By Russell Spencer
“What Next for Regeneration?” is a key question that is on the lips of all those with an interest in the sector. The approaching election, public spending cuts and general economic uncertainty have bought this question to the fore, and delegates at Renaisi’s Annual Lecture were looking to our speakers for answers.
Caroline Spelman, the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, was understandably in full election mode: giving her speech a few days after the launch of the long-awaited Conservative Planning Paper, Spellman spelled out the benefits the Tories’ changes would bring for regeneration. More money would be available for local authorities that encouraged business and housing development; regional level bureaucracy would be abolished and a presumption in favour of sustainable development. Under the plans the Community Infrastructure Levy would also be abolished.
Vince Cable’s then took the rostrum and promptly admitted he didn’t have any expertise in regeneration. Not the most auspicious start you might think, but Vince went on to talk convincingly about the state of the economy and what it might mean for financing regeneration in the future; together with the gloomy outlook for property-led development there was also optimism about the new models of regeneration that could emerge out of the chaos, and Vince expressed a strong desire to give local authorities more power and control over revenue generation which could be ploughed back into their areas.
This was something taken up by Sir Albert Bore, the former leader of Birmingham City Council who has overseen an impressive transformation of the physical fabric Birmingham Town Centre. Bore trumpeted the achievements of renowned 19th-century Birmingham mayor Joseph Chamberlain and his fellow municipal socialists in transforming their areas and boasted of the steps New Labour had taken to give a greater degree of control to local authorities. He also praised the former mayor of Barcelona, Pasqual Mira, who oversaw the Olympic-led transformation of his city in the early 1990s. According to Bore, Mira stressed two important things needed for successful regeneration – vision and leadership. He didn’t add, however, that these are only effective if they are backed up with real power at the local level.
Questions from the audience were many and varied. Renaisi’s own Adam Barnett kicked off the questioning by asking what should be the underlying principles for urban regeneration, to which most of the panel answered ‘sustainability’ – although without discussing what this actually means or should mean. Another audience member took the speakers to task for failing to mention the importance of tackling inequality – something that shocked Ms Spelman who was adamant the spirit of this could be discerned in her party’s planning measures. Other topics raised included the importance of developing new models to capture private sector financing and the role of families in urban regeneration schemes.
Overall the debate was lively, the speeches thought-provoking, the wine plentiful and the food abundant. As ever with these things, answering one question seems to throw up several more. Subjects for future Renaisi lectures, perhaps…
