The Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation wished to pilot their new Planning for Real School Citizenship pack. They selected Deansfield High School in Wolverhampton to test the pack. Deansfield was until recently a struggling inner-city school.

The pack was to be used to plan the regeneration of a brownfield site across the road from the school. The 10 acre site once contained 360 dwellings and was blighted by poor quality housing, low demand, and economic and social deprivation.

This case study looks at the experience of the Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation in piloting the Planning for Real School Citizenship pack in schools.

The pack is designed to meet the Key Stage 3 curriculum and GCSE specifications. It adopts an enquiry, investigative approach and develops strands from most of the National Curriculum through a focus on town planning and regeneration activities.

Using the pack, the project centred on town planning and the regeneration of a brownfield site across the road from the school. A development brief was compiled in consultation with the local community and the new development will include:

Using the pack, the students engaged with issues of local regeneration and a multi-stakeholder project ensued. With support from the Foundation, the school has developed a partnership with Wolverhampton City Council, Creative Partnerships, Persimmon Homes and Focus Housing Association.

As a result of these links the school has been visited by architects, planners and local authority officers as well as designers, artists and sculptors. The Government Office for the West Midlands is interested in identifying other possible areas where similar projects could be established.

The beneficiaries include the students at Deansfield High School as well as residents of the surrounding area.

Planning for Real School Citizenship pack was the key resource used.

Regen WM
enquiries@regenwm.org

//2004

case

Urban Policy > Urban environment > Urban renewal

Brownfield development