1 Tackling deprivation effectively
1. Over the last decade a series of different central
government initiatives and approaches have been designed to tackle
the problems of deprived and disadvantaged communities, including
most recently Urban Development Corporations,[2]
Urban Regeneration Companies, the Single Regeneration Budget and
the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.
2. In 1999 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
launched what is intended to be a new experiment in neighbourhood
renewal — the New Deal for Communities (NDC). This programme
places a strong emphasis on the role that community residents
can play in changing their neighbourhood by placing them at the
heart of decision making. Each neighbourhood has established a
board to represent the interests of local people and to partner
with delivery agents to reduce the extent of crime, unemployment,
poor health, low educational performance and improve the physical
environment.
3. The number of communities eligible to pilot this
new approach was determined by the money allocated to the programme.
Some £2 billion has been made available over ten years. The
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister judged that this was sufficient
for some 39 communities to be involved. The local authority areas
eligible for NDC funding were selected using the 1998 Index of
Multiple Deprivation and a regional quota system.[3]
The map at Figure 1 shows the location of the communities
selected.
4. The NDC programme represents an approach to neighbourhood
renewal which makes additional resources available to targeted
communities which comprise, on average, 10,000 people. Area based
initiatives such as the NDC favour particular communities over
others. This approach risks creating resentment from neighbouring
communities who may feel they are missing out.[4]
5. The NDC programme is one of many government area
based initiatives aimed at tackling general or specific conditions
associated with multiple deprivation. The Department told us that
for example in Derby between 50 and 60 separate streams of area
based funding had been identified.[5]
The Department acknowledged that Whitehall is not as good as it
should be at persuading partners to pull together their programmes,
and that schemes needed to be better co-ordinated and pooled where
possible to reduce the overheads in managing them.[6]
6. The NDC partnerships represent one of an increasing
number of public bodies and partnerships involved at different
levels in regeneration activity. For example, the Thames Gateway
project, a separate regeneration initiative, involves several
local authorities, three regional development agencies, two proposed
urban development corporations, the Housing Corporation, English
Partnerships as well as a division of the Office of the Deputy
Prime Minister.[7] There
is no single formal framework covering the bodies, schemes and
initiatives involved in neighbourhood renewal and responsibility
and accountability for delivery is increasingly complex.[8]
2 57th Report from the Committee of Public
Accounts, The operation and wind-up of Teesside Development
Corporation (HC 675, Session 2001-02) Back
3
Ev 16-17 Back
4
Qq 22-23 Back
5
Q 34 Back
6
Qq 34-35 Back
7
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Creating Sustainable Communities:
Greening the Gateway Back
8
Qq 34-35, 127 Back
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