What's it all about?

What’s it all about?

This page explains the purpose of the Regenerating Easington District (RED) project.

Background

Easington District Council and its partners are trying to respond to government policy which places increasing emphasis on neighbourhood scale actions aimed at economic, social and environmental renewal. The aim is to improve the overall quality of life.

The government agenda for modernising local government seeks to improve service delivery through better co-ordination of public services at District and neighbourhood level. It intends to do this by empowering people in their own communities, by setting targets and providing support funding.

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Resources

Resources will be made available to help local communities to develop the skills needed to play an active role, and to fund small-scale local projects (the Community Empowerment Fund and Community Chest). The District will benefit from a complex package of regeneration funds.

In the immediate future, the District will benefit from substantial new funding streams: (a) the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, and (b) European Union Objective 2 funds – the so-called "Priority 4" covers 22 "Community Economic Development" wards. The allocation of all these funds needs to be based on an agreed appraisal of local problems and priorities.

The challenge

The challenge is to promote and co-ordinate all these initiatives and funds so as to bring maximum benefit to Easington’s residents.

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Underlying principles

The project will be carried out in line with a number of basic operating principles, as follows:

	Good intelligence provides a vital foundation. In order to make sound decisions it is necessary to have the best possible information and analysis, and to keep this up-to-date. There is already a great deal of information available at District and ward level, but this needs to be analysed, synthesised, made more widely available and as accessible as possible. This will enable all the interested parties to take part in a well-informed debate and to develop sensible plans.
	Building on what has already been achieved. A great deal of effort has already been put into partnership development, capacity building and local consultation. The proposed work should build on what has been achieved, making maximum use of existing channels and avoiding duplication. The importance of identifying issues critical to the performance of the local economy should be emphasised.
	Partnership is a critical success factor. Effective partnership working at all levels will be critical. Improved co-ordination and clarity of responsibilities are the key elements. Partnerships already exist in many parts of the District, but these are at different levels of capability and activity. The longer-term aim should be to try and bring them all up to the same high standard and ensure their sustainability.
	Empowerment of local communities to help themselves. Local people need help in appraising and formulating their needs and priorities, and then in developing and running suitable projects. The aim is to enable them – as far as practicable – to run their own affairs. This will require capacity building and support over an extended time frame.

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