EUKN - United Kingdom - Residents' Consultancy Pilots Initiative

Residents' Consultancy Pilots Initiative

Introduction

The Initiative piloted the concept of ‘residents consultancy’ to explore the extent to which residents with experience of effective community-based regeneration could play a valuable role in providing advice and inspiration to others.

Problem

Examines the issue of how residents in regeneration areas who have gained experience of how to involve and enthuse local people, how to get action going on the ground, how to apply for funding and manage projects and how to engage with service providers and wider initiatives can draw on this experience and expertise to support other communities.

Description

This document:

presents the results of the Residents Consultancy Pilot initiative which investigated the extent to which residents with experience of effective community-based regeneration could play a role in providing advice and inspiration to others, and promoting good practice to bring about change;
lists the pilot projects involved in the initiative and discusses the programme management arrangements;
draws some key lessons from the evaluation; and
considers the extent to which residents' consultancies provide a coherent package of support for community-led regeneration activities.

Approach

The residents’ consultancy approach draws on the skills and experience people have gained through involvement in community regeneration activities to support others. The Initiative provided financial support to eight pilot projects to test and evaluate various approaches to residents’ consultancy. There is no single definition of a resident consultant. Those engaged in the pilots came from a wide variety of backgrounds and undertook a diverse range of activities across the spectrum of renewal activities.

Results

The pilot projects demonstrate the wide-ranging potential for harnessing the expertise of residents to support neighbourhood renewal. At the heart of the concept of ‘residents’ consultancy’ is ‘learning through shared experience’. The uniqueness of the approach embodied by the pilots centres on the development of an approach which has the potential to support the further growth of such activities and thereby promote: the sharing of experiences between − as well as within − communities; and the opportunity for residents to develop their skills further, potentially earn income from such activities and thereby support the economic recovery of disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Beneficiaries

Residents of regeneration areas – both those who have experience of regeneration and those who have yet to be involved.

Resources used

£25,000 per annum was provided over the period 2001/02 – 2003/04 to each of the eight pilot projects. The total cost of the initiative over the three years was £372,500 from three government departments. The Department for Education and Skills also provided specific staffing resources to take forward the contract management and administration.

Contact info

Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Phone: +44 8450 82 83 83
neighbourhoodrenewal@odpm.gsi.gov.uk

Project start date

01/01/2001

Planned end date

01/09/2004

Links

Neighbourhood Renewal Unit Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Department of Communities and Local Government)

Evaluation of Residents' Consultancy Pilots Initiative (PDF, Eng, 1MB)

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Housing > Housing management

Keywords

Tenant management