Neighbourhood Regeneration and New Labour's Third Way

Abstract

In the Unted Kingdom New Labour has claimed to be pursuing a ‘third way’, with policy implications intended to break away from and/or move beyond established debates and policy alternatives. In this paper we explore, identify, and discuss what New Labour's third way means with regard to neighbourhood regeneration in England. The paper has two main aims: first, to review developments in neighbourhood regeneration policy and, second, to assess New Labour's third way in respect of neighbourhood regeneration. The paper is in four main parts. The first provides a broad-brush review of the New Right approach to neighbourhood regeneration in the form of the Thatcher and Major governments. This provides the point of departure for the second part, which discusses the Blair government's neighbourhood regeneration policies in terms of policy change or continuity in four substantive areas: welfare policy, housing policy, regeneration, and the institutional context for regeneration. The third part identifies some of the key themes in New Labour's approach and the final part draws some overarching conclusions.