Area Based Initiatives – do they deliver?

Area Based Initiatives (ABI) have been used by UK governments for nearly forty years to tackle the problems associated with urban deprivation. Since Labour came into power in 1997, the scale of area based initiatives has increased to match the ambitious goals Labour set itself in eradicating child poverty and social exclusion.This CLES briefing will explore the impact on deprived communities by one of Labour’s biggest area based initiatives – the New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme. The Department for Communities and Local Government published a series of reviews designed to look at the activities undertaken by the NDC Partnerships. The briefing provides a summary of the results and conclusions of this report and some analysis of the key impacts the programmes have had on communities and the lessons that have been learnt. The briefing will finish with CLES’ thoughts on the possible future of these types of initiatives.