Sarah Pearson

Outcomes from Community Engagement in Urban Regeneration: Evidence from England's New Deal for Communities Programme

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme was one of the most intensive area-based initiatives (ABIs) ever launched in England. Between 1998 and 2010, 39 NDC partnerships were charged with implementing 10-year, locally informed strategies designed to improve conditions within deprived neighbourhoods each accommodating around 9,800 people. More than any other previous English ABI, the NDC programme placed a strong emphasis on informing and engaging the 39 local communities in all aspects of the regeneration process. The programme can be seen as a laboratory within which to assess relationships between community involvement in regeneration and any associated outcomes. Change data indicates that at the area-level there is nothing to suggest NDC areas saw more change than other deprived localities, or that NDCs doing more in relation to the community dimension saw greater change than those doing less. Data showing change for individuals, however, reveals that those involved in NDC activities saw more gains than those who were not involved. This positive individual-level change is not reflected in area-level data because absolute levels of involvement remained essentially low. This was for a number of reasons, some of which relate to the evolving NDC narrative: greater control from central government, diminishing community interest in the initiative, and over-optimistic assumptions on the part of local residents as to what the programme could ever achieve.

Population mobility in regeneration areas : trends, drivers, and implications; evidence from England’s New Deal for Communities Programme

The nature, extent, and impact of residential mobility have attracted considerable interest. Little of this work has explored relationships between mobility and outcomes for area-based regeneration schemes. Englands New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme marks a departure from previous regeneration programmes in terms of levels of funding and time span. Evidence suggests that between 2002 and 2006 the thirty-nine NDC areas were subject to complex patterns of mobility, the most important drivers of which were age and tenure. Residents moving out of NDC areas did so for housing and environmental reasons and were less disadvantaged than those who stayed. Those moving into the areas during this period were not more disadvantaged than existing residents. Although there are associations between mobility and outcome change, these are not as strong as might be anticipated and their implications for area-based regeneration policy appear relatively marginal.

Street-level practice and the co-production of third sector-led employability services

Policymakers have promised a personalised approach to improving the employability of disadvantaged groups. The evidence suggests that contracted-out activation programmes in the UK and some other welfare states have instead sometimes delivered a standardised ‘work-first’ model. An alternative approach is exemplified in local employability services targeting lone parents in Scotland, led by third sector–public sector partnerships. Our research on these services suggests a link between programme governance (defined by flexible funding and collaborative partnership working) and effective street-level practice (where caseworkers and users co-produce services to empower parents). The article concludes by identifying lessons for the coproduction of future employability services.

Rethinking the impact of regeneration on poverty: a (partial) defence of a 'failed' policy

For decades regeneration programmes in England targeted areas where spatial concentrations of poverty exist. These ‘area-based initiatives’ (ABIs) came under sustained attack, however, from the previous coalition government for being expensive and ineffective. This paper assesses this claim by re-evaluating past evidence on the impact of regeneration on poverty. It finds regeneration did relatively little to transform households’ material circumstances but significantly ameliorated negative experiences of living in poverty in relation to housing, community safety and the physical environment. This partially undermines the rationale for the policy shift away from neighbourhood renewal interventions toward the current focus on ‘local growth’ as the sole remedy for spatial inequalities. It also suggests a need for more nuance in wider critical accounts of regeneration as a deepening form of neoliberalism.

Factors affecting decisions to extend access to primary care: results of a qualitative evaluation of general practitioners’ views

Objectives To report general practitioners’ (GPs’) views and experiences of an Enhanced Primary Care programme (EPCP) funded as part of the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund (second wave) for England which aimed to extend patient access to primary care. Setting Primary care in Sheffield, England. Participants Semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of GPs working in 24 practices across the city. Results Four core themes were derived: GPs’ receptivity to the aims of the EPCP, their capacity to support integrated care teams, their capacity to manage urgent care and the value of some new community-based schemes to enhance locality-based primary care. GPs were aware of the policy initiatives associated with out-of-hours access that aimed to reduce emergency department and hospital admissions. Due to limited capacity to respond to the programme, they selected elements that directly related to local patient demand and did not increase their own workload. Conclusions The variation in practice engagement and capacity to manage changes in primary care services warrants a subtle and specialist approach to programme planning. The study makes the case for enhanced planning and organisational development with GPs as stakeholders within individual practices and groups. This would ensure that policy implementation is effective and sustained at local level. A failure to localise implementation may be associated with increased workloading in primary care without the sustained benefits to patients and the public. To enable GPs to become involved in systems transformation, further research is needed to identify the best methods to engage GPs in programme planning and evaluation.