Neighbourhood renewal strategy
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What is Neighbourhood Renewal?
Launched in 2001, this is the Government's national strategy action plan to sort out problems faced by the poorest parts of the country.
Its key aim is that within 10-20 years no-one should be disadvantaged simply because of the area they live in.
It works by looking at key public services within deprived areas, and encouraging agencies to work together to help change things for the better.
Neighbourhood Renewal is not just about short term gain. It also recognises the importance of long term goals, such as:
- lowering the numbers of people who do not work;
- reducing crime;
- improving health;
- helping people train for better skills;
- providing better housing and a better physical environment in all the poorest neighbourhoods; and
- narrowing the gap on all these measures between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country.
What is a Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy (LNRS)?
LNRS covers 88 Local Authority areas considered to be in greatest need. These were chosen because of their poor employment levels; education; health; crime and environmental conditions.
Each one of these areas has its own LNRS which sets out a vision, strategic framework and action plan specific to the area.
The main aim is to change or "bend" mainstream public services to make them better and improve opportunities and the quality of life for people living in the area.
Liverpool's LNRS
As a City, we have some of the poorest areas in the country. In 2002 Liverpool City Council and its partners developed an LNRS. This strategy contains:
- a city level action plan;
- 5 cluster strategies;
- 23 neighbourhood action plans - highlighting individual local issues and ideas chosen by local communities.
You can read the the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy documents.
Delivery
The strategy is a growing agreement between Liverpool City Council and its partners. It sets out what needs to be done and how best to achieve it.
In order to improve its own services, in 2003 we set up the Neighbourhood Management Service and divided the city into Neighbourhood Management Areas. Originally there were seven of these:
- Alt Valley;
- North Liverpool;
- Eastern Link;
- City Centre;
- South Central;
- South Liverpool;
- South Suburbs.
This Citywide division lets each area develop closer working relationships with partners. 2004 saw the next stage of the LNRS - NRS Delivery Plans.
(In 2006 the boundaries of the Neighbourhood Management Areas were revised, and today there are five rather than seven).
Neighbourhood Delivery Plans
The Plans set out the key actions that partners must deliver to meet local targets across the city's Neighbourhood Management Areas.These actions reflect local priorities agreed by partners. They also draw from the Public Service Agreement Targets set out by the Government and Liverpool Local Strategic Partnership. This was set out in the citywide Community Plan and included in the NRS Floor Target Action Plan.
You can read the 7 Neighbourhood Delivery Plans. These were revised in December 2005.
Liverpool's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF)
Money for this comes from the Government's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund which has been very generous to Liverpool:
- Between years 1 to 3 (2001-2003) we were allocated £45 million of this funding;
- Years 4 and 5 (2003-2005) an additional £59 million was awarded;
- Years 6 and 7 (2006-2008) we have been granted a further £62 million.
Partnering
The Merseyside Social Inclusion Observatory [MSIO] is based jointly at University of Liverpool and Expanding Horizons. This is an exciting new development which brings together a unique partnership of organisations from the public; private; voluntary and community sectors.
It works to find out what causes social exclusion and how best to prevent it. All this helps us to decide what should be included in our Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy.