A think tank report examined the key pressures facing Britain's neighbourhoods and considered what powers and responsibilities might enable people to drive improvements to their local areas.
Source: Kayte Lawton, Living in a Good Home and Neighbourhood, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
An article examined an area-based regeneration initiative in Europe that had achieved its regeneration aims. It discussed the focus on narrowly constructed (economic) targets versus more holistic (community) outcomes and questioned the merits of output-driven regeneration strategies.
Source: Lee Pugalis, 'Hitting the target but missing the point: the case of area-based regeneration', Community Development Journal, Volume 44 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A report by a committee of peers said that limited progress had been made in building on opportunities for sports participation, transport, volunteering and regeneration. The committee had found there was confusion on timeframes, targets, and ownership for delivery of the legacy elements. Recommendations included: action on sports facilities and coaching; a single minister to take charge of the spectrum of legacy activities; and the Mayor of London to take responsibility for delivering regeneration in East London and the Olympic Park.
Source: Keeping the Flame Alive: The Olympic and Paralympic legacy, First Report (Session 2013–14), HL 78, House of Lords Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined how and why neighbourhoods had been changing in Britain. It examined: which areas were changing most and why; the ways in which housing, the physical environment, employment opportunities, transport and other factors coalesced within neighbourhoods; the past effects of services, institutions and government policies on neighbourhoods; and the effectiveness of different approaches to neighbourhood and community policy. The report made policy recommendations for changes related to local democratic form, budgeting, housing, energy efficiency and neighbourhood planning.
Source: Ed Cox, Anna Turley, Bill Davies, and Mark Harrison, Love thy Neighbourhood: People and place in social reform, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Nov
A special issue of a journal examined economic development in the United Kingdom under the coalition government.
Source: Local Economy, Volume 28 Number 7-8
Links: Table of contents
Notes: Articles included:
James Rees and Alex Lord, 'Making space: putting politics back where it belongs in the construction of city regions in the North of England'
Iain Deas, Stephen Hincks, and Nicola Headlam, 'Explicitly permissive? Understanding actor interrelationships in the governance of economic development: the experience of England s Local Enterprise Partnerships'
David Waite, Duncan Maclennan, and Tony O Sullivan, 'Emerging city policies: devolution, deals and disorder'
Allan Cochrane, Bob Colenutt, and Martin Field, 'Developing a sub-regional growth strategy: reflections on recent English experience'
Sarah Ayres and Graham Pearce, 'A Whitehall perspective on decentralisation in England s emerging territories'
Kevin Broughton, Nigel Berkeley, and David Jarvis, 'Where next for neighbourhood regeneration in England? Two years on'
Mike Chadwick, Peter Tyler, and Colin Warnock, 'How to raise the bar on impact evaluation: challenges for the evaluation of local enterprise partnerships and the regional growth fund in times of austerity'
Lee Pugalis and Gill Bentley, 'Storming or performing? Local Enterprise Partnerships two years on'
Date: 2013-Nov
An article examined the potential for regeneration to have immediate and lasting negative effects for local communities. It discussed ways in which living in an area undergoing regeneration could adversely affect inhabitants' quality of life, drawing on examples from a deprived neighbourhood in the north-east of England. It noted some of the possible implications for future regeneration policy and discussed the implications of existing United Kingdom government policy.
Source: Gill Davidson, David McGuinness, Paul Greenhalgh, Paul Braidford, and Fred Robinson, ''It'll get worse before it gets better': local experiences of living in a regeneration area', Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, Volume 7 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Nov
A report explored how place-based mechanisms such as procurement and co-production could be used to address poverty.
Source: Jonathan Breeze, Clare Cummings, Matthew Jackson, Neil McInroy, and Adrian Nolan, Addressing Poverty Through Local Governance, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | CLES press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A briefing paper examined the housing market renewal pathfinders. It discussed the establishment and purpose of the pathfinders, detailed the government expenditure on them, and outlined the research on their effectiveness.
Source: Wendy Wilson, Housing Market Renewal (HMR) Pathfinders, Standard Note SN/SP/5953, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2013-Oct
An article examined the evaluation of the New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme in England. The evaluation was based on a mixed methods research design involving both 'top-down' quantitative data and 'bottom-up' qualitative case study findings examining how regeneration played out at the local level. There were marked inconsistencies between the two sets of evidence, due largely to local observers being overly optimistic about change associated with the programme's three key design principles: establishing NDC partnerships; working with agencies; and placing the community at the heart of the initiative.
Source: Paul Lawless, 'Reconciling bottom-up perspectives with top-down change data in evaluating area regeneration schemes', European Planning Studies, Volume 21 Issue 10
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Oct
A study examined the role of planning in securing greater social equity. It examined evidence which suggested that planning could integrate more effectively with sectors such as regeneration and health to work towards poverty reduction. The final report called for amendments to the national planning policy framework.
Source: Hugh Ellis and Kate Henderson, Planning Out Poverty: The reinvention of social town planning, Town and Country Planning Association
Links: Report | TCPA press release
Date: 2013-Oct
An article examined how two New Deal for Communities (NDC) partnerships had reacted to issues of food poverty; and what, if anything, they had done to try to alleviate them. Food poverty was not a strategic priority for either NDC partnership, it was found. Although some activity did occur on food issues, the outcomes were limited and key barriers to food access remained in both case study areas.
Source: Hannah Lambie-Mumford, 'Regeneration and food poverty in the United Kingdom: learning from the New Deal for Communities programme', Community Development Journal, Volume 48 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Sep
A new book examined the impacts of area-based initiatives in two deprived urban areas in England and Germany. It evaluated the impacts of these new localism(s) on organizations and development actors at the neighbourhood level.
Source: Rene Peter Hohmann, Regenerating Deprived Urban Areas: A cross-national analysis of area-based initiatives, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined the dynamics of neighbourhood policy, drawing on fieldwork among residents and professional workers in 'disadvantaged' neighbourhoods. The outcomes of neighbourhood policy interventions were unavoidably bound up with 'complex emotional geographies of place', especially those that sought to engage residents in change. This made such policy interventions fragile and time-consuming.
Source: Eleanor Jupp, '"I feel more at home here than in my own community": approaching the emotional geographies of neighbourhood policy', Critical Social Policy, Volume 33 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A special issue of a journal examined the challenges posed by an era of fiscal austerity for the regeneration of deprived areas.
Source: Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, Volume 6 Number 4
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2013-Jun
A report summarized a set of five papers that examined the policies of the former Labour government (1997-2010), charting their impact on the distribution of outcomes, and on poverty and inequality. Labour had set out an ambitious agenda to improve outcomes overall, narrow socio-economic gaps, and modernize public services:
• Public spending went up from 39.5 to 47.4 per cent of national income. This was a large rise: but until the 2008 global crisis, spending levels were unexceptional by historic standards.
• The extra spending went mainly on services. Health and education both increased as a proportion of all public spending.
• Nearly all the extra cash spent on benefits went on children and pensioners. Benefits for working-age people unrelated to having children fell as a proportion of national income.
• Access and quality in public services improved, including waiting times for health services and pupil-teacher ratios.
• Outcomes improved and gaps closed on virtually all the socio-economic indicators targeted, such as poverty for children and pensioners, and school attainment.
• But there was no progress in some areas that were not subject to explicit targets: poverty for working-age people without children rose; there was no real change in levels of income inequality; and disparities in regional economic performance persisted.
Source: Ruth Lupton (with John Hills, Kitty Stewart, and Polly Vizard), Labour s Social Policy Record: Policy, spending and outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Research Report 1, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Links: Report | Supplementary paper | Nuffield Foundation press release | Guardian report
Notes: Details of individual papers:
Polly Vizard and Polina Obolenskaya, Labour s Record on Health (1997-2010), Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 2
Ruth Lupton and Polina Obolenskaya, Labour s Record on Education: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 3
Kitty Stewart, Labour s Record on the Under Fives: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 4
John Hills, Labour s Record on Cash Transfers, Poverty, Inequality and the Lifecycle 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 5
Ruth Lupton, Alex Fenton, and Amanda Fitzgerald, Labour s Record on Neighbourhood Renewal in England: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper 6
Date: 2013-Jun
A think-tank report said that the model of regeneration funding that had supported investment in many cities before the start of the global economic recession was no longer viable. Private sector banks and other investors had a much weaker appetite for risk, and the public policy goal of reducing the deficit meant that there was much less money for state-led regeneration. New models were required to support investment in cities, including urban development funds.
Source: Paul Swinney and Zach Wilcox, Developing Interest: The future of urban development funds in the UK, Centre for Cities
Date: 2013-Apr
The Welsh Government published a new regeneration framework. Intensive targeted regeneration investment in a small number of key places would be used to support local growth in town centres, coastal communities, and 'Communities First' clusters.
Source: Vibrant and Viable Places: New regeneration framework, Welsh Government
Links: Framework | Welsh Government press release
Date: 2013-Mar
A think-tank report called for a more joined-up approach to government policy on welfare, poverty, and employment. It proposed a 'social contract' between residents, local business, service providers, and the wider community, which would account for the needs of local labour markets, community networks, and social assets. Regeneration was not just a matter of reviving housing markets and providing transport infrastructure: it should engage with the people who were most affected by poverty in the places where they lived, working with them to create solutions that worked in the context of their lives, and strengthening the links and assets that were already important to them.
Source: Julian Dobson, Responsible Recovery: A social contract for local growth, ResPublica
Links: Report | Summary | CLES press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined outcomes from the 1998 2011 New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme in 39 deprived English areas. Three sets of factors might help to explain why some areas saw more change than others: NDC partnership-level activities; characteristics of NDC areas; and the wider local authority context. Little change could be attributed to the characteristics or activities of NDC partnerships themselves. This raised questions relating to the ability of regeneration schemes to instigate positive change, the limited nature of people-based change, the perverse role of educational spend, and differential change across clusters of deprived areas.
Source: Paul Lawless and Christina Beatty, 'Exploring change in local regeneration areas: evidence from the New Deal for Communities programme in England', Urban Studies, Volume 50 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined new regeneration models in which change was driven by local people, connected through solidarity networks, with the state and markets as enablers.
Source: Jess Steele, 'Self-renovating neighbourhoods: unlocking resources for the new regeneration', Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, Volume 6 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan
An article examined options for the future of housing renewal in England. It discussed the Housing Market Renewal initiative 2003–2011, and presented the results of a study with a group of experts. A piecemeal approach was considered necessary in the existing climate. Strong planning policies remained important in supporting neighbourhood regeneration, which should be holistic and community-led, rather than undertaken through imposing top-down attempts at housing market restructuring.
Source: Chris Couch and Matthew Cocks, 'Housing renewal in England: where do we go from here?', Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, Volume 6 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan