Lessons from the SURF Open Forum Programme

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

2. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

3. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

4. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

5. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

6. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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’

7. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

8. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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?

9. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

10. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

11. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

12. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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?

13. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

14. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice 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

15. Sharingexperience :shapingpractice • www.scotregen.co.uk • (previous Open Forum Outcomes Papers are • available in ‘Knowledge Centre’ section) • Email: edward@scotregen.co.uk • Tel: 0141 585 6850 (Wed-Fri) SURF Website