Can Labour regenerate the North East?
This is an old report from Policy Exchange I dug out recently which chimes in well with the attempts to ‘regenerate’ Durham, with not just a poor method, but an undemocratic one.
We did not claim, and do not claim, that these towns and cities have not improved since 1997. A decade of strong economic growth means that it is almost impossible to find any place that has not improved. Nor did we claim that the regeneration money that has been spent has achieved nothing. It is almost impossible to spend billions and billions, year in and year out, and achieve nothing at all. But we did claim – and no one has disputed this – that, far from catching up, the places we focused on, towns and cities that experienced wave after wave of regeneration initiatives, have fallen further behind the national average. In contrast, towns that were successful in 1997, and not the subject of regeneration policies, have pulled further ahead.
Looks like a resounding no.
That be Cities Unlimited, yes?
I’m aware of whole drama of what the tabloids say it concludes, but even if you don’t agree with it that point rings true.
(As per tweets)
Even if I did object strenuously to this report itself, I’d still be less than enamoured of regeneration as currently practised. Kate Belgrave at Hangbitch (who are a hideous lefty the likes of you would probably never otherwise come across) did an excellent series of interviews with people in Skelmersdale about the regeneration there, which tended to underline how comically disconnected regeneration normally is from (a) the wishes of the people it’s being done to and (b) economic reality. Well worth seeking out.
One of the funniest responses to CU I read was in the Liverpool Echo, which drew up an enormous list of regen expenditure and presented this as evidence that Leunig was wrong and regeneration was “working”. Pure Sir Humphrey. Liverpool’s population has fallen over the last decade, according to the Centre for Cities’ recent report.
By the way, yes, I recognised the quoted passage before you put the link in, and yes, I am that sad.
You are quite right, and this does not just concern the north east. In Yorkshire millions and millions have been thrown at a town called Castleford, a real Labour heartland which suffered through the eighties and nineties. The boat was really pushed out, the chap from Grand Designs even did a programme on it.
The result of those millions? Castleford has a really nice pedestrian bridge, which connects a run down part of town with a council estate.
It also has a new pedestrian underpass which connected a car park with the outdoor market. I use the past tense because the outdoor market has now moved to the main street (as a consequence of the regeneration). So now it connects a car park and an empty space.
I can’t remember where, but I read something once which suggested that a process of ’social regeneration’ was needed instead of just grand building projects, where people would be improved, thus leading to an improvement in their surroundings. I would hope such ideas will be taken on board by the next government.