London assembly recommends regeneration one-stop-shop

The
London Development Agency should have “full responsibility” for the
co-ordination and funding of economic and social regeneration in London,
according to a report published earlier this week by the London Assembly, writes
Lauren Revans.

The
report by the assembly’s economic development committee was the result of a
year-long review of the progress of publicly-funded regeneration schemes across
the capital.

While
the committee reported “a lot of very good work” and “big improvements”, it
described the overall picture as “confusing, often with no clear links between
different agencies working in the same area”.

The
report concludes: “We are particularly concerned at the separation of the
London Development Agency’s responsibility for economic regeneration from the
Department for Local Government, Transport and the Regions and Government
Office for London’s responsibility for social regeneration. We recommend that
the London Development Agency be given full responsibility for the
co-ordination and funding of both.”

In
practice, this would mean moving money connected to the Neighbourhood Renewal
Strategy and the New Deal for Communities initiative into the London
Development Agency’s new “single pot” for physical, social and economic
regeneration, which comes into force from April.

Under
the “single pot” arrangement, Regional Development Agencies will take over the
community regeneration commitments from the single regeneration budget (SRB)
programme and the physical and economic regeneration commitments of English
Partnerships.

But
voluntary sector and community representatives have already expressed concern
that RDAs will focus too much on economic regeneration and that social projects
will miss out (News, p12, 13 December).

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Rebuilding London’s Future from www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports