Lessons from the SURF Open Forum Programme Edward Harkins Networking Initiatives Manager Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum Sharing experience : shaping practice Friday 2 nd May 2008 Teacher Building, Glasgow

Sharing experience : shaping practice SURF Open Forums An independent cross-sector forum facility Enduring success verified by evaluations in 2005 and 2008:  Growing numbers and range of participants  Increased range of topics covered  Participants’ ratings of usefulness and relevance A safe, neutral venue for informed debate A channel to inform policy through practice and experience

Sharing experience : shaping practice Partnership Working There is a deeply embedded and broad consensus that partnership working is the way forward Less of a consensus about how good we are at working together and operating in partnership We all need to keep driving the partnership message

Sharing experience : shaping practice Area vs General Approach In 2001 the UK Government committed itself to ensuring that no-one is seriously disadvantaged by their neighbourhood There may be a weakening of the consensus around the need to concentrate resources on the most disadvantaged areas A recent concern is the extent to which regeneration activity merely displaces, or excludes, the poor and disadvantaged This is as opposed to making the lives of disadvantaged residents measurably better in sustainable ways This challenge should be at the centre of thinking

Sharing experience : shaping practice Making an Impact Many regeneration practitioners struggle to make an impact on policy and other decision makers Those who believe they may be making an impact find it impossible to find out or measure Community and Voluntary Organisations need to become more skilled and knowledgeable in presenting ‘their case’ Campaigning and lobbying may not be enough

Sharing experience : shaping practice Reaching the Unengaged There are many examples of excellent practice in regeneration The imperative is for dissemination and encouragement of take-up of this practice A significant other lesson is that the ‘unengaged’ are often senior decision makers who ‘just do not come to the (Community Planning) table’

Sharing experience : shaping practice Cross-Sector Engagement Cross sector engagement between the public sector and the private sector can be improved The public sector and the private sector are well experienced and competent in engaging within their sectors They are less good at engaging across the sectors The public sector must clearly articulate what it wants from engagement and speak with a consistent voice In return, it can be difficult for the public sector to engage the private in activities which lack immediate tender prospects

Sharing experience : shaping practice Long-Term Value Regeneration is essential to securing long-term and sustainable value for public investment As a cross-sector, holistic and sustainable approach, regeneration offers the best prospect of securing maximum return from huge public investment An un-integrated focus on single components of Scottish social, cultural and economic life will almost certainly fail to secure such value Evaluation is being increasingly practiced, but what for?

Sharing experience : shaping practice Trust and Transparency Supporting the idea of trust among partners has been treated a bit like ‘apple pie and motherhood’ ‘Trust’ is in fact a critical and concrete driver in the effectiveness of regeneration partnerships The extent to which trust is important, and the extent to which lack of trust is damaging, is becoming more apparent Work by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2007 identified the criticality of trust. The issue can be easily extended across social & economic life

Sharing experience : shaping practice Need for Longer Timescales There is a need for longer timescales and deeper local presence by government agencies Community regeneration needs to emerge alongside community development, both need resources & perseverance Strong support for ‘good old basic community development’ with skilled workers attached to community organisations The changing role of elected councillors is a potentially promising area of civic renewal

Sharing experience : shaping practice Where are we on Engagement? Community organisations are still viewed as troublesome by some, which can lead to their being sidelined and excluded Well-established community level organisations can provide a rich source of ‘expert’ local knowledge and experience They provide platforms for individuals to grow in confidence Community organisations have been accused of unequal representation – but against a background of struggling for existence

Sharing experience : shaping practice What about Empowerment? Almost all public sector interface with communities tends to lie at the information giving or consultation level A debate continues around whether communities want full empowerment or just better services (verifiable evidence?) Recent CoSLA/Scottish Government statement on community empowerment emphasises centrality of local councillor Is empowerment only about public services and only about local public services?

Sharing experience : shaping practice Other Learning Areas (1) Green issues Design of the built environment The role of arts and culture in regeneration Third Sector organisations and public service delivery Social Enterprises, Development Trusts, Community Interest Companies New funding mechanisms and streams

Sharing experience : shaping practice Other Learning Areas (2) Greater and better use of the social housing sector for wider regeneration Lifelong learning Economic development or regeneration, versus community regeneration Government agency and regeneration funding changes

(previous Open Forum Outcomes Papers are available in ‘Knowledge Centre’ section) Tel: (Wed-Fri) Sharing experience : shaping practice SURF Website