Fred Robinson

‘On the Side of the Angels’: Community Involvement in the Governance of Neighbourhood Renewal

Community involvement in regeneration is far from easy, and is difficult to define. The New Deal for Communities programme has directly involved residents in the governance of neighbourhood renewal with some success. However, community capacity has proved to be limited, adequate representation is difficult to achieve and there has been friction with local government. Community empowerment has to be enabled and supported by getting the structures and processes right, and supporting community representatives.

From 'regionalism' to 'localism': Opportunities and challenges for North East England

The Coalition Government has abolished regional institutions, with ‘localism’ now regarded as the best approach for promoting economic development and shaping and delivering public services. This article provides an early assessment of the shift by drawing upon research in the North East of England, where the dismantling of the regional tier is likely to have a considerable impact given its long history of regional economic interventions and the traditionally strong level of support for the idea of a coherent regional voice. For some in the region, the changes have generated concerns about the end of the ‘North East’ and scepticism about the Government’s motives for promoting localism. Others articulate a more sanguine view: that there is life ‘after the region’ and that, in any case, the long-standing focus on the ‘North East’, as an administrative and economic construct, was itself problematic. Now, there are signs that a ‘commonsense’ regionalism may be emerging – a pragmatism that recognises that, while the North East needs to take advantage of new opportunities under localism, coordination and integration at the regional level will still be required.

‘The End of the Beginning’? Taking Forward Local Democratic Renewal in the Post-Referendum North East

In a referendum in November 2004, the people of the North East decisively rejected the proposal to create a directly elected Regional Assembly. This result effectively put an end to proposals for Regional Assemblies elsewhere as plans for referenda in other regions were consequently abandoned. Drawing upon detailed interviews with a wide range of stakeholders in the North East, this article assesses why the North East voted ‘No’ and argues that, despite the subsequent emergence of the city-region as an alternative framework for governance, what is still needed is a serious commitment to democratic renewal. Democratic connections between citizens and the state, between the taxpayer and public services, need to be rebuilt. Only a reinvigorated democracy can begin to dispel the cynicism and alienation that characterises the contemporary political process — and which was a main factor behind the ‘No’ vote in the referendum. Given the failure of political devolution at the regional level, genuine democratic renewal must now be taken forward at the local level.

Governing a Region: Structures and Processes of Governance in North East England

Public services in the North East of England are managed and provided by the traditional institutions of government and, now, by a large number of unelected bodies. The growth of these unelected bodies has led to increasingly fragmented governance, a lack of local accountability and lack of transparency.Almost all the institutions of governance in the region, both elected and unelected, are run by, predominantly, middle-aged (or older) middle-class men. Accountability needs to be restored and developed, building on a reinvigorated local government. In addition, to help ensure public services are sensitive and responsive to local needs, they should be run by people who are representative of the diversity of the community.

Borderlands: Rescaling economic development in Northern England in the context of greater Scottish autonomy

This article argues that the space created by the clearing away of the English regional ‘institutional architecture’ after 2010 allows local authorities, in particular, to consider new flexible place-based approaches to economic development not possible under the old system. In this context, economic development activities, initiatives and alliances can now be developed to cover geographical areas that ‘make sense’, rather than being imposed or being chosen through habit: it is an opportunity to rescale or recalibrate traditional spatial approaches to place-based economic development. Here we discuss some implications of that, particularly how local authorities in the North East of England and Cumbria are responding – or could respond – to the potential granting of greater economic and fiscal powers to Scotland resulting from pressures for further devolution and the 2014 referendum on independence. We look at the emerging opportunities for collaborative approaches to cross-border economic development; this is an issue that is virtually absent from any contemporary studies of local economic development in the UK. Drawing upon recent research, the article outlines the case for a ‘Borderlands’ approach – which brings together the five local authority areas adjacent to the border – to develop joint approaches to economic development in areas such as transport, tourism, business development and superfast broadband. In addition to such cross-border alliances, we also point to opportunities to reinvigorate co-operation between the North East and Cumbria. The prospect of further autonomy for Scotland is stimulating a new interest in the North East, Cumbria and Scotland in working more collaboratively together, but the outcome of that (whatever the referendum result) may depend upon how the Anglo-Scottish border is perceived. We argue that it needs to be seen less as a barrier and more as an enabling mechanism which brings new opportunities for a relationship based on ‘co-optition’.

Swimming against the tide: a study of a neighbourhood trying to rediscover its ‘reason for being’– the case of South Bank, Redcar and Cleveland.

Many of the programmes and initiatives to regenerate deprived neighbourhoods appear to have had limited lasting impact. It has been argued that one reason for this is that we still have little real understanding of the nature and scale of the problems some communities face (Bernt, 2009). This article attempts to add to our knowledge through close study of an area with multiple problems and a history of failed regeneration attempts. An in-depth case study, undertaken to explore the current situation and future prospects of South Bank, a small neighbourhood in the North East of England, highlights transferable knowledge which may be applied to other regeneration areas. The analysis considers the nature and consequences of industrial decline; entrenched deprivation; the stigmatization of communities; the value of community consultation and the potential impact of retail-led regeneration. We question whether negative stigma attached to places can be changed and we ask what the future may hold for deprived communities now that public sector funding has largely dried up, and we consider an alternative approach: the potential impacts of private sector retail-led regeneration in the absence of public sector funding.

Can Universities Really Effectively Engage with Socially Excluded Communities

This chapter explores the way that within a single elite university, the opportunity exists for community engagement to take place in a meaningful way, as a means of exploring how community engagement as a mission can be reconciled with other more urgent pressures facing universities to be excellent in their research and teaching. The chapter takes a look at the individuals within an institution, and in particular how they are shaped and guided by these competing discourses, and how that also interacts with their own personal senses of morality and motivation. The chapter questions the focus on institutions as a central locus for community engagement, and argues that many university staff are drawn to engagement despite rather than because of the institutional attitude to engagement. Engaged community research may produce uncomfortable reading for powerful actors, and therefore cannot expect to enjoy unlimited public support, and therefore sustaining these activities requires motivation and organisation within the universities themselves. The issue for universities as institutions is in finding ways to leverage and make sense of these activities, to fit it into the discourses of excellence focusing on the easily measured, and help engaged academics and communities to achieve their wider transformational goals.