Regeneration is usually considered in the here and now.  But what legacy do such projects leave many years on.  Professors Fred Robinson and Alan Townsend have undertaken two projects in Benwell and North Shields as part of the ESRC Imagine research programme hosted by the University’s Centre for Social Justice and Community Action.

The first report looks at the history of regeneration in the Benwell area of Newcastle upon Tyne (North East England) after the Community Development Project (CDP) ended in 1978. It provides an account of the development, implementation and impact of regeneration policies. It draws on archive documents including reports and maps and five in-depth interviews with key actors, past and present, conducted in 2014-15.

This account cannot, of course, cover everything that has impacted on Benwell. The principal focus is on the main ‘area-based initiatives’ that have been implemented in the area, especially those that conveyed explicit ideas about an imagined future – what the area might become.  The report shows the context: ideas about what needed to be done and how it should be done and concludes with a statistical section, tracking some key indicators of change in the area over the past 40 years, 1971 to 2011.

The second report looks at North Shields in North Tyneside which looks at the history of regeneration in the North Shields/North Tyneside area after the CDP. The report draws on archive documents including reports and maps and five in-depth interviews with key actors, past and present.

Both reports include a timeline to show the history of area-based policies in Benwell and North Shields, alongside the significant events and the changing local, regional and national political landscape.

Read the reports Benwell…..fortyyearsonrevisedSB4thversionwithexceltimelinespreadsheet23.2.17

NorthShields40yearson5thversionwithexceltimeline2revisedSB23.2.17