To suggest that the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG’s) publication Regeneration to Enable Growth: What Government Is Doing in Support of Community-Led Regeneration, issued in early 2011, was a disappointment to many is something of an understatement. Consequently, the House of Commons Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee’s verdict on the Coalition Government’s regeneration strategy for England was keenly awaited by commentators and practitioners alike. Regeneration, the CLG Select Committee’s report published on 3 November 2011, certainly did not pull any punches, focusing in particular on the Government’s ‘different approach’ to regeneration and its likely effectiveness.
This article reviews the current condition of regeneration policy in England – set against the views of the Select Committee and those submitting evidence to it and the Government’s response to its findings, and in comparison with the Scottish Government’s new regeneration strategy, set out in Achieving a Sustainable Future – and considers whether it is fit for purpose
