Area Regeneration series- Neighbourhood regeneration

This book looks at how community capacity building is delivered within neighbourhood regeneration programmes, focusing on the key issue of resourcing. This review is framed within the context of the government's emerging national strategy for neighbourhood renewal, and the New Commitment to Regeneration initiative. Despite a positive policy climate, much current practice in neighbourhood regeneration lacks meaningful, sustainable community involvement. Too much power and control rests in the hands of local authorities, statutory agencies and professionals. This report suggests that to balance this unequal partnership, neighbourhood regeneration strategies need to focus much more directly on the less tangible outcomes of regeneration, particularly the empowerment of local communities through genuine capacity building. Without it, real and lasting benefits are unlikely to be achieved. Neighbourhood regeneration looks at how community capacity building is currently delivered within neighbourhood regeneration programmes, focusing on the key issue of resourcing. The authors frame this review within the context of the government's emerging national strategy for neighbourhood renewal, Bringing Britain together, and the Local Government Association's New Commitment to Regeneration initiative. The report aims to establish: what works and what does not; how existing funding might be improved; what additional resources may be needed to fill in the gaps in current provision; who should provide these additional resources; how resources might best be targeted; how resourcing community involvement can be linked to emerging proposals for neighbourhood management and joined-up action by regeneration agencies. It also suggests the formation of a Neighbourhood Empowerment Fund to help…