Sustainability Guide

Sustainable communities need sustainable economies. They cannot be viable if they repeatedly need external help to survive. So regeneration is integral to sustainable development.

Regeneration relies on partnership: usually with local and central government partnering the private sector. Successful partnerships are rewarding; they are also often complex and demanding.

Developers can be instrumental in setting up the partnership - they do not have to wait for the public sector to take the initiative. And the 'vision' that is created can stem from them as much as from the Council or community.

A Shared 'Vision' and a Positive Attitude to Change

Major regeneration needs a shared vision, and a determination to make a step-change in the fortunes of the area, if it is to gain commitment from local people, regional players, and the national and European bodies.

In the context of the North East, with its varied regeneration needs, this cannot be simply a defensive attitude, aimed just at protecting what is there at present. It means a positive mind-set, accepting and guiding change, aware of the potential effects, and looking for linkages and benefits.

Development means change; it means environmental impact of some kind; and it brings in its wake community and social effects. Careful preparation, including working with local people, is essential if we want support and a positive attitude to change. Creating a vision is challenging, and it will not be successful unless it is genuinely shared (see Respect People and Their Local Environment).

The North East has a range of regeneration needs: villages, towns, cities, each need some sort of change to improve their economic prospects in a sustainable way. The 'Urban Renaissance' in this region cannot just be about the bigger places - Newcastle, Sunderland, and Teesside. The smaller towns and the villages, so characteristic of much of the area, have some of the greatest regeneration needs; and they pose some of the difficult questions about achieving it in a sustainable way. Local 'task forces' are now beginning to work on these issues - for example in North West Durham, from Consett to Newton Aycliffe, a band of settlements are the focus of such an effort.

This process needs mechanisms to lead, trigger, and steer it. At the regional level, One North East (the Regional Development Agency), has set out its regeneration and economic development strategy 'Unlocking Our Potential'. It has stated its intention to work regionally with:

the Regional Assembly the Government Office for the North East the TUC and the Association of NE Councils

Sub-regionally, Local Delivery Partnerships have been created for Northumberland, Durham, Tees Valley and Tyne & Wear. Locally, councils are creating joint working arrangements, including other bodies and private firms, to provide varied responses for different settings.

Use Inward Investment to get Lasting Benefits

Many communities in the North East have suffered from the loss of one, two and even three key industries. This means that new and alternative employment is a very high priority: as it must be if these places are to be regenerated as sustainable local economies.

But there is a danger in a simplistic 'job substitution' approach. Replacement jobs cannot be at all costs. If they are in the wrong place they may not be environmentally sustainable. If they are not seen as part of a coherent package, they are unlikely to be economically or socially sustainable either. At the heart of a truly sustainable project is the balancing of social, economic and environmental needs. Economic development without social provision for local people is inequitable; reclamation and restoration are a 'must' in parts of the region, for both economic and environmental reasons; yet environmental improvement without the generation of wealth is unsustainable (see Minerals).

Economic development based mainly on the financial advantages of a location can risk the withdrawal of the firm's investment when the grants end. And some inward investment can be very vulnerable to 'branch plant syndrome': that is, to decisions in faraway HQs, whether or not as a result of changes in grant regimes.

An example of a local Regeneration Partnership In South east Northumberland and North Tyneside, the local authorities and major stakeholders have formed a unique task force to guide the area's regeneration. The scale of economic change in the area has been amongst the most dramatic in the country as traditional industries have declined. The aim of the task force is to secure a 'step change' in investment in the area that will address the real scale of disadvantage, transform the image of the area and put the local economy on a sustainabile footing. This will be achieved through the preparation of a 10 - 15 year vision plan for the regeneration of the A19 / A189 corridor on the Tyne. Contact: Richard Groves, Task Force Secretariat, Northumberland County Council, email: rgroves@northumberland.gov.uk

Local 'home-grown' enterprises, though hard work to nurture and needing a lot of care and attention, deserve a central place in the strategies. They may well last longer, offer more growth potential, and have more local impact per job.

In social terms, the jobs 'wins' need to be supplemented by targeted recruitment and training programmes, so that the benefits spread out in the parts of the community that most need regeneration and opportunity. Development agencies and local partnerships must therefore tie their development strategies into social inclusion objectives, and weigh the environmental consequences too, if the inward investment successes are to be truly sustainable.

The Challenge of Achieving Quality

Regeneration, and new employment opportunities, are vital. But again, their realisation will not be sustainable beyond the short term, if quality is compromised for short-term wins.

A threat in areas with a history of poor performance is that a damaged environment creates low expectations; the standards are low; poor quality development ensues; and a dismal environment is perpetuated. The prospects of a sustained break-out from under-achievement are seriously lessened, and the need for regeneration help is never overcome.

This is a real issue for the North East, or parts of it. Insisting on higher quality development is likely to be harder here: on any given development, the margins are tighter than in more prosperous areas. Values are lower - yet costs are not much lower, or may even be higher because of land reclamation needs or other site constraints from the industrial past.

So the Region needs extra help, and it will continue to be a special case for years to come.

But quality is worth it: it will give longer-term value, and so be sustainable in the sense of long-used resources; and good design and environmental quality need not cost much more than the apparently cheap quick option, as earlier sections have shown.

Redevelopment and Regeneration

'Redevelopment' is not necessarily 'regeneration'. A development may be carried out, and may generate employment. However, its regenerative effects may be minimal (because all the jobs are taken by the already-employed residents of a distant suburb, say) or even negative (because its opening results in the closure of companies in a deprived area, perhaps). Agencies and authorities should take care to distinguish between the two.

That implies looking for 'outcomes': the real impacts of a project, not just its implementation. And that means being clear-minded:

• about the net effects of a development or initiative (is it adding to the level of the area's activity, or just moving it around within the existing total?)
• about who the beneficiaries are (are they in target areas for regeneration?)
• and about whether the development is moving the region towards greater sustainability - economically, socially, environmentally - or away from it.

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Rules of Thumb

• Sustainable Regeneration

Case Studies

• Church Street, Hartlepool
• Grainger Town Regeneration