Squint hard enough, and you might work out how it all fits. In between writing cheques to the taxman, ministers have been churning out a clutch of policy statements, including a new regeneration framework for England.
Let’s start with World Class Places. On the face of it, this strategy contains worthy but predictable guidance about urban design, and pleads with planners and developers not to cut corners during the recession. More interestingly, it connects poor design with poverty and deprivation, linking educational failure and job scarcity with ‘badly designed housing estates or low quality neighbourhoods’. Lord Rogers’ urban task force noted the connection ten years ago.
On a related theme, the DCLG responded to the Houghton report on worklessness. Councils are being encouraged to bid for a slice of the £1bn future jobs fund to create 150,000 new posts. The report also touted the idea of public service apprentices: young people trained for roles in local government and the public sector.
Meanwhile the regeneration framework stressed the need to provide opportunities in areas of market failure. There’s even a new official definition: ‘Regeneration is a set of activities that reverse economic, social and physical decline in areas where market forces will not do this without support from government.’ Not particularly memorable, but a handy summary.
So far, so coherent. We need government funding to sort out entrenched problems of deprivation where the markets can’t. ‘Poverty of place’ means regeneration must encompass placeshaping as well as economic opportunity.
Now it gets tricky. On 6 May, in a speech to council chiefs, Hazel Blears argued that ‘empowered’ communities could help achieve the £600m annual efficiency savings demanded of local government. The message was simple: listen to the public and save money.
There’s a problem here. This approach devalues public engagement by imposing an ulterior motive. It could erode the very budgets required to address market failure. What price a work of art, an inspirational community project or a green jobs scheme if investment is caricatured as bureaucratic waste?
We’ll never generate a virtuous circle of more work, better places and higher aspirations if we don’t also recognise and tackle the vicious spiral of impoverishment that continuously counteracts government policies.
That spiral involves the exodus of people with aspirations from low income areas; the self-reinforcing connections between better performing schools and wealthy neighbourhoods; the residualisation of social housing and the repellent effect of poor reputation. In other words, market failure is spawned and perpetuated by the same forces that accompany market success. Until this is overtly recognised in public policy, none of those worthy ministerial pronouncements will achieve their aims.
Added on Monday, 8th June 2009 | This entry has 0 comments
Squint hard enough, and you might work out how it all fits. In between writing cheques to the taxman, ministers have been churning out a clutch of policy statements, including a new regeneration framework for England.