Not long ago, neighbourhoods fell off the political agenda. The ambitious targets of the last Labour government – “within ten to 20 years, no one should be seriously disadvantaged by where they live” – were cut short by austerity.
But now, the tide seems to be turning. The government’s new Plan for Neighbourhoods promises a £1.5bn commitment to long-term regeneration, and its first wave of Trailblazer Neighbourhoods signals what feels like the start of a new era.
ICON, the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, has opened the door to a deeper understanding and analysis of the challenges facing our poorest neighbourhoods – putting in place an investment framework for turning around the country’s most disadvantaged communities. The government now has the chance to make neighbourhood improvement one of the defining features of its domestic policy agenda.
The reason this matters is simple but often overlooked: inequality is not evenly spread. Pockets of deprivation exist in every part of the country – some of the poorest areas are small neighbourhoods in otherwise very affluent areas – but under the policy interventions of recent years, which focused on whole towns and cities, the most disinvested and disadvantaged places missed out and were left to fall even further behind.
At 3ni, we’ve been working to identify and understand these hyperlocal inequalities. Our Community Needs Index measures the strength (or absence) of social infrastructure: the community groups, shared spaces, local networks and connectivity that allow people to come together, solve problems and build on the unique assets that every community has.
Overlay this with data from the Index of Multiple Deprivation and you get a stark picture of neighbourhoods experiencing deep poverty, alongside the services and infrastructure that communities need to create change they can see and feel.
Neighbourhoods are where social capital – the special sauce that holds our communities together and underpins opportunities and life outcomes – is built.
The way we see it, neighbourhoods might just be the catalyst for delivering many of the government’s missions. And it is local action that can help provide solutions to challenges like poor health, low educational attainment, and a lack of decent jobs that are most acute in our poorest neighbourhoods.
That collective community efficacy – an expression of local levels of social capital – is key to realising the power of our neighbourhoods and the people who live in them. Our recent research into the impact of resident-led working through neighbourhood-based initiatives powerfully demonstrates that supporting communities to design and drive local change works.
As the political scientist Robert Putnam argues in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, social capital isn’t just a warm fuzzy feeling – it changes lives. But it can only be developed and strengthened at the hyperlocal level, in our neighbourhoods and with our neighbours, as our series of papers marking the 25th anniversary of Putnam’s book have demonstrated.
They showed that a healthy bank balance of social capital can provide a protective shield for children and families living in disadvantaged communities, improve mental and physical health and have a preventative effect on crime. This is not accidental: social capital grows through interaction and collaboration, most naturally at a hyperlocal level. It is the community-based organisations and activities that bring people together, building trust, friendship and mutual self-support.
Here, social infrastructure plays a starring role. A well-used community centre or park can act as a neighbourhood’s beating heart. Local groups – from football teams to food co-ops – create a shared identity and catalyst for community life. But we know a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to regeneration doesn’t work. Social infrastructure is inherently place-shaped, meaning regeneration must be tailored to local needs and circumstances.
Turning a moment into a movement for neighbourhoods only becomes a reality if we learn lessons from the past. We know what works: neighbourhood working. Evaluation of the New Deal for Communities (NDC) – a UK government program launched in 1998 to transform deprived neighbourhoods – taught us that investment in physical spaces alone isn’t enough. Building community capacity – the skills, confidence and networks that enable residents to shape their own future and infrastructure in areas where it is lacking – is essential.
Similarly, the Big Local programme, the largest neighbourhood-based investment programme since NDC, shows that long-term, flexible funding changes the game. When residents are given the power to decide how money is spent, the results bring lasting, positive change to places that need it most. From these experiences, three clear principles for neighbourhood regeneration emerge:
- Focus on restoring social infrastructure and building social capital.
- Be led by communities for communities.
- Commit to long-term, flexible funding – change should be measured in decades, not grant or political cycles.
Local government has a key role to play. Some councils are already leading the way. In Stoke-on-Trent, the Strengthening Communities programme, which 3ni has advised on, is bringing residents, local organisations and the council into genuine partnership to build trust and capacity.
Others might need support to draw on lessons from the past, applying the latest data and insight to what we now know about the challenges facing our neighbourhoods. Central government can help, not just with funding but with devolved power and flexibility.
Neighbourhood renewal works best when local governments are empowered to work hand-in-hand with residents, adapting to what each place needs. As 3ni’s work and research shows, community-led regeneration isn’t just good in theory, it’s making a difference to the things that matter most to people up and down the country.
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