Memorandum by the Coalfields Regeneration
Trust (CRT) (CC 03)
1.1 In the Government response to the Select
Committee June 2004, it is accepted that the Coalfields are heading
in the right direction but that there is still a long way to go,
and commitment to the former coalfield areas is not in doubt.
1.2 It is accepted that social adjustment
problems in many coalfield areas have transferred to the children
of mining families whilst huge quality of life and health problems
remain for their parents. The strength and cohesion of communities
has been eroded by the passage of time. Evidence also suggests
regeneration activities in the former coalfield areas are generally
less effective and less cost effective when compared to elsewhere,
an issue that the Trust can show some progress in addressing.
Indeed, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the Trust
has delivered much needed investment directly to communities where
it would not otherwise have taken place. "A clear message
coming through Independent consultation is that the Trust is perceived
as willing to fund activities that others will not consider as
well as showing a willingness to be first funder. Trust money
is seen as risk capital". (York Consulting, December 2003).
2. PROGRESS SINCE
THE SELECT
COMMITTEE, DECEMBER
2003
2.1 The Trust is also aware that things
have improved, the world has moved on in the last five years and
that it is time to refocus resources on need and to work strategically
to address the issues that remain.
2.2 The Trust has been awarded a further
three year funding package of £50 million, from April 2005
to March 2008. Thus the plans for the new programme commencing
in April 2005 look at using grant making as social investment
in communities, at long-term benefits, and at attempting to draw
in other partners to jointly tackle problems and to maximise scarce
resources for the community. As more domestic regeneration funding
programmes disappear, and initiatives become ever more economically
focussed, this is of increasing importance.
2.3 The scale of the eligible population,
when compared to the limited availability of resources, clearly
points to the fact that there is a case for the Trust to undertake
targeted work and therefore it is intended to broaden the scope
of important strategic work with the aim of accelerating the process
of regeneration.
2.4 Overall, there is a strong impression
that most trust funding is genuinely additional, in that in the
absence of this support, projects would simply not happen or would
not go ahead in the same scale or timeframe. In developing the
Trust's role as a regeneration agency investing in coalfield communities,
there is an opportunity to focus on such areas of need and to
act as a catalyst in attracting other stakeholders to agree a
joint strategy of action for a particular neighbourhood. This
will involve working with a small number of the most disadvantaged
communities and targeting the full package of development support,
funding products and brokerage to the hardest to reach, acting
as a catalyst for change and reintegration with different economic
and social models.
2.5 This includes the Identification of
Special Coalfield Areas (areas which are "cold spots"
in terms of regeneration and which have an obvious lack of investment
and involvement coupled with significant problems). The selection
of areas is based on an analysis of the index of multiple deprivation,
super output areas and sub domain information. However this is
combined with local knowledge as the Trust maintains that beneath
the statistics, this remains crucial in these processes. The aim
is to pilot a small number of areas over the next few years and
focusing on convergence targets, making this an initiative with
significant measurable impact for the Trust.
2.6 The Trust also recognises the high expectations
being placed on the voluntary and community sector to play a crucial
role as a deliverer of both goods and services to fulfil a number
of national strategies, most notably "Social Enterprise,
a strategy for Success" and Neighbourhood Renewal. Professional
skills are the key to this and particularly to the sustainability
of activity in which an investment has already been made. The
Trust will contribute to supporting local communities in measuring
up to this challenge by focussing some activity to address issues
around project management skills which are both necessary to participate
but which are also transferable skills that benefit both individuals
and enterprises.
3. THE RIGHT
APPROACH
3.1 One of the main barriers to regeneration
continually cited is "a lack of community engagement".
Most agencies readily admit that this is the area they find most
problematic; the Trust however is proud of the success of it's
"bottom-up" approach to coalfields regeneration and
will continue to ensure that:
— There are locally based Regeneration
Managers to help groups to develop ideas into deliverable projects,
which can be put forward to Trustees for possible funding.
— and that if Trustees decide
to offer a grant, the in-house Grants team take a problem-solving
approach to issues that crop up throughout the life of that grant,
ensuring that ongoing support is maintained;
By bringing this expertise we play a vital role
in connecting the social and economic agendas.
3.2 This is illustrated in our collaboration
with English Partnerships in establishing a roving team to ensure
that local people are connected to the major site developments,
this initiative was welcomed both by the Select Committee and
in the Government response and it was suggested that more of this
connected activity is what is required—the Trust hopes that
by using the tools of community development, jobs and training
brokerage and social enterprise, this work can continue to be
built upon to ensure that connections between local communities
and site development are maximised.
3.3 The Trust began by assisting communities
that had suffered closure during the last quarter of the 20th
century. Now, in the 21st century, a new wave of closures has
begun. Since 2002, the Prince of Wales colliery in Yorkshire,
Clipstone colliery in Nottinghamshire and the Selby Mine Complex
were a new wave of closures. The expertise the Trust developed
in its key role during the Selby closure has been called upon
to assist as part of a task group in the face of the most recent
closure, Ellington Colliery in Northumberland. The major lesson,
which has been learnt in this process, is the importance of preventative
work that keeps the workforce economically active and prevents
people falling into benefit dependency. The Trusts Skillsbuilder
programme in directly harnessing the transferable skills of the
miners and using them in the construction sector where there are
huge skills shortages continues to be successful in these circumstances.
3.4 The Trust is currently working with
Partners in the Rotherham Primary Care Trust to bring to fruition
an innovative centre caring for those with severe mining-related
illness such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. This work
has been based on significant studies and will create a centre
of excellence in revolutionising the types of care patients receive.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The range and scope of the Trusts activities
is significant. Its structure as an independent charity make it
an organisation that can work flexibly and enable it to successfully
work across government departmental agendas getting money directly
to where it needs to be—as an example of this, the Coalfields
Regeneration Trust addresses the health department agenda in pursuing
innovative solutions to respite care for severe respiratory illnesses;
the skills agenda with the construction based "Skillsbuilder"
initiative and the Home Office agenda in work with disaffected
young people in "Regenerate", the Trust's youth focussed
programme.
TRUST PERFORMANCE AGAINST ODPM CONTRACTED
TARGETS
| Contracted to
ODPM
| Planned from
project
approvals
| Actual From
project
monitoring
| % planned to
Contracted | % Actual to
Contracted
|
| Community Facilities Developed (1) | 317
| 556 | 310 | 175.4%
| 97.8% |
| Community Groups Supported | 3,403
| 4,840.5 | 4,850 | 142.2%
| 142.5% |
| Comm Businesses Dev't/Supported (2) | 284
| 298.3 | 198 | 105.0%
| 69.7% |
| No Receiving Debt/Welfare Advice | 32,061
| 22,693.7 | 22,575 | 70.8%
| 70.4% |
| No Receiving Health Advice | 3,772
| 64,149.3 | 57,545 | 1,700.7%
| 1,525.6% |
| Full Time Jobs (3) | 250 |
804 | 553 | 321.6%
| 221.2% |
| Nos assisted in finding full time jobs | 3,046
| 2,636.2 | 1,554 | 86.5%
| 51.0% |
| Nos Receiving Education/Training | 15,290
| 44,548.2 | 29,331 | 291.4%
| 191.8% |
| Nos Receiving Qualifications | 6,171
| 5,491.3 | 5,063 | 89.0%
| 82.0% |
| Anti-financial exclusion beneficiaries | 9,379
| 3,511.0 | 2,413 | 37.4%
| 25.7% |
| No of Volunteers | 4,900 |
6,644.6 | 6,283 | 135.6%
| 128.2% |
| Hectares Land Improved | 29 |
342 | 220 | 1,179.3%
| 758.6% |
| | |
| | |
(1) amalgam of: Community Facilities and Community Health
facilities;
(2) an amalgam of: Community Businesses Supported plus Community
Businesses Developed;
(3) an amalgam of: Jobs Created+Jobs safeguarded+ half of
the temporary jobs created.
Source: Coalfields Regeneration Trust analysis, March 2005
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