These are laid out in the latest strategy document from Transport for the South East, a partnership of 16 local authorities, five LEPs and other agencies.
The report sets a 2050 goal for the region to be “a leading global region for net-zero carbon, sustainable economic growth where integrated transport, digital and energy networks have delivered a step- change in connectivity and environmental quality”.
The strategy marks a significant move away from a traditional ‘planning for vehicles’ approach based on trends and forecasts, to one about choosing a preferred future that is instead based on planning for people and places. A strategic investment plan is due by April 2022.
Sustainability is another important issue that urban regeneration must tackle. The Cluster for Sustainable Cities research group at the University of Portsmouth focuses on sustainability and the environment by looking at ways to make communities more resilient and engaged, more low carbon, involve greater use of sustainable construction and recognise environmental burden and risks.
The group points out: “With nearly 70% of the world’s population likely to live in cities by 2030, the quality of life experienced by this urban population will determine our global futures.”
Financing regeneration is another factor influencing the long-term success of regeneration efforts. The University of Reading’s School of the Built Environment highlights the “market’s failure to provide the kind of medium and long-term risk capital that complex area regeneration projects require”.
The university’s urban development experts recommend that the Government encourages the availability of risk finance and provides measures to stimulate wealth creation in under-invested communities. It also recommends that in urban priority areas, authorities should be able to retain a proportion of the extra council tax and business rates gained through economic revival so it can be recycled into better management and maintenance.
Witchalls pointed out the importance of using the combination of job creation, new housing and improved connectivity to attract private investment in regeneration projects. “Projects bring in extra revenue to the local economy and attract people to offices, shops and residential areas, especially where access is improved through better-connected streets and traffic-free environments.”
Pockets of deprivation in the South East, for example in coastal resort towns, are places where the Prime Minister’s levelling-up promise will be watched closely. Coastal communities are suffering, recording “some of the worst levels of socio-economic deprivation in the UK in terms of earnings, employment, health and education”, according to a report on seaside regeneration by commercial real estate research specialist EG.
businessmag.co.uk SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 39
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James Child, Head of Retail and Industrial Research at EG, emphasised the need for certain areas of the South East to be able to catch up. He said: “The role of real estate in a coastal renaissance is of utmost importance if the current government is to meet its ‘levelling up’ agenda. Many coastal communities feel they have been left behind politically and economically through the austerity measures that followed the global financial crisis.”
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Combining business and cultural transformation
Attracting businesses as well as improving the social fabric of towns and cities is a priority the south east’s urban regeneration projects, as the examples shown overleaf.
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The Landing will deliver a fantastic new place to live and work in the heart of Maidenhead town centre
Damien Sharkey, Managing Director, HUB Maidenhead Landing
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