Welfare Reform on the Web - January 2001: Community regeneration and development - UK

£800m PLEDGED FOR ENGLAND’S POOREST AREAS

Frean

Times, Oct. 11^th 2000, p. 12

Announces the launch of an £800m Urban Renewal Fund which will provide extra money for local authorities to spend on education, police and social services. Local authorities in England’s 88 poorest areas will qualify for grants only if they carry out regeneration schemes in partnership with local residents and businesses in an officially recognised Local Strategic Partnership. They will also have to meet national minimum targets for the provision of public services.

(See also Independent, Oct. 11^th 2000, p. 8; Municipal Journal, Oct. 13^th-19^th 2000, p.1)

CHALLENGING IMAGES: HOUSING ESTATES, STIGMA AND REGENERATION

J. Dean and A. Hastings

Bristol: Policy Press, 2000.

Report examines three stigmatised housing estates undergoing regeneration programmes and explores how regeneration initiatives can address image problems. Concludes that a poor image can lessen the benefits of regeneration programmes and should be proactively addressed by regeneration initiatives. There should be awareness of the ‘image impacts’ of the full range of activities undertaken in estates, and the need for a senior image manager is indicated. Image management will not be effective unless it is accompanied by changes on the ground. The timing and tone of image management strategies need to match the regeneration process.

COME THE DEVOLUTION

P. Hetherington

Guardian, Nov. 3^rd 2000, p. 21

For neighbourhood renewal to succeed, central government in England will need to delegate real powers to local and regional authorities.

HAGUE SIGNALS NEW POWERS FOR URBAN REGENERATION COMPANIES

D. Rose

Municipal Journal, 6^th-12^th Oct 2000, p.1

Explains conservative plans to set up powerful business-led urban regeneration companies with interventionist powers over education, health and law and order. The proposed companies would have power to encourage churches, charities and private companies to set up new schools or take over failing ones. They would also be empowered to lure retired GPs back to work and "buy in" extra policemen. Social and private landlords would have stronger powers to evict bad tenants who make life a misery for their neighbours.

"INTENTIONAL" COMMUNITIES: THE KEY TO REGENERATION

M. Field

Axis, Oct./Nov. 2000, p. 15-16

Suggests that it will be impossible for close communities to arise by focusing on housing targets without a corresponding focus on policies to support the development of an affordable and sustainable neighbourhood life.