New Deal For Communities Programme Research Articles

Neighbourhood regeneration through a longitudinal lens: Exploring crisis temporalities in Bristol, UK

AbstractThis paper employs a longitudinal lens to examine the temporal dimensions of urban neighbourhood regeneration. Specifically, it focuses on four neighbourhoods in Bristol, UK, which were subject to the flagship New Deal for Communities programme from 2000 to 2010. By combining past research into the (then) emerging impact of the NDC with data from more recent enquiries into the daily lives and experiences of residents after the programme's end, the paper considers if and how these neighbourhoods were altered and whether the NDC programme continues to have impact beyond its funding period. The aim is not simply to evaluate the programme's success and legacy, but also to reflect on how past policies interact with present and future temporalities. As such, community perspectives of continuity and change are used as a basis for discussion of the ways in which the urban present is assembled. Within this discussion, the impact of the coronavirus emergency and austerity measures on these neighbourhoods is considered. Both crises underline that regeneration is a dynamic and vulnerable process that does not follow a predetermined or linear trajectory. For this reason, the paper emphasises the need to move beyond singular, snapshot inquiries and instead adopt a longitudinal approach that considers developments beyond the immediate and visible outcomes of urban policy.

Social cohesion, neighbourhood resilience, and health: evidence from New Deal for Communities programme

BackgroundThe contribution of socioeconomic determinants to health is well established, whereas the role of contextual and environmental factors, such as social community cohesion and control, remains understudied. These factors could possibly be the drivers of neighbourhood resilience, and hence help to explain variation in health among residents of communities situated in similarly disadvantaged neighbourhoods. This study aimed to assess the effects of different dimensions of social cohesion on resilience and health in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the UK. MethodsTo explore which elements of social cohesion are associated with self-assessed health and mental health of residents living in communities in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, we conducted secondary data analysis using four waves (2002–08) of biannual repeat cross-sectional surveys collected for the New Deal for Communities programme (about 17 710 individuals per wave). Ten items depicting community social cohesion were subjected to principal axis factor analysis with varimax rotation. Two-level logit models accounted for the clustering of residents (level 1) within 39 areas (level 2), and were used to estimate the likelihood of reporting good self-assessed health and good mental health. To check robustness, analyses were repeated on pooled data after excluding duplications. FindingsThree social cohesion factors explained 54·4% of the total variance (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin 0·784; χ2=36890·26, df=45, p<0·0001) and were classified as trust in local organisations, social network and neighbourliness, and control and participation. After adjustment for baseline and sociodemographic characteristics, two social cohesion factors (trust in local organisations, and social network and neighbourliness) were associated with good self-assessed health (odds ratio 1·29 [95% CI 1·22–1·35] and 1·09 [1·04–1·15], respectively). Associations with control and participation were not significant. Findings for mental health showed a similar pattern. InterpretationOur preliminary results illustrate the importance of social cohesion, particularly of trust in local organisations and social network and neighbourliness for self-assessed and mental health among residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods. These findings support recent public health strategies that emphasise the importance of community cohesion and control to promote neighbourhood resilience and initiatives aimed at reduction of health and social inequalities. FundingThis work was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Public Health Research.

Examinations of Meanings of Community Participation in Urban Regeneration and Their Applications in Regeneration Policy: Focusing on New Deal for Communities Programme in the UK

Examinations of Meanings of Community Participation in Urban Regeneration and Their Applications in Regeneration Policy: Focusing on New Deal for Communities Programme in the UK

Democratic Sustainability in a New Era of Localism. By John Stanton

This book considers the importance of democratic principles in tackling the complex problems arising from attempts to create sustainable communities in Britain. The ‘sustainable communities’ agenda recognises that although achieving sustainable development will require global agreement, local action will be vital in achieving this aim. It is generally believed that accountability and citizen participation can help to provide solutions to the problems of these communities, but this book seeks to prove this within a theoretical framework based on a model of ‘local sustainability’. The context for this investigation is referred to as ‘localism’ in England and focuses on two recent programmes for neighbourhood action—Labour’s New Deal for Communities programme and the Coalition Government’s Neighbourhood Planning scheme. The book begins by discussing the definition of sustainability with reference to the work of the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) and the agreements stemming from the UN Conference on Environment and Development, in 1992. It then outlines the response to these agreements in the UK at both national and local level. From this discussion, the first chapter concludes by devising a model of ‘local sustainability’ that is used as a mode of analysis throughout. The model of ‘local sustainability’ is based on a three pronged approach that includes: the ‘needs of the people’; ‘sustainability’—focusing on the longevity of projects and strategies; and the ‘three pillar approach’—referring to environmental, social and economic development. This is rooted in an analysis of the UK Strategy for Sustainable Development 2005, as inspired by the Brundtland definition of sustainable development and the ‘three pillar’ approach of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation for Sustainable Development (agreed at the UN Conference on Environment and Development, in 2012). Having established the model of local sustainability, the book proceeds to detail the notion of accountability and citizen participation and how they relate to ‘local sustainability’, before examining how these principles have underlined the processes of local government reform in recent times. Most significant, is Chapter 5 which contrasts community-led approaches to neighbourhood action under the Labour and Coalition Government administrations.

Outcomes for ‘stayers’ in urban regeneration areas: the New Deal for Communities Programme in England

The 1998–2011 New Deal for Communities Programme was designed to change 39 deprived English areas, with regard to place- and people-based outcomes. A key mechanism for identifying change was a biennial household survey undertaken in both NDC and comparator areas. Because this survey involved revisiting those interviewed previously, longitudinal panels have been created for those staying within NDC, or comparator, areas. This paper analyses these data to reveal that people living in NDC areas saw little more in the way of positive change than their counterparts living in comparator areas. This finding raises questions about the ability of regeneration schemes to instigate net additional positive change.

Neighbourhood regeneration in an era of austerity? Transferable lessons from the case of Braunstone, Leicester

The purpose of this paper is to provide transferable lessons from the ‘chalk face’ experiences of a case study area-based initiative and neighbourhood regeneration organisation, as part of exploring the political, social and economic consequences of the withdrawal of a government-sponsored regeneration programme, leaving the neighbourhood to ‘go it alone’. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the practical challenges of delivering regeneration at a neighbourhood level in a period of ‘austerity’. The paper draws on empirical investigation undertaken by the authors and their colleagues since late 2008, originating from research for a Final Programme Evaluation for the Braunstone New Deal for Communities programme (Leicester, UK), completed in early 2010. The authors’ intelligence on the experience of neighbourhood regeneration in Braunstone has been maintained by ongoing engagement with key players involved in this process at the local level, whose views and insights have been drawn upon to inform the content of this paper. The findings suggest that key ingredients for sustainable neighbourhood regeneration are about building and maintaining collaborative and co-dependent relationships between regeneration bodies, agencies and communities. Paradoxically then, the paper concludes by suggesting that sustainable neighbourhood regeneration in an austere climate is all about ensuring that we do not ‘go it alone’ at all.

Outcomes from Community Engagement in Urban Regeneration: Evidence from England's New Deal for Communities Programme

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme was one of the most intensive area-based initiatives (ABIs) ever launched in England. Between 1998 and 2010, 39 NDC partnerships were charged with implementing 10-year, locally informed strategies designed to improve conditions within deprived neighbourhoods each accommodating around 9,800 people. More than any other previous English ABI, the NDC programme placed a strong emphasis on informing and engaging the 39 local communities in all aspects of the regeneration process. The programme can be seen as a laboratory within which to assess relationships between community involvement in regeneration and any associated outcomes. Change data indicates that at the area-level there is nothing to suggest NDC areas saw more change than other deprived localities, or that NDCs doing more in relation to the community dimension saw greater change than those doing less. Data showing change for individuals, however, reveals that those involved in NDC activities saw more gains than those who were not involved. This positive individual-level change is not reflected in area-level data because absolute levels of involvement remained essentially low. This was for a number of reasons, some of which relate to the evolving NDC narrative: greater control from central government, diminishing community interest in the initiative, and over-optimistic assumptions on the part of local residents as to what the programme could ever achieve.

Addressing Educational Disadvantage in Deprived Communities: Evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme is one of the most intensive area-based initiatives (ABIs) launched in England. Between 1998 and 2010, 39 NDC Partnerships were charged with improving conditions in relation to six outcomes within deprived neighbourhoods, each accommodating around 9800 people. This paper outlines the approaches taken by NDCs to improve educational outcomes. Change is explored within three themes: change within NDC areas; change relative to other benchmarks; and modelling change. Education saw the least change of all six outcomes adopted by the NDC Programme. Unique to this outcome, spending more on education was associated with less change. Spend may have been better directed at supporting younger children and their parents combined with targeted out of school programmes of support for specific NDC cohorts.

Regeneration and food poverty in the United Kingdom: learning from the New Deal for Communities programme

Regeneration and food poverty in the United Kingdom: learning from the New Deal for Communities programme

Exploring Change in Local Regeneration Areas: Evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England

For many years, United Kingdom governments have instigated urban regeneration schemes. The 1998–2011 New Deal for Communities Programme was designed to change 39 deprived English areas, with regard to place-based, and people-based outcomes. Change data for all NDC areas from a common base-line can be used to establish relative rates of change across these neighbourhoods. 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. Results suggest that little change can be attributed to the characteristics or activities of NDC Partnerships themselves. This raises 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.

Conceptualising Local Approaches to Tackling Worklessness: The New Deal for Communities Programme as Neoliberal ‘Flanking Strategy’?

Policy-makers have shown considerable enthusiasm for devolving responsibility for tackling worklessness to the local level. This approach has been critiqued by scholars who conceptualise targeted spatial interventions as ‘flanking strategies’ that co-opt individuals or neighbourhood-based organisations in the service of neoliberal goals. This paper draws on the national evaluation of the New Deal for Communities Programme to argue that such accounts neglect the voice of local actors. Empirical analysis shows that the programme is, in many ways, a classic flanking strategy but one which commands significant support among staff and participants. The paper concludes that this enthusiasm cannot easily be dismissed as co-option.

Can area-based regeneration programmes ever work? Evidence from England's New Deal for Communities Programme

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme is one of the most intensive area-based initiatives (ABIs) ever launched in England. Between 1998 and 2011, 39 Partnerships were charged with improving conditions in relation to six outcomes within deprived neighbourhoods, each accommodating around 9800 people. The evaluation of the Programme points to only modest net change for NDC areas and their residents, much of which reflects improving attitudes towards the area, rather than for the people-related outcomes of health, education and worklessness. The Programme's architecture was based on four key principles each of which impacted on change. Community engagement reaped fewer benefits, and proved more problematic, than had been anticipated; working with other delivery agencies was complex, providing less in the way the way of direct financial support than was true for other English ABIs; central government impacted on change through an initial over-emphasis on spending annual financial allocations combined with a later marginalisation of ABIs; and outcome change at the neighbourhood level is anyway largely beyond the control of local regeneration schemes. Nevertheless, there are reasons why area-based regeneration schemes might be pursued, including evidence that individuals benefit from local interventions, even if such effects are difficult to measure.

Population Mobility in Regeneration Areas: Trends, Drivers, and Implications; Evidence from England's New Deal for Communities Programme

The nature, extent, and impact of residential mobility have attracted considerable interest. Little of this work has explored relationships between mobility and outcomes for area-based regeneration schemes. England's New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme marks a departure from previous regeneration programmes in terms of levels of funding and time span. Evidence suggests that between 2002 and 2006 the thirty-nine NDC areas were subject to complex patterns of mobility, the most important drivers of which were age and tenure. Residents moving out of NDC areas did so for housing and environmental reasons and were less disadvantaged than those who stayed. Those moving into the areas during this period were not more disadvantaged than existing residents. Although there are associations between mobility and outcome change, these are not as strong as might be anticipated and their implications for area-based regeneration policy appear relatively marginal.

Using shadow pricing to value outcomes from regeneration programmes: evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England

Regeneration initiatives, such as the New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme in England, aim to transform places over time to improve the quality of life for local people. The outcomes of such programmes tend not to have market values and therefore do not sit easily within the UK Government's guidance on evaluation which requires outcomes to be monetised and compared with costs. Shadow pricing is a useful approach to adopt because it allows a monetary value to be placed on many of the core outcomes of regeneration programmes. Applying shadow-pricing unit values to outcome change data for the NDC Programme reveals monetised benefits far in excess of Programme costs, a finding which would not have emerged had more intangible outcomes not been monetised. This finding has implications for the justification, and design of all area regeneration schemes; an important consideration in the context of austerity measures currently being adopted by many governments.

Local Sustainable Development: Lessons Learned from the New Deal for Communities

Sustainable development has, in recent times, come to feature prominently on the government agenda, particularly in respect of local communities. In line with this, the New Deal for Communities programme was established to work towards the regeneration of some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England. Now that the scheme has reached its conclusion, this article evaluates the extent to which it met with the government's policies for ‘building sustainable communities' as set out in the Strategies on Sustainable Development 1999 and 2005.

An Evaluation of the Layering and Legacy of Area-based Regeneration Initiatives in England: The Case of Wolverhampton

In England, there have been 40 years of area-based initiatives (ABIs) involving strategic national government intervention in local authority areas with significant regeneration needs. Whilst they have been examined individually, less consideration has been given to the layering and legacy of ABIs. Uncertainties include whether local authorities have institutionalised new ways of operating or whether layering complexities have acted as significant barriers. Focusing on Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, this paper examines recent ABI experiences and discusses why support for City Challenge (1992–98) appeared stronger than the more recent New Deal for Communities programme (2001–11). Important ABI legacies include greater diversity of neighbourhood structures, anxiety towards ABIs where property markets are depressed and the realisation that, whilst partnership working has intensified, traditional exclusionary aspects remain. Achieving the most effective governance structures to facilitate urban regeneration remains an on-going challenge, including within emerging Coalition government policy frameworks.

Big Society and community: lessons from the 1998-2011 New Deal for Communities Programme in England

The Coalition government which came to power in the UK in May 2010 has placed considerable stress on the Big Society. Assumptions underpinning this approach to policy and societal change are largely unevidenced. The evaluation of the ten year New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme launched by the previous Labour government in 1998 has important implications for community-level decision making, a theme central to the Big Society. The NDC experience points to problems in this domain including intra-community strife, lack of engagement, and community representatives being wrong about the scale of, and appropriate policies through which to moderate, local problems.

Understanding the Scale and Nature of Outcome Change in Area-Regeneration Programmes: Evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme is one of the most intensive area-based initiatives (ABIs) launched in England. Between 1998 and 2010 thirty-nine NDC partnerships were charged with improving conditions in relation to six outcomes within deprived neighbourhoods, each accommodating around 9800 people. Data point to only modest change, much of which reflects improving attitudes towards the area and the environment. There are problems in identifying positive people-based outcomes because relatively few individuals benefit from relevant initiatives. Few positive benefits leak out of NDC areas. Transformational change was always unlikely bearing in mind the limited nature of additional resources, and because only a minority of individuals directly engage with NDC projects. This evidence supports perspectives of ABIs rooted in ‘local managerialism’.

Area-based regeneration partnerships and the role of central government: the New Deal for Communities programme in England

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) is an ambitious English area-based initiative (ABI) designed to transform 39 deprived areas in relation to five outcomes: crime, education, health, worklessness, and housing and the physical environment. Change data are now available for 2002–08. NDC areas continue to see positive change, but show only modest improvements against other benchmarks, notably similarly deprived comparator areas. Regeneration has been complex because of a range of ‘barrier sets’ of which the most insistent has been the relationship between NDC Partnerships and central government. This relationship informs wider debates surrounding interpretations of the programme.

Linking interventions to outcomes in area regeneration: The New Deal for Communities Programme in England

In line with experience in other countries, the UK has attempted to address social and economic urban problems through the designation of Area-Based Initiatives (ABIs). The New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme is an ambitious English ABI designed to transform some 39 deprived neighbourhoods over 10 years in relation to 6 outcomes: crime, education, health, worklessness, housing and the environment, and the community. A key mechanism for identifying change is a household survey carried out in all 39 areas in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. For the 2004 survey all NDC respondents were asked to comment on the degree to which they had benefited from specific NDC projects. Beneficiaries of such projects consistently enjoyed better relevant outcomes than did non-beneficiaries. This finding provides some justification for continuing to designate ABIs.