Outcomes for Intensive Area-based Regeneration: The New Deal for Communities Programme in England

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The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme in England, launched in 1998, has strong claims to be the most intensive Area Based Initiative (ABI) ever launched anywhere. In 39 deprived English neighbourhoods, each housing about 10,000 people, local partnerships are driving forward ten year programmes designed to transform these areas in relation to five main outcomes: crime, education, worklessness, health, and housing and the environment. The community is 'at the heart of the initiative'. Each of the 39 has been allocated about £75m euros of 'new' NDC money. In addition Partnerships are intended to work with other delivery agencies such as the police, health authorities and local authorities to maintain change after NDC funding ceases. The Programme has been subject to a national evaluation programme, of which the author is Director. In early 2008 a review of new evidence available to the evaluation team was published by government . New change data covering the period 2001/2 to 2005/6 indicates that despite considerable additional resources allocated to these 39 areas they have made only limited improvements when compared with three sets of benchmarks: national, local authority and similarly deprived 'comparator' neighbourhoods. It should be stressed that this change data as yet covers only five years of this 10 year programme. But having said that there is more evidence of positive change between 2001-2004 than in the following two to three years. This is an intensive long term relatively well funded ABI. Yet even in this privileged state there is not yet a lot of evidence to indicate a great deal of change .Why?. There are a number of reasons why transforming these 39 deprived neighbourhoods has proved so complex. The evidence base through which to frame 10 year regeneration programmes is very weak. There are tensions between making longer term plans and ensuring the 'community is at the heart of the programme'. Some agencies have proved reluctant to work with NDCs. The neighbourhood level is not an appropriate spatial configuration within which to change some outcomes such as jobs. Ten years may make some sense at one level because of the scale of deprivation. But it is a long time: institutions change, markets move on, key players leave the stage, local population change, etc. Area regeneration is a complex and demanding process.

Stream: Economic Sustainability

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Paul Lawless is Professor of urban policy at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. He has written six books and more than 50 articles on aspects of urban policy in the UK and US. He has secured funding from the Leverhulme, Rowntrees and Nuffield Foundations, and from the UK government's Economic and Social Research Council. Since 2001 he has been directing the national evaluation of the UK government's New Deal for Communities (NDC). The NDC Programme has strong claims to be the most intensive area based based urban initiative ever launched in either Europe or North America. It is a 10 year initiative, solidly based on community engagement with the objective of achieving change in outcomes areas such as education, jobs and health. It provides a remarkable laboratory through which to explore the problems of reducing poverty in developed societies.