A unit in the Home Office which aims to promote the development of the voluntary and community sector and encourage people to become actively involved in their communities, particularly in deprived areas.
A way of measuring the benefits of a project which highlights the changes brought about which wouldn't have occurred if the project hadn't taken place.
Set out the regeneration priorities for an area with the aim of targeting funding from regional development agencies (see RDAs). AIFs are developed by partnerships of local and regional agencies.
The result a project is intended to achieve, eg to create additional jobs for local people.
An attempt at a co-ordinated approach to tackling poverty including programmes to help people claim benefits, manage debt, have access to low interest small loans and better access to social work and housing services.
In some areas, problems of economic, social and environmental dereliction combine to lock local communities into a vicious cycle of exclusion. Area based initiatives encourage a range of partners to work together, targeting their resources to improve the quality of life in these areas.
A measurement of the starting conditions, for example numbers unemployed, before a programme is undertaken. The benefits of a programme can be assessed over time by comparing the baseline with more up to date figures.
A government scheme which identifies excellence and innovation in local government.
'Bending the Spend' Tackling deprivation by focusing local agency and government department spending more specifically on the most deprived areas - see Mainstreaming.
A framework, based on a set of nationally determined indicators to help local authorities measure, manage and improve their performance.
Black and Minority Ethnic.
Co-ordinator of business involvement in the Local Strategic Partnership and its family of partnerships.
A part of an urban area where local businesses pay additional rates to create improvements in services such as street cleaning, landscaping or crime reduction.
Shorthand for a wide range of support, techniques and initiatives which aim to build the capacity of individuals or organisations within communities to contribute effectively to regeneration projects.
Money spent on the purchase or improvement of fixed assets such as buildings, roads and equipment.
Organisations which are established to provide services and/or employment in a local community. Their focus is about building the community and the local economy, but doing so in a business-like way as independent and self-supporting organisations.
The way a community is bound together in mutual understanding and tolerance. The term was coined after riots in Bradford and other cities highlighted the extent to which neighbouring white and black communities could live parallel lives in mutual distrust of each other.
Aims to help community and voluntary groups to become empowered in order to participate in Local Strategic Partnerships and neighbourhood renewal. Government Offices for the Regions are responsible for distributing CEF resources and there will be £36m over three years.
The operating name of the National Lottery Charities Board, the independent organisation set up by Parliament in 1994 to distribute money raised by the National Lottery to support charities and voluntary and community groups throughout the UK and to UK agencies working abroad.
Local networks of providers of legal services, supported by co-ordinated funding and delivering services to local communities based on identified priority need.
The process where a local authority and partner organisations come together to plan, provide and promote the well-being of their communities. It promotes the active involvement communities in the decisions on local services which affect people's lives including for example, heath, education, transport, the economy, safety and the environment.
The plans which local authorities are now required to prepare for improving the economic, environmental and social well being of local areas and by which the councils are expected to co-ordinate the actions of the public, private voluntary and community organisations that operate locally.
See Neighbourhood Wardens
A way of measuring the benefits of a programme which identifies the things that would have occurred anyway without the intervention of the programme (see also Additionality).
The levels which determine who within an organisation is authorised to make certain decisions.
A plan which sets out what a project or programme intends to achieve, when, where and at what cost.
The Government department with a remit to promote community cohesion and equality, as well as responsibility for housing, urban regeneration, planning and local government. To find out more go to www.communities.gov.uk
A network of independent, not-for-profit, community-based organisations such as Hastings Trust which are engaged in the economic, environmental and social regeneration of a defined area or community.
The extent to which the effects of a project impact - positively or negatively - on surrounding areas.
Local centres which offer models of good practice in early years education in deprived areas.
Areas where additional money is available to help the long-term unemployed into work.
The key delivery agency in the government's 'living communities' agenda to regenerate our towns, cities and rural areas.
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF):An EC structural fund which aims to reduce inequalities in socio-economic development between the regions in the Community, by supporting infrastructure projects, job-creation investments, local development and aid for SMEs.
European Social Fund (ESF):Supports activities that develop employability and human resources in five key areas: active labour market policies; equal opportunities; improving training and education and promoting lifelong learning; adaptability and entrepreneurship; improving the participation of women in the labour market.
The 'county LSP'.
Objective 1 targets EU Structural Funds on areas which have an economy falling well behind the European average for wealth creation.
Objective 2 targets EU Structural Funds on areas that have suffered through the decline of a major industry.
Objective 3 targets EU Structural Funds towards developing lifelong learning, supporting those at risk from exclusion in the workplace, promoting the role of women in the workforce and promoting adaptability and entrepreneurship.
An assessment, after a project or programme has started, of the extent to which objectives have been achieved, how efficiently they have been achieved, and whether there are any lessons to be gained for the future.
Local clusters of schools in deprived areas receiving special government grants to work together with others to raise education standards.
Deprivation will be tackled through the bending of main Departmental programmes such as the police and health services, to focus more specifically on the most deprived areas. Departments now have minimum targets to meet, which means that they will be judged on the areas where they are doing worst, and not just on averages.
Arrangements that will continue the process of renewal and development after funding from the renewal programme stops. Sometimes called an exit, continuation or succession strategy.
A place that provides homes, training and work opportunities for homeless young people.
- see Floor Targets
The main vehicle by which the government hopes to encourage developers to build on brownfield sites by providing aid for private companies to help them redevelop contaminated, derelict and disused sites that might not otherwise be profitable.
The Government Office of the South East - see below.
There are nine Government Offices, each working with regional partners and local people to help deliver the government's key aims at regional level.
Partnerships between the NHS, local authorities, the voluntary and private sectors and local communities which represent a new approach to public health, linking health, regeneration, employment, education, housing and anti-poverty initiatives to respond to the needs of vulnerable groups and deprived communities.
The Healthy Living Centre initiative is managed by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF). The programme targets areas and groups that represent the most disadvantaged sectors of the population. HLCs are expected to seek to influence the wider determinants of health, such as social exclusion, poor access to services, and social and economic aspects of deprivation, which can contribute to inequalities in health.
Residential streets in which the road space is shared between drivers and other road users, with the wider needs of residents being accommodated. They are about promoting quality of life and neighbourliness.
Six Government agencies set up to regenerate some of the most deprived local authority estates in England.
The Government body that regulates and funds housing associations in England.
See Local Area Agreement
The extent to which the activity proposed benefits people outside the target area or group.
The Government agency now responsible for adult training in England.
The additional money that a programme causes others to contribute.
The continuous development of skills and knowledge to enhance quality of life and employment prospects.
See Local Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy
Sets out multi-agency action in a neighbourhood in response to priorities set by residents.
Strategies prepared by local authorities to promote sustainable development.
Bringing together of Government funding for initiatives targeted at:
Children and young people
Safer and stronger communities
Healthier communities and older people
Economic development and enterprise
From April 2006 funds will be channelled via the County Council to districts - rather than directly from Government departments to local partnerships and organisations.
The overarching plan that will set out how the town will develop in future.
Strategy that sets out how the most deprived neighbourhoods will be improved.
Agreements between individual local authorities and the Government setting out the authority's commitment to deliver specific improvements in performance, and the Government's commitment to reward these improvements. The agreement also records what the Government will do to help the authority achieve the improved performance.
Overarching partnerships of stakeholders who will develop ways to involve local people in shaping the future of their neighbourhood in how services are provided.
The process of developing and co-ordinating budgets between all government organisations relevant to community and neighbourhood needs in a particular area.
Altering the way routine services are organised so that they can incorporate the best initiatives set up with time-limited funding.
A situation where barriers prevent the normal and efficient operation of a local economy. These may be information barriers, where local people don't know about job vacancies nearby, or the negative impact which high crime levels have on firms and workers locating to a particular area.
Pathfinder programmes established in areas, mainly in the North of England, experiencing acute housing low demand. These pathfinders bring together local authorities and key agencies to provide innovative and lasting solutions.
Key events with dates, marking stages in the progress of a project or programme.
Programme sponsored by English Partnerships creating new communities in a dozen locations across the country (including 'String of Pearls' sites along the East/West railway line in Hastings). The aim is to build using the most modern, efficient and environmentally sustainable construction methods.
Regular collection and analysis of input, output and outcome data, along with information concerning the problems being tackled.
The additional or second level effects of a programme.
A way of service providers (inc schools, police, health) working in partnership with a local community and businesses to help improve the quality of services delivered in a deprived neighbourhood. Greater Hollington is a neighbourhood management 'pathfinder'.
A total of £50 million central Government money in England over three years 2001- 2004 for small grants to community groups.
Provides public services and communities in the 88 poorest local authority districts with extra funds to tackle deprivation. The original £900 million pot has been extended for a further three years and has been increased by a further £975 million.
Government grants of £10,000 upwards to community groups to enable them to re-engage disaffected young people.
A Neighbourhood Warden provides a uniformed, semi-official presence in a residential area with the aim of improving quality of life. Wardens can promote community safety, assist with environmental improvements and housing management and also contribute to community development. They may patrol, provide concierge duties or act as 'super caretakers' and support vulnerable residents.
The Government's action plan for neighbourhood renewal in England, produced by the Social Exclusion Unit in 2001
A Government programme to regenerate 39 very deprived areas across England over a ten year period.
One of the National Lottery funds granting awards to health, education and the environmental projects.
The process of narrowing down a range of options to identify the particular projects to be undertaken.
Outputs measure what was directly produced by the regeneration programme, such as additional training places or more houses. Outcomes measure the longer term changes in an area that were brought about by the regeneration programme.
A scheme of public sector support for reclamation of brownfield land.
Community-based civilian officers with additional powers managed by the Police
See Local Public Service Agreement
Regional chambers have been established in each of the eight English regions (outside London), consisting of representatives from local authorities and other sectors. Their role is to support RDAs regional economic strategies.
These are the nine Government agencies set up in 1999. To co-ordinate regional economic development and enable the English regions to improve their relative competitiveness and reduce the imbalances that exists within and between regions.
Landlords of social housing that are registered with the Housing Corporation. Most are housing associations but they also include trusts, co-operatives and companies.
Bringing together of government funding for community safety initiatives (eg community wardens) - now being channelled through East Sussex County Council to districts.
Negotiated agreements to provide, for example, low cost housing or community facilities in return for the granting of planning permission.
An analysis of the effects of varying the projected values of variables, e.g. different values might be given for unemployment rates to project the effect of the differences on a local economy.
The regeneration funds available for distribution by the Regional Development Agencies.
The Single Regeneration Budget programme aims to enhance the employment prospects, education and skills of local people and to tackle the needs of communities in the most deprived areas. Being phased out.
Abbreviation for small and medium sized enterprises ie companies employing less than 250 employees.
The equivalent of business entrepreneurs, but operating in the social, not-for-profit sector. They aim to seek new and innovative solutions to social problems.
The Government defines social exclusion as being a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown. It can also have a wider meaning which encompasses the exclusion of people from the normal exchanges, practices and rights of society.
Government supported partnership organisations in deprived areas of Scotland.
A series of areas in which sport is used to reduce social exclusion and promote community development and regeneration.
The Single Regeneration Budget programme is designed to enhance the employment prospects, education and skills of local people and to tackle the needs of communities in the most deprived areas.
See Safer Stronger Communities Fund.
Street Wardens provide a highly visible, uniformed presence in town and village centres, public areas and neighbourhoods. Street Wardens are similar to Neighbourhood Wardens, but their emphasis is on caring for the physical appearance of the area, tackling environmental problems such as litter, graffiti and dog fouling and helping to deter anti-social behaviour, reducing the fear of crime and fostering social inclusion.
See Millennium Community
Substitution happens where a firm substitutes one activity for a similar activity, e.g. recruiting a different job applicant, in order to take advantage of public sector assistance.
A central government initiative aiming at improving the health and well being of families and children both before and from birth, enabling children to flourish when they go to school. The Sure Start program improves services for families with children under the age of four by spreading good practice learned from local programmes to everyone involved in providing services for young children. There are two local Sure Start programmes: Hastings and St Leonards and Ore Valley.
A three year partnership between EnCams, Forward Scotland and the Sustainable Northern Ireland Programme which is testing ways in which communities can be supported to improve the quality of life in their neighbourhood. The programme aims to increase understanding of how people can become more involved in sustainable development at a local level, including how to balance social, economic and environmental demands.
Activity which achieves mutually reinforcing economic, social and environmental benefits without compromising the needs of future generations.
Added value arising from the working together of two or more organisations.
Manage the public realm of town centres so that they are attractive, safe and accessible to all. They work to improving the competitiveness and image of towns and cities and organise partnerships between businesses, local authorities and the community.
Government agencies, now disbanded, set up in England and Wales in 1990 to take primary responsibility for training provision. The local Learning and Skills Councils have taken on some of their roles.
An umbrella body for community and voluntary groups with interests in urban and regional policy, especially regeneration.
Not-for-profit companies being set up by local authorities, Regional Development Agencies English Partnerships and other partners to promote development in less prosperous areas of English cities by engaging businesses in agreed physical and economic regeneration strategies.
Part of an urban area which has an attractive mix of homes, shops, restaurants, employers and which attracts people to live and work there.
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This page last updated: 20/07/2006