The Government’s efforts to level up deprived communities are unlikely to be successful without devolution of power to local neighbourhoods.
That’s according to the conclusions of a report out today by the Onward think tank which analyses the record of different regeneration schemes since the 1960s.
It finds that the most successful schemes focused on smaller geographic areas such as neighbourhoods, invested in community capacity over the long-term, and helped communities take ownership of local assets.
These lessons have not yet been adopted by the Government’s approach to levelling up, which has been focused on centralised funds – including the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, £3.6 billion Towns Fund and £220 million Community Renewal Fund – which local authorities competitively bid into.
The risk is that even if the funding has a positive impact in the short-term, it is unlikely to build capacity in the places that need to be levelled up the most to drive longer term improvement. In addition, Treasury data suggests that community development funding is currently around £1 billion a year lower in real terms than they were before the financial crisis, or around a third lower as a share of total managed expenditure.
The paper argues that the Government should take steps to ensure neighbourhoods can take a more active role in supporting local regeneration through the levelling up agenda. At present, the Government’s funds are set up as central funding streams, focused at town and local authority level, using short-term and mostly capital-heavy funding. It recommends that the Government takes steps to empower communities to take control of their place and to drive the pace of local change.
Will Tanner, Director of Onward and author of the study, said:
The Treasury will not level up left behind places using the same top-down policies that left places behind in the first place. If Ministers are serious about levelling up in the long term, they need to build local capacity that can endure – and help local people take back control of their communities.
The Government should use neighbourhoods – the most effective organising unit in society – to drive levelling up in the places that need it most, working with local communities to build new institutions, invest for the long term and better use local assets.
