14 December 2001
Security, the physical appearance of the area and facilities for youngsters are the three factors which most determine quality of life, according to studies by pollsters Mori of 100 areas covered by the government's New Deal for Communities programme and other regeneration schemes.
In Seven Sisters, north London, 32% of people wanted better security while 31% said they would like less litter.
In Oldham, 34% wanted tidier streets while 20% requested more police.
In Hartlepool, the top priority was better children's play areas (chosen by 40%), followed by more activities for teenagers, and then less litter and reduced crime.
'Health and education are not important concerns for people, although that's not to say they're not important,' Bobby Duffy, associate director in Mori's social research institute, told a Capita conference on neighbourhood renewal in London on December 7.
Earlier, Jon Bright, head of programmes in the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit at the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, said the success of renewal schemes depended on civil servants and others 'bending and reshaping' mainstream services so they had the most impact in deprived districts. 'We need to create a culture of delivery within the civil service and the public sector if all of this is going to work,' he said.
Discussions are about to begin between the DTLR and the Treasury over the future of the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF), with the Treasury likely to argue that regeneration funding should be included in mainstream budgets – rather than specific 'pots of money' – following the Spending Review in 2003/04.
Bright admitted that his unit still did not have a clear picture of how money from the NRF was being spent. 'Until mainstream programmes are delivering neighbourhood renewal, it's important there are pots of money for particular districts,' he said. 'I'm not sure that we have communicated yet what we mean by bending and reshaping programmes.'
PFdec2001
