By Nick Mann | 3 November 2011
The government has no clear strategy for regenerating England’s most deprived communities, MPs claimed today.
In a report on the government’s
approach to regeneration, the Commons communities and local government
committee also said the coalition was unclear about the nature of the problem
it was trying to solve.And it warned that plans to secure private sector cash to fill the gap left by public spending cuts were unlikely to succeed.
Committee chair Clive Betts said: ‘The government has cut public funding for regeneration programmes dramatically and has produced no adequate “strategy” for regeneration sufficient to tackle the deep-seated problems faced by our most deprived communities.
‘The measures identified by the government focus overwhelmingly on the pursuit of economic growth. The government’s measures will not attract sufficient investment for renewal into those communities where the market has failed. There is no sign that the private sector is filling the gap as public resources are being withdrawn.’
This could store up problems for the future, the committee said. It called on ministers to draw up a plan to attract private sector investment; to consider how Enterprise Zones could bring benefits to deprived areas; and to make better use of public land and European funding to stimulate regeneration.
It added that Community Budgets, which pool resources from public bodies across a specific local area, should be used to generate efficiencies and attract private investment.
To address these issues, the government should publish a national regeneration strategy to ‘specifically target’ the country’s most deprived communities, based on a detailed understanding of what has and hasn’t worked in the past.
Responding to the committee’s conclusions, housing minister Grant Shapps acknowledged that it had been ‘tough’ for the government to address the previous Labour administration’s ‘disastrous attempts’ at regeneration.
‘The top-down strategy of destruction pitted neighbour against neighbour and left families trapped in abandoned streets. That's why we've parked the bulldozers, and started shifting the balance in favour of communities themselves,’ he said.
Shapps revealed the government would shortly be announcing more funding for people living in the worst-affected areas. It would also continue to give councils and residents more power to decide how they want to improve their neighbourhoods.
‘But we know that true regeneration can only be achieved by creating the conditions for communities and businesses to thrive in. That’s why Local Enterprise Partnerships have already replaced the failed regional development agencies, and low-tax, low regulation Enterprise Zones are being planted across the country to give businesses the incentives they need to grow their local economy and create thousands of new jobs.’
