Billions of pounds used to finance urban regeneration in British cities has made ‘no effect', according to a think tank. A report by the centre-right Policy Exchange called into question the value of a number of regeneration schemes delivered by a variety of agencies. It also called for councils to be given financial freedom to set their own regeneration spending priorities. Key findings from the study, Cities Limited, revealed the gap between urban policy towns that have received extra finances and the national average has widened from them being 9% behind in 1997 to 13% behind in 2004. Unemployment remains a ‘stubborn' 50% higher in urban policy towns. ‘While we should not give up on urban policy, much of the £30bn spent in the last decade appears to have had no effect,' said Dr Oliver Hartwich, Policy Exchange's chief economist. ‘The big picture is the same. Towns, which receive large amounts of urban policy funding, are not converging to the UK average. ‘Urban policy should provide towns and cities with incentives to grow, prevent ghost towns from appearing and give towns and cities much more freedom to decide how to use regeneration money.' Local government minister John Healey ‘totally' rejected the claims made in the report. He said life chances in areas receiving neighbourhood renewal funding were continuing to improve, with mortality rates from heart disease falling by 27.5% since 1997, crime rates by 15% between 2003 and 2007 and the coalfields programme creating 16,000 jobs since 1996. The Government has committed a further £2bn for deprived areas through the Pathfinder investment in housing renewal. ‘The scale of positive change is clear, however deep-rooted pockets of deprivation still exist which no one single approach can tackle,' he added.
