Economic Regeneration

Streatham Bridge Economic Regeneration

A series of indicators for economic regeneration of anarea were laid out by the AuditCommission to facilitate the efficient and effective spendingof public money.

Kevin Ambrose was the key author of the Ecoregen document which has served asguidance for the work theRagged project is undertaking.

Economic regeneration indicators have been grouped into 8 themesloosely covering areas of local economic development activity:

EmploymentUnemployment and business statistics of the area; how manyworking, how many on benefits,how many businesses, what kind ofbusinesses, how many jobs

Earnings and skillsWho has what skills, what education, who works in what jobs

Economic vitalityInvestment and development parks,indicators, travel and parking

Demography and deprivationCrime levels, poverty levels, health statistics

Town centres and tourismShops, venues, community spaces,libraries, museums, public art, attractions, parks, shared spaces,third places, cinema, leisure centres

Workforce development and employabilityEducation opportunities, open university, colleges, schools, nightschools, training schemes, job agencies, entrepreneurialschemes, incubators

Investment Business Areas of development, scalable businesses, business districts, large employers

Social enterprise supportClubs, social groups, meetups, associations, societies, charities,CIC’s, funding, management training, software training

Each of these themes will factor into theplan to stimulate economic regeneration ofStreatham Common. A discussion ofgeneral issues will precede a detailed planof approach where Ragged will workwithin the Streatham Bridge BusinessAssociation will act to implement theactions detailed with what resources areavailable.

The factors involved in neighbourhoodrenewal and economic regeneration aredynamic and many change according tothe time period and situation.

We will be drawing on the thinking of theAudit Commission, economists, andprofessionals experienced in the area ofurban regeneration.

Inviting the expertise and support of theRoyal Society of Arts as an enlightenmentorganisation, the Chamber of Commerce,CRESC, the Federation of SmallBusinesses, and entrepreneurs with civicstakeholdership, Ragged hopes tocoordinate an effective multi-perspectivelong term project to improve the lives ofthe communities of Streatham and theirsurrounding partners.

This overview has been written tointroduce some of the issues looked at inthe analysis of the economic well-being ofan area and what notions must beconsidered for an effective improvementplan. Organisations and stakeholders canimprove performance by identifying andsharing good practice and alongsidelearning from others.

This practice of passing on experience willbe central to the strategy which theRagged project employs. Mutuality,co-construction, and the building ofinclusive social capital are the coreelements of the ethos being employedhere.



It is clear that we would all like to be a partof a safe, prosperous, healthy community;this amounts to quality of life andhappiness. An egalitarian community is animportant part of realising this visionwhere everyone has the right to the sameopportunities, freedoms and respects, andwhere shared prosperity ultimately stemsfrom this.

A community which evokes a sense ofpride sufficient to make each individualfeel invested in the extended network as awhole, and other individuals, is the basis ofcivic pride and a collaborative society.Thus, in this idea of community, peoplework hard to create a thriving, sustainableand engaging environment whichimproves everyone’s experience.

The Strength of a CollectiveBeing in a valued landscape adds value toyour own stock. A central economic axiomwhich is borne in mind here is that ofDavid Hume’s - ‘it is good to have aprosperous neighbour’.

‘it is good to have a prosperous neighbour’


A critically informed position is being drawn together, in part from the key findings of the Economic Scrutiny Committee Short Scrutiny Study.

Improving community environments involves:

Making housing available, building betterquality homes, and working to reduce thecauses of homelessness and hencehomelessness itself.

Making available and improving the localpublic services which facilitate economyand higher standards of living.

Developing areas financially to make paidwork accessible through entrepreneurship,skill based education and capitalenterprise.

A Landscape of ImprovementWorking to produce sustainable elementsof community environment in terms of selfsupporting logistically thought outschemes.

Finding and implementing enlightenedpolicy which addresses anti-socialbehaviour and socially negative extreme behaviour.

Finding and implementing enlightened policy


An inclusive culture is one of the strengthsof the United Kingdom. Drawing uponthis legacy, there is a responsibility toemphasize and strengthen principles ofrace and class equality to facilitatecommunity cohesion.

Neighbourhood decline refers to theprocess by which areas becomedisadvantaged and includes

environmental, social and economicfactors. Neighbourhood renewal aims toreverse this process, improve the quality oflife and attract people back into declining areas.

Neighbourhood renewal looks at thephysical environment as well as thecultural landscape which both factor intohealth and well being.

Neighbourhood RenewalPleasant and vibrant surroundings set thescene for the psychology of thecommunity and a backdrop of optimismimportant to foster the collaborativenetworks necessary for economicprosperity.

An inclusive culture is one of the strengths of the UK


Economic regeneration is one aspect ofneighbourhood renewal; Economicregeneration aims to strengthen the localeconomy and create wealth by tacklingworklessness – a term used to include peoplewho are unemployed, economically inactiveor actively out of work – and promoting job creation.

Economic regeneration aims also to changebehaviour, encouraging and supporting localpeople to become more entrepreneurial. It isimportant to be clear and consistent aboutthe definitions used for economicregeneration, worklessness and overallneighbourhood renewal as these mould thepriorities and parameters for operationalpractice, not just the initial projectimplementation. Economic regenerationincludes actions designed to prepare andassist potential employees for work (supply)and actions designed to increase the demandfor employees (demand). It can occur as a

series of ad hoc initiatives, projects or actions.Such measures as simplifying and removingbarriers to working are as important in thisarea as providing the ability for people toupskill and thus engage job markets.

Economic regeneration works mosteffectively within a strategic framework,which is best effected when aligned with localstakeholders, established institutions,communities of practice and individualvoices. To be effective and to createsustainable and inclusive communities,economic regeneration needs to complementsocial and environmental regenerationinitiatives. The Ragged model therefore willbe divided into three main areas which areunited under the title of neighbourhoodrenewal.

It is difficult to separate out economicregeneration from the social andenvironmental, particularly the indirect

Economic Regenerationaspects of neighbourhood renewal that assisteconomic regeneration. Initiatives ultimatelyfail if there is a lack of linkage betweenenvironmental development and economicactivities. All initiatives must be implementedin such a way as to benefit the sociallyexcluded. To be truly effective they require tobe deliberately targeted at the mostchallenged, deprived and excludedcommunities.

Economic development, growth andinvestment can fail to assist localeconomically inactive residents and thus isnot the same as Economic Regeneration.Employment and worklessness strategies canassist in ensuring that there is greaterparticipation by local residents in the localeconomy. The need to include all thecommunities of an area in activities is criticalto creating a long term impact.


To clearly define and overtly state whateconomic regeneration means in order toensure that proper transparency surroundsstrategies and to help raise the profile andimportance of neighbourhood renewalacross the collaborating communities.

To understand and align structurally withthe government and council’s vision, aims,objectives, and definitions for economicregeneration in a way which iscomplementary way in order to provide aclear and consistent framework that aimsfor structual alignment where possible.

This will assist with prioritising resources,directing practice, and facilitatepartnership working. This ensures thatduplication does not isolate and depleteavailable resources and that credit is givento all stakeholders invested in the commonaim of neighbourhood renewal.

Clarity is required regarding the interfacebetween economic, social andenvironmental regeneration. Key strategiclocations need to be identified in order tochose the appropriate places forimplementation of initiatives.

Transparency of process and involvementin co-constructing the environment ispivotal to ownership and thereforetangible stakeholdership. A co-operativeatmosphere must be established to providea foundation to the growing of a culturaleco-system which suits its inhabitantsrather than imposing a top-downinstallation.

The development of a Specific,Measurable, Attainable, Realistic andTime-sensitive (SMART) action plan andPolicy Statement for mainstreaming andembedding economic regeneration withinthe area is needed for the ability toeffectively project manage the scheme.

Chief ObjectivesAn encompassing social contract informedby the collective discourses needs to beestablished with outcome based targetsand performance indicators in key places.It is important to ensure that the localeconomic development strategy andneighbourhood improvement plan arecohesive with the shared objectives set outby the project.

An undertaking like neighbourhoodrenewal can only be done on a long termbasis and not as a part of a boom and bustfunding model. Hence a need forcontinued of lobbying of government,application to funding bodies, grants, andtrust funds to address finance issues. Tocreate a lasting legacy it is important toensure adequate resources are available todevelop and coordinate a longitudinal andregional approach.


Action plans need to be developed to ensurethat, across the collaborative body, allavailable resources are maximised and madeavailable throughout the community in anequitable manner. The use of resources forconvergent initiatives by all local groups issomething which must be carefully managed.

Spending must be balanced across the threeareas of social, environmental, and economiclandscapes. This must be done withtransparency and allow for correctsequencing and weighting of priorities byproject managers.

It is necessary to support all bids to provideadditional local training, communities ofinterest and enterprise centres. Similarly, goodworking relationships with regional partnersand agencies ensures that the area fullybenefits from any regional regeneration, skillstraining and investment programmes.

Provision must be made to work with localstakeholders and expertise to deliver aworklessness strategy that contains bothsupply and demand activities, and provide aframework to incorporate existing and newactivities.

Action PlansMeasures need to ensure there are sufficient,specific industry targeted training servicesincluding customer services, hospitality,tourism, construction and Information andCommunications Technology (ICT) skills.

A key aim in continuity of experience is toensure that employment opportunities areavailable following training, for example inareas such as plumbing, electrical, carpentryand ICT. Utilisation of cooperative andinclusive ‘guild practices’ as well as onlinefreelance job markets are options whichshould be adapted and explored.

‘Provision must be made to work with local stakeholders’


There is a need to remove barriers to workincluding the need for provision of childcareservices which are accessible to all. Throughdialogue an approach should be developed totackle second generation unemployment.

The attitudes and behaviours associated withthe perpetuation of poverty anddisenfranchisement need to be a focus so thatthe hard to reach groups are engaged withsupport mechanism incentives and reducedbureaucracies. Language exchange andlearning, along with basic literacy initiatives are parallel requirements.

Bridging and linking forms of social capitalare important factors to break down theacculturation which isolates individuals fromthe knowledge spillover which social capitalprovides. Research suggests this is importantfor thriving communities and social mobility.

Provision must be made to ensure that localrecruitment policy and procedures includeconsideration of the possibility of expandingthe use of the Council’s, and naturalmonopoly firms’ recruitment channels toaddress economic inactivity by providingtraining, incentive and opportunity.

Action Plans - cont.The ideal is to ensure that sustainableprocurement policy encourages economicregeneration via use of local labour plus use ofmaterials sourced and constructed in theregion. This type of action plan would tapinto the benefits which come of a structuralalignment of simple demand and supplyinterrelationships.

‘Bridging and linking forms of social capital are important’


Possible priorities for economic regenerationare: growing employment for all; improvingentrepreneurial rates; helping the hardest toreach into work and building a stronger localeconomy.

These can be achieved by various means,including specific programmes that includeskills and training schemes, business start upand support projects, as well as widerprogrammes encompassing growth areassuch as tourism, culture, ICT and creativity projects.

As stated, the aim of economic regenerationmust complement social and environmentalregeneration schemes, creating inclusivecommunities and tackling social exclusion.Strategies must therefore be multi-leveled anddevelop a capacity to deal with complex(wicked) problems.

Economic Regeneration may occur as a seriesof ad hoc initiatives, projects and actions, aspart of a wider scheme encompassing allaspects of regeneration or as part of a plannedprogramme for economic regeneration.

Priorities and StrategiesThere may be a specific strategy for economicregeneration, an overarching strategy thatincorporates economic regeneration or aseries of separate strategies that touch oneconomic regeneration.

Analysis of social netowrks, traffic plans andavailable infrastructure are importantconsiderations for understanding the existinglandscape which must be built upon. Apriority is to map and unite the existingcommunity in a joint activity.


Research by Professor Michael Campbell(Leeds Metropolitan University) hashighlighted that general economicdevelopment, growth strategies andinward investment do not necessarilyensure that jobs created go to local peoplewho are unemployed. Instead, economicdevelopment can result in structuralchanges that initially exclude more localpeople from jobs than they include.

Growth strategies and inward investmentcan result in widely differing numbers ofjobs and all of these can result incommuters or people who can afford tomigrate into the area benefiting from thenew jobs. Professor Campbell thereforestresses the importance of an ‘employmentstrategy’ which helps to ensure that thejobs created go to local people who areunemployed. These vary according to thecharacteristics of local labour markets

depending on whether they need moresupply actions (helping to prepare andassist potential employees for work) ordemand actions (actions aimed atincreasing the demand for employees) or amix of these.

An initial review of employment strategiesconcluded that to be as successful aspossible, they needed to tackle both supplyand demand. The evaluation alsohighlighted that many of the jobs createdby the first raft of employment strategieseither did not go to local residents or got‘creamed off ’ by those best placed toachieve employment, leaving those‘furthest away’ from the labour market asdisadvantaged as before. A review of actions to help tackleworklessness shows as follows:

Economic Development and EmploymentSupply Side:

1. Increasing access toemployment by improvingtransport links and providingaccessible childcare

2. Increasing skills base byproviding education andtraining

3. Helping the ‘hardest to reach’into work

4. Improve support services tolone parents

5. Increase support to ‘secondgeneration’ workless

6. Deliver support servicesdifferently e.g. via libraries,employment support centres,mobile job support centres

7. Providing intensive outreachand support to help overcome aculture of worklessness


Demand Side: 8. Challenging employers

behaviour e.g. why aren’t theyinterviewing unemployedapplicants

9. Encouraging a suitableinfrastructure to support newjob creation e.g. transport,housing choice and access togood quality services

10. Providing accommodation fornew business

11. Attracting and creating new jobs

12. Encourage business start-ups 13. Providing business advice

and support 14. Forming a partnership with

local employers 15. Providing access to broadband

The basic approach to unemploymentreduction measures is essentially shortterm and microeconomic, embracingnon-economic factors where relevant. Thecriteria used in appraising unemploymentreduction measures need to bestandardised in order to providecomparable evaluations.

Structural unemployment is the mismatchof a whole series of qualities such aseducation, training, organisation size,locations, personnel, skills, experience,and working hours, where employees andpotential employers are not in line. Theseare the main problems to be addressed byreduction measures.

Possible strategies of addressingworklessness are as follow:

Economic Development and Employment - cont.Reducing the numbers of peopleneeding paid work: - Retiring earlier - Stopping work afterretirement - Substituting directly retired byunemployed - Partially retiring -Expanding education - Providing more training

Sharing the work: - Shortening the working week - Shorteningthe working year - Reducing overtime -Fostering part time employment -Reorganising working patterns

Matching people with jobs: - Bringing jobs to depressed areas - Helpingpeople in depressed areas to take jobselsewhere - Improving the job findingprocess - Building the confidence andskills of the unemployed


Using marginal subsidies: - Reducing wage cost by recruitmentsubsidy - Awarding grants for increases inemployment

Organising business for employment: -Averting closure and redundancy --promoting and assisting new businesses

Providing work in the community andpublic sector: - Finding work for the long termunemployed - Employing people directlyin jobs in the public sector

Three strategic themes for encouragingeconomic activity at a local level are:

1. To secure labour marketparticipation by engaging variedcommunities; matching skills toemployment and ensuring thatcurrent and future skillsrequirements of companies ingrowth sectors are aligned.

2. To encourage businesses toinvest in workforce development at all levels.

3. To develop opportunities forlocal people by bringingforward practical projects tosecure employment such asconstruction and retailinitiatives.

Economic Development and Employment - cont.The scope of this document is to providean overview of microeconomic measureseach capable of contributing tounemployment reduction.

This is to facilitate looking at anenvironment and thinking through whatmight be achieved as far as a strategy todeal with worklessness.

When measuring for opportunity of work,the notion of ‘deadweight loss’ and‘opportunity costs’ must be brought intoconsideration, particularly where workforces are at the mercy of naturalmonopolies which can come aboutthrough universally required infrastructureand services such as transport or energyprovision.


Deadweight cost or loss is commonlyexpressed in terms which relate the extentto which the value and impact of a tax, taxrelief or subsidy is reduced because of itsside effects. For instance, increasing theamount of tax levied on workers’ pay willlead some workers to stop working orwork less, so reducing the amount of extratax to be collected.

However, creating a tax relief or subsidy toencourage people to buy life insurancewould have a deadweight cost becausepeople who would have bought insuranceanyway would benefit.

Opportunity cost refers to the cost of anyactivity measured in terms of the value ofthe next best alternative which is notchosen. It is the sacrifice related to thealternative choices available to anindividual, or group, who has pickedamong several mutually exclusive choices.

Economic Development and Employment - cont.If the cost of working outweighs thebenefits to a certain demographic then adialogue must be established to investigateand deal with this before the worklessnessproblem can be realistically resolved.

An analysis of barriers to work mustinclude a conversation which involves thatof deadweight loss and opportunity costs.


Local economic resilience is somethingwhich should be the ‘nurtured’ as theability of an economy to recover from oradjust to the effects of adverse shocks towhich it may be exposed. The more youhave diversified local commerce, the lessexposed you are to the broader vagaries ofmarkets and depletion of resources. Anenvironmentally stable local economy isalso a resilient economy.

This is the thinking behind transitiontowns. The Transition concept emergedfrom the work of permaculture designerRob Hopkins. The aim of the Transition

project is to equip communities for thedual challenges of climate change and peakoil. The Transition Towns initiative is anexample of socioeconomic localisationwhich builds in resilience throughdiversity, a commercial eco-culture,comparative advantage, and theopportunity to capitalise on networks ofassociation.

Environment plays a complex role inbehaviour and wellbeing, which factor intoother areas of life such as economy. Withthe help of horticulturalists and urbangreening experts, planting-growing

Economic Resilience and Environment initiatives will be used to improve the area.The extended benefits confer positiveeffects on health, happiness, civic orientedbehaviour and urban infrastructure such asdrainage.

‘An environmentally stable economy is a resilient economy’


A growing body of evidence indicatesthat the size and density of socialnetworks and institutions, and thenature of interpersonal interactions,significantly affect the efficiency andsustainability of development programs. Robert Putnam wrote in “BowlingAlone” of the decline taken placerecently in the participation of people involuntary organisations. Social capitalbroadly refers to social relationships;people being involved in organisationswhere the membership of thoseorganisations serves as a resource for theindividuals within those organisations.

If you are a member of someorganisation of this kind, you can thenuse it to tap into the knowledge ofothers; these organisations hold within

them informal networks which are usefulfor contacts, they also serve as places toform friendships and support, and so on.

The heart of the issue surrounding socialcapital is that there has been a decline inparticipation of such organisations andthis raises much discussed issues aboutindividuals and their status in society.This issue provides a focus for widerdiscussions all of which incorporate thenotion of the individual and the importance of networks.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchcommentator on America in the 19thcentury wrote in his “Democracy inAmerica” about these things and arguedmembership in such organisationsserved to moderate what he thought was

Social Capital in The Landscape otherwise destructive individual selfinterest. Alexis DeTocqueville found theAmerican pioneer of 1830 anything butculturally impoverished “… he is, inshort, a highly civilized being whoconsents for a time to inhabit thebackwoods… It is difficult to imaginethe incredible rapidity with whichthought circulates in the midst of thesedeserts. I do not think that so muchintellectual activity exists in the mostenlightened districts of France…”

In the 1950s voluntary organisationsbecame a focus of argument whenpeople started talking abouttotalitarianism and individual agency.The character of a totalitarian society inthat context was often claimed asresulting of an absence of institutions


standing in between the individual andthe government. Voluntary organisationsare independent of the state. With theloosening and then collapse of Sovietinfluence in Eastern Europe, a number ofintellectuals there became interested inunderstanding their own societies, andin a sense, tried to diagnose what it wasthat was missing when a comparison wasmade between their societies and thosein Western Europe and the UnitedStates.

What they stressed as significant wasvoluntary organisations, and they placedstress in this context on the notion ofcivil society. These voluntaryorganisations acted as mediatinginterests between the individual andgovernment.

Robert Putnam, the Harvard politicalscientist, has invigorated the topicthrough collaboration with colleagues inItaly. In a study he argued that a newlevel of local government in Italy workedbest where there was a strong heritage ofvoluntary organisation or association.Amongst other claims, Putnam suggeststhat greater social capital feeds intoaggregate economic growth, greaterhealth, and greater happiness.

From this discussion it can be seen thatthe concept of social capital is not new,although the term is. The origins of theconcept can be traced past thinkers ofthe eighteenth and nineteenth centuriesand is rooted in economics, sociology,anthropology and political scienceliterature.

Economic Resilience and Environment Since its original use, the term hasreceived unprecedented acceptance andapplication to diverse areas.

Economists suggest that the origin ofsocial capital theory is in the formativeperiod of economic sociology with MaxWeber. Others draw links between socialcapital theory and questions posed byAdam Smith in The Theory of MoralSentiments. Knack identified AdamSmiths discussion of the potentialnegative spillovers of group activities asan aspect of social capital debate. Smithstated that when 'people of the sametrade' meet 'even for merriment anddiversion' the result is often 'a conspiracyagainst the public' or 'some contrivanceto raise prices'.


Here the idea of negative externalitiesand spillovers are dealt with. These ideasare further reinforced by the work ofSheilagh Ogilvie and Roberta Dessi inSocial Capital and Collusion: The Caseof Merchant Guilds.

The other side of this discussion whichcan be harnessed is that of positivespillovers and externalities, such as arefound in the example of the inclusivecharter of Manchester and its guilds. TheCharter of Manchester allowed anyoneto gain access to work and so thisresulted in a great deal of knowledgespillover and economic activity.

This is what is meant by an ‘inclusiveguild practice’. Without a culture of openparticipation a closed reactionary

economy results which undermines andharms itself through a gridlock arisingfrom mercantilist protectionism, ahomogeneity of produce and a lack ofactivity of diverse stakeholders.

These economic views also translate intoknowledge terms where opportunitybrings about an aggregation of minds,and knowledge spillover results ininvention as well as innovation. Theabsence of opportunity closes off theseeffects.

The sharing of knowledge is a stimulus toexponential societal advance. Gerald A.Carlino describes the positive effects of‘knowledge spillover’ as a ‘non-rivalknowledge market externality’ that has aspillover effect of stimulating

Social Capital in The Landscape technological improvements in aneighbour through one's owninnovation.

Knowledge spillover is a majormechanism of social capital and an openculture which is the vital ‘substrate oftrust’ from which proactive communitiesform. Inclusive social capital is thecultural humus which must be cultivatedfor renewal projects to work and thrive.

This initiative will take special interest inpropagating civic networks and selfsustaining community resources so that alegacy is created to carry forwardneighbourhood renewal and economicregeneration in Streatham.

Documents

Economic Regeneration