Alan Meale
Parlamentarischer Staatssekretär des Ministeriums für Regionen, Sanierung und Planung
SPEECH FOR BERLIN CONFERENCE ON THE LAUNCH OF THE NEW GERMAN SUPPORT PROGRAMME "NEIGHBOURHOODS WITH SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS - THE SOCIAL CITY" 5 JULY 1999
First of all, I would like to thank you for inviting me to this conference.
Coming from the airport this rnorning I was struck by the sheer scale and size of construction underway in Berlin. I was pleased to note that you have taken on board some of our expertise - I understand that some of our most noted architects including Norrnan Foster and Richard Rogers are involved in the work.
You heard earlier about the new deprived urban areas programme in Germany, the experiences of the Commission's Structural Funds and the development of Berlin. Building on this I intend to talk about urban regeneration in the UK.
Regeneration policies have been around for some years in the UK. They haven't stood still but have evolved over time. However, in the last few years we have cdme to the conclusion that the best way to ensure long lasting change in deprived areas is to ensure that policies have some common factors. This includes targeting particular areas and ensuring that the local community are fully involved in the process.
Whatever the regeneration policy the support of the local community and all interested local organisations is vital if the regeneration is to be sustainable and continue after Government funding ends.
The United Kingdom Government is determined to join with local government, the voluntary and private sectors and local communities in a concerted attack against the causes of social and economic decline - unemployment, bad housing, crime, poor health and a degraded environment.
Shortly after this Government took office, a review of policies and spending was undertaken to ensure that these were in line with the new Government's agenda. A number of important steps have been taken which are crucial to understanding the distinctive nature of the Government's approach to regeneration.
The key elements are found in my Department's paper: Regeneration Programmes: The Way Forward. This outlines the government's commitment to target regeneration more intensively on areas of greatest need. It makes clear that building the capacity of local communities to get involved is essential to give the most disadvantaged communities real opportunity. And it included a New Deal for Regeneration which has two strands: a reshaped Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and the New Deal for Communities (NDC).
The Single Regeneration Budget (SRB), which began in 1994, provides resources to support regeneration initiatives carried out by local partnerships in England. It brought together and extended a large number of smaller programmes from different Government Departments which were trying to tackle different aspects of regeneration. The SRB is an important instrument in the Government's drive to tackle social exclusion and promote equality.
Each year partnerships bid for funding. To date, more than 600 regeneration schemes are under way each of which will receive funding for up to seven years. This years' SRB has been launched, with a more regional focus and increased emphasis on partnership capacity building. The SRB will receive over £2.3 billion over the next three years; more than £700 million of this is new money.
This years' SRB resources will support a two tier approach. Comprehensive action will receive about 80% of new SRB resources and will be targeted on the most deprived areas. Tackling need elsewhere, including rural and coalfield areas, will receive about 20% of new SRB resources. Over 50 new comprehensive schemes, at least one in each of the most deprived areas, worth on average £20-25 million in SRB funding over five years, are expected to be supported by the end of this Parliament.
SRB schemes, especially those which help develop a sense of community or build capacity in the voluntary sector and those involving crime prevention, community safety and victirn support, can complement other work to tackle racial violence and harassment in local communities, and also target economic development and training initiatives on such communities. The Government's commitment to tackle social exclusion will have particular relevance for vulnerable groups in the community such as homeless people, frail elderly people and those with mental illness. SRB schemes can develop targeted housing and other projects promote community-based care and improved quality of life for these groups.
There are many different kinds of SRB schemes. For instance, Mansfield Diamond, situated in my constituency in the English Midlands, in what was a coal mining area, is one example. Due to the demise of the coal industry the towns here faced high unemployment and all the associated social and economic problems. The SRB Partnership, lead by the Mansfield District Council, has been encouraging new businesses, helping existing businesses to grow and creating new jobs. As with all SRB schemes the local people have been heavily involved. So far 2,500 jobs have been created, 450 voluntary groups supported and 70 employers involved in collaborative projects. The regeneration is still underway but the results, so far, are very encouraging.
SRB Partnerships are not always led by local authorities. One based in Chesterfield/North Fast Derbyshire called Chart is led by a private sector company - though the local authorities are partners. Again this was a coal mining and heavy industry area which was hit by the demise of these industries. The strategy of this partnership has been aiming to foster a fundamental change in the business and technology base. This includes job creation, business support, education and training and community empowerment measures. Again results so far are good with 30 new businesses created and nearly 2000 homes improved.
All of our programmes, including the SRB, are subject to ongoing evaluation. Since 1994 the SRB has changed in a number of ways that reflect findings in the evaluation; this process will continue. SRB is now more targeted towards the most deprived areas; the involvement of the local community, right from the beginning, is an essential element. SRB continues to evolve but it is only one of the tools that we use to tackle social exclusion. The UK Government has now put in place a wider strategy with a range of different programmes.
If anything marks out this Government it's our determination to tackle the legacy of social exclusion. We are a Government which accepts its responsibilities. That is why the Prime Minister has personally set up the Social Exclusion Unit. It is the responsibility of all of us - central and local government,business and trade unions, voluntary organisations and individuals to combat social exclusion. We must raise the quality of life for all.
The Britain we inherited after our election victory in 1997 was more divided than for a generation. Compared with the rest of the country the 44 most deprived local authority districts had:
We needed a new approach - working in partnership at national, regional and local level.
Over the last two years this Government has begun to map out a path to a fairer and more equal society.
We can, indeed we must, build a soclety that allows people to take control of their own lives, their own environments and their own destinies. A society in which where you live, or where you go to school, does not block your ambitions and potential. My department, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, covers many issues that touch the daily lives of millions of people: Their local services, their homes, their transport, their water and their environment.
We have established a new partnership with local government. We need to strengthen local government, not strangle it. We have encouraged local government to be more involved with local communities. We want to see a more transparent local government with new safeguards for integrity in public life. We are determined to work in partnership with others to rebuild our communities.
In the past, on too many of our estates we have repainted the doors without tackling the problems that lie behind them.
Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Richard Caborn launched the New Deal for Communities - an £800 million programme which will get to grips in an integrated way with the whole range of problems in our poorest neighbourhoods.
This year, the pilot first year of the programme, 17 local partnerships have formed who are willing to take responsibillty for delivering lasting change to their neighbourhoods. They will tell us what is wrong and what needs to change.
We are placing the onus on local people, local groups and local organisations.
However, we want to help the partnerships we have chosen. Ministers across Government have and will visit partnerships and communities to discuss problems and long term solutions. These will be fed back into the centre to ensure that the help we provide is targeted to the needs of the partnerships.
Good ideas will be backed by substantial central Government funding. However, there will be no blank cheques. Partnerships need to develop ideas offering real change, tackling the root problems of social exclusion successfully in their areas, before they receive substantial backing from the Government.
In addition to this, since coming to power, we have launched a number of new area-based initiatives - including Health Action Zones, the New Deal for Communities, Employment Zones and Education Action Zones - aimed at tackling social exclusion and helping our most deprived communities.
These area-based programmes have their own distinct goals, however they share key characteristics. They are targeted on areas and communities where there is a need for priority action; they aim to support new cross-cutting approaches, they promote genuine local partnerships with stronger community involvement, and they encourage greater flexibility and responsiveness in the operation of public spending programmes.
We must make sure that these initiatives are properly "joined up" both centrally in Government Departments and locally on the ground where it really matters. We have already made a start. Last year we announced a series of measures to encourage effective co-ordination of these area-based initiatives. An action-research study, in six areas, is looking at how initiatives interact on the ground. It will look at what gets in the way of effective co-ordination and make recommendations for improvements, building on experience and developing good practice in managing and co-ordinating initiatives. In addition, there will be guidance to departments and an interdepartmental support unit to make sure the right connections are made. All of these are examples of "joined-up" Government.
The Social Exclusion Unit's Policy Action Teams, the Cabinet Office review of central and local government and systems, and the follow up work my own Department is undertaking on modernising local government will also be included. This will all be taken forward over the coming months, as part of our commitment to ensure that government services to people are delivered in the way that people themselves really want.
With the New Deal for Communities, the Social Exclusion Unit's work and our Action Zones we have set in place a number of new initiatives that build on the SRB.
However, we need to look to the future to see what is needed in the future.
All the measures discussed will play a part in a whole new urban renaissance which is our ambitious vision for the future. People make cities, but cities make citizens and the way we live in our towns and cities affects our whole society.
Most of our population lives in towns and cities - yet all too often our urban areas are second-rate or under-used.
We all want the convenience of cities, but we have to make them for more attractive places to live in. We must make cities and towns the first choice for people to live in and stop the migration to the countryside. We have set the most stringent target ever, 60%, for using existing sites for future housing, with a radical reform of our planning framework.
To look into all these issues we set up the Urban Task Force under Lord Rogers and asked the Task force to come up with practical recommendations. Last week the Task Force published its report 'Towards an Urban Renaissance' which contained over 100 recommendations for the Government to consider. The Government will make its fonnal response to the recommendations in its Urban White Paper. This will be published in the next 12 months. The Urban White Paper - the first in 20 years - will set out our vision for towns and cities for the future.
The aim is to have towns and cities that are not only competitive and prosperous but offer a good quality of life for the whole community.
The Urban White Paper is not just about regeneration, the remit goes much wider. It is about housing, delivery of public services, education, jobs, the environment, transport, health, the fight against crime, and the whole range of issues that are vital to local families and communities. My Department will be pulling together all the work but we will be working closely across Government to ensure all the relevant information is included. We will also be liaising with our Rural colleagues who are undertaking a similar exercise to produce a Rural White Paper.
To conclude, today I have outlined the prograrnmes we have in place that are helping some of the most deprived areas in the country. Although we have been "doing" regeneration for some years we don't have all the answers. However the key factors of partnership, targeting an area and involving the local community in regeneration, are crucial.
All our programmes are evolving and the ongoing evaluation of our programmes informs us when changes are necessary. We need to consider how to develop further our policies for our towns and cities if we are to have an urban renaissance. The forthcoming Urban White Paper will set out the framework for the way forward into the 21st century.