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A consultancy has defended the use of professional advisers on community regeneration projects following criticism from the Bishop of Liverpool.

The Rt Rev James Jones had said money from the new deal for communities should be put directly into deprived areas rather than through funding agencies, consultants and professional regenerators.

"The political and professional classes who dominate the regeneration industry are well meaning and chant the correct mantras," said the Bishop, who is chairperson of Liverpool's New Deal for Communities.

"But the more involved I get the more I feel we do not understand what it means. The issue is not how much money is spent on and for the new deal for communities, but how much money is spent through them."

But the Community Education Development Centre, a charity that provides consultancy advice on regeneration, insisted that consultants have a "valid and important" role.

Director Phil Street asked: "Who is going to teach communities to learn what they don't know if not consultants?"

Advice from good consultants is an investment in local people who will reap the benefits, he said.