise and Deprivation: Small business, social exclusion and sustainable communities, Routledge (01264 343071)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Feb
The government published a strategy for improving the health of children and young people. There would be stronger and better joined-up support during the crucial early years of life, including more health visitors; and a strengthened role for Sure Start children's centres with, for the first time, each centre having access to a named health visitor.
Source: Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures: The strategy for children and young people's health, Department of Health (08701 555455) and Department for Children, Schools and Families
Links: Strategy | Summary | Impact assessment | Hansard | DH press release | DCSF press release | RCN press release | Action for Children press release | CPAG press release | NCT press release | CDC press release | NCB press release | Scope press release | Conservative Party press release | Community Care report | New Start report | Guardian report | Pulse report
Date: 2009-Feb
An article said that there was a lack of understanding of what motivated individuals to become community activists. A research project in east Manchester (in the north of England) had found that the motives of activists were varied, and more nuanced than was proposed by existing social science theories such as rational choice, social network theory, or the application of such concepts as 'citizen-consumers'.
Source: Georgina Blakeley and Brendan Evans, 'Who participates, how and why in urban regeneration projects? The case of the new "city" of east Manchester', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 43 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Feb
A new book critically examined the notion that area-based initiatives could allow enterprise to address the complexity behind deprivation and social exclusion.
Source: Alan Southern, Enterprise and Deprivation: Small business, social exclusion and sustainable communities, Routledge (01264 343071)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Feb
A survey found that 9 out of 10 parents who used Sure Start children's centres were happy with the service they received. The most popular services were childcare and nursery education.
Source: TNS Social, Sure Start Children's Centres: Survey of Parents, Research Report RR083, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | DCSF press release | Conservative Party press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Feb
A study sought to identify and measure the wide range of community and social impacts from retail-led regeneration schemes.
Source: Ruth Claxton and Georgia Siora, Retail-led Regeneration: Why it matters to our communities, Business in the Community (0870 600 2482) and BCSC Educational Trust
Links: Report | BITC press release
Date: 2009-Jan
An article examined the engagement of users in service delivery, service planning, and monitoring/evaluation activities for children's centres in Greater Merseyside (in north west England). Research indicated that a lack of time to implement (and develop trust in) the new arrangements, a lack of awareness by users about participation, and a broader remit for children's centres were all hampering the involvement of users. Without such participation there was a real risk that the existing needs of the most disadvantaged groups would not be adequately addressed.
Source: Simon Pemberton and Jennifer Mason, 'Co-production and Sure Start children's centres: reflecting upon users', perspectives and implications for service delivery, planning and evaluation', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Jan
A report examined the concept of tax increment financing (or 'local tax re-investment') as a mechanism for funding regeneration. (Tax increment financing enables a local authority to trade anticipated future tax income for a present benefit – typically, those investing in municipal debt funded using TIF are incentivized to do so by a tax exemption for interest they receive.)
Source: Tax Increment Financing: A new tool for funding regeneration in the UK?, British Property Federation (020 7828 0111)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jan
A report examined the implications of the global financial crisis for the regeneration sector. There was a need to protect economically and financially marginal projects.
Source: Michael Parkinson, Michael Ball, Neil Blake and Tony Key, The Credit Crunch and Regeneration: Impact and implications, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | DCLG press release | Centre for Cities press release
Date: 2009-Jan