Memorandum by the Department of the Environment,
Transport and the Regions (UWP 77)
THE PROPOSED WHITE PAPER ON URBAN POLICY
INTRODUCTION
1. The Deputy Prime Minister announced the
preparation of a White Paper on urban policy on 20 October 1998.
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions is
taking this forward in conjunction with other Government departments.
2. In the last few decades cities and towns
have faced enormous challenges. The decline in the number of people
employed in traditional manufacturing industry and the growth
of employment in services has posed a number of new issues. Some
of the newer most dynamic industries have grown up within towns
and cities but others have grown outside, creating more disperse
patterns of activity. New patterns of retail and leisure have
contributed to out-of-town developments, leaving some inner city
areas in decline. This has been coupled with population drift
from inner areas to suburban areas and into the countryside. In
many of our towns and cities there are growing disparities between
richer and poorer communities. Even our more prosperous cities
have been left with concentrated pockets of deprivation. Older
suburbs, seaside areas and former coalfields too are facing their
own kinds of problems.
3. Many towns and cities are, however, vibrant
places. Some have been continuously successful, others have adapted
to new circumstances. The challenge must be to build on the success
and to spread good practice, so that we can match the best in
Europe in terms of competitiveness and quality of life.
4. Urban and rural issues are closely related
and many concerns are common. Towns and their surrounding countryside
are inter-dependent. People in the countryside look to the towns
for services while people in towns look to the countryside for
leisure and recreation. Many of the issues which people are concerned
about—economic opportunity and quality of life—are
common, though the solutions may be different in urban and rural
areas. The Government is therefore developing the White Paper
in tandem with the Rural White Paper.
OBJECTIVES
5. The Government's broad objectives (for
both urban and rural areas) are:
— To achieve sustainable economic growth,
with a better balance between regions, within regions and within
individual cities and rural areas.
— To ensure that the Government meets
the need for more homes in the most sustainable way.
— To ensure everybody has the opportunity
to fulfil their potential, and to tackle social exclusion.
— To ensure everybody has access to
the services they need.
— To enable people to have a high quality
of life wherever they live and to protect and enhance the environment.
6. The Government is putting in place policies
and programmes to achieve these objectives. Many important individual
steps have been taken already, and the White Paper will explain
how these will contribute to the well-being of towns and cities.
Other announcements will be made over the months leading up to
the White Paper or in the White Paper itself. It will describe
what action the Government is taking to achieve sustainable communities
and an urban renaissance, but will also challenge others to make
their contribution. Other Government Departments, Local Authorities,
other public sector agencies, business and the voluntary and community
sectors, and the public all have a part to play.
COVERAGE
7. The White Paper will need to have a broad
scope—it will not focus only on cities and conurbations.
Many people live in areas which are neither entirely urban nor
rural. Many issues need to be dealt with in a unified and comprehensive
way covering big city conurbations, other cities and towns and
more rural settlements.
8. Towns and cities are complex, organic
structures. They include deprived areas, often in the inner areas,
business centres and suburbs. In some cities concentrations of
deprivation, sometimes severe, exist side by side with prosperous
areas. Suburbs include a range of different ages and types; they
are, in the main, regarded as comfortable and desirable places
in which to live. However, some of them are beginning to show
evidence of decline and of disrepair. The same can be said of
some town centres, which have been affected by the movement of
commercial, retailing and leisure activities towards the outskirts
of towns and cities.
9. A major theme will be the need for sustainability.
This has a number of aspects. It means making the maximum use
of existing developed land—ensuring that as much as possible
of the demand for new housing is accommodated on previously used
land or in existing buildings, and ensuring that where development
does take place on greenfield land it is in the most environmentally
and socially sustainable form.
PROGRAMMES AND
POLICIES
10. The Government has already taken a number
of steps to carry forward the objectives mentioned above. For
example, within the Department's field, the creation of the Regional
Development Agencies, the introduction of the New Deal for Communities,
the publication of the UK Sustainable Development Strategy, and
the Transport White Paper are all relevant. Other Departments
have introduced equally important measures in their areas. The
White Paper will bring together and explain how these initiatives
are developing the framework for creating prosperous and attractive
places for people to live and work.
11. The White Paper will provide a valuable
opportunity to set out the framework for governance, which is
vital to effective leadership at the local and national levels.
Good governance ensures that policy is co-ordinated and dealt
with at the appropriate level. The White Paper will explain how
the different levels of governance at neighbourhood, local authority
and sub-regional and national level, all have particular responsibilities
and how they relate to each other. The Government's programme
for Modernising Local Government will equip local authorities
to fulfil their role of civic leadership.
12. In addition there is further work in
hand at present. Among the most significant activities are:
— The work following up the report
of the Urban Task Force. The Report "Towards an Urban Renaissance"
was published in June 1999, and contained over 100 recommendations.
Each is now being considered by the relevant Government Department.
A number of recommendations have been or are being implemented
already: for example, the Government has announced the establishment
of Urban Regeneration Companies in Liverpool and in Manchester;
Home Zones pilots, where the needs of people rather than traffic
come first, were announced for nine areas last August; and the
Transport Bill currently before Parliament will place Local Transport
Plans on a statutory basis. Other recommendations will be carried
forward shortly, for example when the revised planning guidance
on Housing (PPG3) is published. The White Paper, however, will
provide the opportunity for a comprehensive strategic response
to the vision which Lord Rogers put forward.
— The National Strategy for Neighbourhood
Renewal, being prepared by the Social Exclusion Unit and due for
publication in 2000. The proposed objective for the National Strategy
is to narrow the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods
and the rest of the country in terms of four key outcomes: unemployment,
crime, poor health and low educational attainment. The SEU are
building on the work of the 18 Policy Action teams which have
examined a range of issues underpinning the strategy.
— Spending Review 2000. DETR and other
Departments are examining their spending programmes, and will
be agreeing new targets for the next spending period. As part
of the 2000 Spending Review a cross-cutting review of Government
Interventions in Deprived Areas is underway. This cross-cutting
review will build on the emerging conclusions of the Social Exclusion
Unit's forthcoming National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal.
— The 10 year programme for future
investment in transport announced by the Deputy Prime Minister
on 13 December. The Government has indicated that they wish to
see substantially improved public transport in towns and cities
so that fewer people feel the need to drive into city centres,
and passenger security and safety and air quality are enhanced.
The vision is of town centres which are good for people and for
business but not blighted by traffic; in short places where transport
does not overwhelm citizens but is designed for their benefit
and matches the best in Europe. The Minister for Transport is
leading the 10 year plan exercise. The intention is to publish
an investment programme through to 2010 by summer 2000, once the
spending review is complete.
13. The White Paper will draw also on a
range of other work in order to promote policy integration at
all levels. It will set out how the Government's Modernising Agenda
for local government and the work of Regional Development Agencies
provide the right framework for improving cities and towns within
the wider context. It will also link to the UK Sustainable Development
Strategy, the Integrated Transport Strategy and Modernising Planning
Agenda. Supporting data and research, for example on statistical
trends, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Cities
programme, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) Area regeneration
programme, attitude surveys, density and urban indicators will
be taken into consideration. The Government has welcomed the report
by the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee on
Town and Country Parks and is considering the findings carefully
in developing the White Paper.
14. The White Paper is a cross-Whitehall
initiative and work is being developed in close co-operation with
Government Departments, with input from relevant Government Agencies.
It is essential to link in a wide range of related aspects, such
as education and training, jobs, crime, health and culture, in
order to achieve an urban renaissance. Work by DTI on competitiveness,
by DfEE on improving educational standards and on the role of
Higher Education in creating economic growth, by the Home Office
on crime reduction, by DoH on healthy neighbourhoods and by DCMS
on cultural and recreational activities provide examples of activities
which are relevant to the White Paper. The work of the Local Government
Association on the "New Commitment to Regeneration"
is also relevant to the White Paper.
15. The Local Government Association are
closely involved in the process and there have been a number of
separate meetings at ministerial and official levels with a range
of different organisations. A wide range of material has been
received from many external organisations and is under consideration.
CONCLUSION
16. The Government believes there is a need
for some overall stock taking and increased recognition of the
issues facing our urban areas. This is the first White Paper for
over 20 years and the first to consider urban policy as a whole.
The Government wants the White Paper to be holistic as well as
visionary. It will provide a strategic framework for action on
achieving an urban renaissance, showing how policies can be integrated
effectively. The White Paper also gives the opportunity to think
longer term and present a vision of the kinds of communities the
Government wants to create and, most importantly, in which people
want to live.
17. The Government plans to publish the
White Paper in Summer 2000 after the Spending Review.
Department of the Environment, Transport and the
Regions
January 2000
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