Over the last decade, Labour has poured money into poor areas. And in Ipsos MORI’s analysis of life in the most deprived wards in Britain, there is a 10-point rise in satisfaction in New Deal for Communities (NDC) areas, compared with a static picture in Britain as a whole between 2002-2006. Spending £50m in a small local area does, thankfully, seem to improve quality of life there.
But what about suburbs? On some estimates, 86% of us live in them, and they are key to power at the next general election. As our major city centres have been regenerated over the last decade, those areas outside inner cities or in developing towns may need more attention. In London, there is now a clear ‘outer London’ effect, with residents living in inner boroughs more satisfied with both their local area and their councils than in outer London, where concern about anti-social behaviour is higher than one would expect.
This is a complete reversal of the picture in 2001, when inner London was behind outer London on most measures.
While this suburban effect is not apparent in all suburban areas, it does raise the question of whether the refurbishing of city centres, the ‘grand projects’, the greater density of revitalised transport and visible policing has been responsible for this shift, with these outer areas feeling left behind and denatured by increasing population pressures.
The Successful City Suburbs group of authorities, supported by the Leadership Centre for Local Government, NLGN and the Academy for Sustainable Communities is asking some interesting questions about policy. With huge population pressures, and an ongoing programme of poverty eradication which will focus on deprivation per se, has the time come to stop and take a look at classic Middle England? Unfashionable perhaps, but certainly expedient – for all sorts of reasons. n
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