Breathing new life into regeneration
A new approach to regenerating the UKs towns and cities is needed
Author: Alex Thomson, Localis, in the MJ |
Britain has a long history of regenerating local areas that had, for whatever reason, failed to prosper.
From 19th century entrepreneurial civic leaders in the mould of politician and statesman, Joseph Chamberlain, to post-war revitalisation and the property-based policies of Margaret Thatcher’s Government, through to the regional development vision of the New Labour Government, many lessons have been learned.
However, the fact remains that past approaches have tended to be led from the centre, which often tended to come with a pot of central funding.
Policy-makers must face facts – the good times are over, and those responsible for regeneration need to develop a fresh approach which accepts the reality for the foreseeable future.
Of course, there are many success stories to be drawn from past efforts. In our upcoming report, Grow your own way – taking a localist approach to regeneration, produced in partnership with the Local Government Association, we examine a variety of different approaches to regeneration across the country, and consider what worked well.
It is striking just how particular successful approaches have been to the local area. Certainly, making the most of local resources is a consistent strand throughout. However, there are a few common themes.
To attract people and investment to a given area, several of the case study areas within our analysis focused on redefining their economic purpose.
Whether this be accepting and managing the decline of a traditional industry and redeveloping derelict land towards new growth sectors, or undertaking major marketing exercises promoting the vibrancy and forward-thinking nature of an area’s new economic purpose, and recognising and promoting a new vision, proved to be vital.
Cities such as Manchester have achieved this to great effect in the UK, while Pittsburgh in the US has gone so far as to accept a shrinking population and work towards higher-quality environments in its drive to shake ingrained perceptions regarding its past industrial reputation.
Being able to attract private investment is another key aspect of successful regeneration. Whether this is encouraging new start-ups, the relocation of existing businesses, or gaining the support of financial institutions in developing mechanisms to fund development, private capital is vital.
In the US, philanthropic investment is often cited as a potential source of investment, but is less well established in Britain. This is one potential avenue, as are the possibilities offered by pension funds, bonds, tax incremental financing (TIF) and local, asset-backed vehicles.
Whatever the means of motivating private investment in a given area, such financing will become even more critical to the success of regeneration programmes in the future as traditional anchors of investment, that is to say, central government funding pots, become ever scarcer.
Local areas, of course, can do their part in making the most of their influence. Through the use of public investment as anchors for development, guarantees of, say, local skills development, or simply demonstrating that local partners are aligned and ready to support growth in a particular sector, local public sector agencies can have a significant influence on private investment decisions.
Think of this as an industrial policy, but local rather than national.
Part of the answer to the problem of finance is the latent potential of communities which, we contend, have the capacity to do their bit as part of regeneration – rather than having things ‘done’ to them.
Perhaps the answer to big government finance spent against a central masterplan is not simply big business finance spent against such a plan, but local communities doing things their own way.
If we accept that finance of whichever persuasion is going to be hard to come by in the short to medium term, making the most of community capital or, at the very least, making sure new development is valued by that community must surely be a consideration.
Once public and private sectors are moving in the same direction, backed by a good marketing strategy, an area can truly transform itself.
The danger is that local communities are not then able to influence the agenda and share in the benefits. This further complicates grand plans.
The latter suggestion emphasises more than any other the complexity required in successful regeneration. The need to engage, plan, develop, finance, and deliver regeneration projects which are inherently varied according to local circumstance can only lead to one conclusion – that a regeneration programme must be locally-led.
All of the successful case studies that we examined showed strong local leadership by local governance arrangements, able to respond to local needs.
With the need to seek alternative and bold forms of funding, combined with a culture of devolution and localism, it’s surely down to local institutions to lead the way on regeneration.
Grow your own way – taking a localist approach to regeneration, a report by Localis produced as part of the LGA’s Local growth campaign, will examine these issues in more detail, and will be available online following a launch in late May.