24 October 2003
The £2bn flagship scheme to regenerate some of the most deprived communities in England is beset by instability, uncertainty and a shortage of appropriate skills, according to a government-commissioned evaluation.
Researchers at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, charged with monitoring and evaluating progress on the New Deal for Communities, published their first annual report last week.
They found that the local partnerships running the project were plagued by high staff turnover, which can place extra demands on those who stay with the project. There were also difficulties in recruiting senior posts.
In addition, the report warned that the commitment of participating community representatives might diminish while those who remained risked 'burnout'. Partnerships were found to lack the skills to drive their projects forward, while some relied too heavily on external experts at the expense of improving their own learning base.
Other concerns included a lack of strategic thinking, especially in resident-dominated NDCs, and a 'formidable' number of delivery objectives – as many as 55 in some cases. The lack of prominence given to gender, disability and race issues was also criticised.
Professor Paul Lawless, who led the evaluation, said: 'Bearing in mind what NDCs are designed to achieve, it is not surprising to find some experiencing teething problems.' But he added that the evaluation would support NDCs by showing them what is working and sharing good practice.
The report stated that it was too early to say whether the NDCs were working, although it did provide some initial assessment of progress in each of the five delivery areas of crime, health, education, employment and housing. 'Ten years appears to be a realistic time scale for real change,' Lawless said.
Yvette Cooper, minister at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, agreed that it was inevitable that such a large-scale and ambitious project would experience early problems. She said: 'There are no overnight fixes for areas neglected over decades. But the evidence is that NDC is sowing the seeds for long-term regeneration, unlike many short-term programmes of the past, which failed to meet the community needs.'
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