The November 2000 Urban White Paper ‘Our Towns and Cities; Delivering an Urban Renaissance’ built on the recommendations of the Urban Task Force report. The White Paper set out the Government’s vision of towns, cities and suburbs offering a high quality of life and opportunity for all, not just the few.

Policy was no longer focused on ‘inner cities’ but on the wider urban area. The emphasis was on adopting long term policies addressing the combination of economic, social and environmental needs. Towns and cities were regarded as assets, not liabilities.

The Sustainable Communities Plan was published in February 2003. This complements the Urban White Paper but provides a broader framework encompassing urban policy. Urban policy is now viewed as one element in a range of government policies contributing to better towns and cities. The Plan shows how the government is working across departmental boundaries to create successful, thriving and inclusive communities of all types (as part of a continuum from urban to rural) where people want to live both now and in the future. This relies on an integrated approach — addressing economic, social and environmental issues. There is thus a wide range of non-urban policies on housing, spatial planning, regional economic development, governance and more, all having a major impact on towns and cities at all levels.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, ODPM
This was established in May 2002, with responsibility for local and regional government, housing, planning, fire, regeneration, social exclusion and neighbourhood renewal, placing this office at the heart of the government’s ambition to create sustainable communities for all.

Government Office for the Regions, GOs
Government Offices are the primary means by which a wide range of government policies are coordinated and delivered in the English regions with the emphasis on strengthening the competitiveness of regions (including cities), promoting sustainable communities, education and skills, sustainable development etc., thus meeting the needs of local communities.

Regional Development Agencies, RDAs
Established in April 1999 the 8 RDAs function as strategic economic development leaders, promoting enterprise and regeneration in the English regions. The London Development Agency established in 2000 fulfils the same role but is a functional body of the Greater London Assembly.

With its regional partners each RDA has developed an Economic Strategy, setting out priorities for inward investment and regeneration for each of the English regions. They work closely with the GOs to help to maximise their impact on regional economic performance.

English Partnerships (EP)
English Partnerships (EP) - the national regeneration agency works closely with the RDAs, local authorities and key public and private sector stakeholders to bring brown-field sites and empty property back into use.

EP is closely involved in the Government’s Millennium Communities Programme, designed to show how one can build sustainable, environmentally responsible communities in the 21st century. Seven Millennium Communities have now been identified, with the one in Greenwich being the most advanced.

Urban Regeneration Companies
EP has helped to establish 21 Urban Regeneration Companies (URCs) in partnership with RDAs and City Councils, to propel regeneration in cities and sub-regions. URCs are experts in their local areas, and the local authority, local employers, amenity groups and community representatives play an important part, the regional context being represented by the RDAs and the national dimension by EP. They co-ordinate investment plans from both public and private sectors, and attract new investment through the purposeful and imaginative promotion and regeneration of their areas.

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
CABE — jointly sponsored by ODPM and the Department for Culture, Media & Sport — champions and promotes the highest standards of urban design, while using its enabling and reviewing roles to help develop skills and best practice in the public and private sectors.

Local Government
Local authorities play a clear role in leading local partnerships and bringing stakeholders together to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of their communities. Since the mid 1990s the English Core Cities Group of local authorities — Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield — have been working together to raise the profile and prosperity of major English cities.

Current Issues
ODPM's five-year plan, Sustainable Communities: People, Places and Prosperity, sets out what is being done to promote good governance, empower communities, tackle disadvantage and make places cleaner, safer and greener. The second five-year plan, Sustainable Communities: Homes for All, sets out what is being done to give many more people more choice and fairness in housing — especially those who want a home of their own but can’t afford it. Both plans were published in January 2005 and build on the achievements of the Sustainable Communities Plan (see below for further details).

Key Programmes & Initiatives
New Deal for Communities (NDC) was launched in 1999, with a Pathfinder programme targeted at the most deprived neighbourhoods of around 4,000 households, each area receiving £50m (around €75m) for intensive regeneration in five thematic areas: health, housing and liveability, education, jobs and crime. There is a strong emphasis on community budgetary control and the direct election of local people to local boards. Round 2 was launched in 2001 targeted at 39 NDC programme areas.

The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal, launched in 2001: this is targeted at the 88 most deprived local authorities. The focus is on holistic intervention, local control, co-ordination of services and community empowerment. Floor targets were introduced to measure departments’ progress against their performance in the most deprived areas. The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund was also launched in 2001 — £0.5bn (around €0.75 billion) per year. It is distributed amongst LSPs in the 88 most deprived areas.

The Core Cities Working Group was set up by ODPM in April 2002. It has developed a programme of work aimed at strengthening the economic competitiveness and role of the major regional cities (‘core cities’) in national success. The DPM launched the Prospectuses (economic strategies) prepared by each Core City at the Core Cities Summit in Newcastle in June 2003. Ministers responded with initial visits to the cities in summer and autumn 2004 to review progress on developing their Prospectuses. The final report of the Working Group, ‘Our Cities are Back’, sets out the next steps for taking agreed actions forward.

Since the launch of the Sustainable Communities Plan in 2003, the government has put in place 9 Housing Renewal Pathfinders to support the renewal of housing markets in low demand areas in the North and Midlands, and 15 Growth Area Management Vehicles to accelerate the growth of housing supply and the delivery of sustainable communities in London and the South East. The Growth Area Management Vehicles include 3 Urban Development Corporations. All these bodies will have a major influence on towns and cities within their boundaries.

Since January 2004 the government has supported the development of 3 inter-regional growth strategies (The Northern Way, Smart Growth; The Midlands Way; and the South West Way) led by the Regional Development Agencies, as a means to draw together the agendas for Regional Economic Growth and Sustainable Communities on an integrated basis across the key territories of England. In the North of England, 8 City-Regional (Economic) Development Plans were launched in June 2005.

Across other departments of government the following city initiatives have also been put in place:

Other departments, notably the Home Office and the Department of Health, have a range of programmes directly addressing the challenges faced in cities in particular.

The government has supported an extensive programme of assessment and evaluation of the changing performance of cities, and city-regions, and their contribution to national success and key public policies (economic growth, social cohesion, environmental enhancement) over recent years. A major milestone will be the State of the Cities Report to be published in early 2006 which will provide data on the changing performance of 56 Primary Urban Areas within England.

21/12/2005

policy

Urban Policy