Executive Summary
Hyndburn SRB6 Final Evaluation
Prepared for: Hyndburn Borough Council
Prepared by: URS Corporation
Limited
October 2008
Hyndburn SRB 6 Evaluation Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hyndburn’s £8m eight year SRB6 Programme People of Accrington and Church Together (PACT) was an opportunity to empower local partnerships, groups and individuals to address deprivation issues prevalent at the time of the submission of the bid. Community, voluntary, public and private sector representatives were closely involved in both the bid development and programme management of SRB6.
In 1998 Hyndburn was ranked as the 76th most deprived English district. Within Hyndburn, Central ward was in the worst 7% of English wards, and Springhill and Church wards in the worst 8% nationally. 1 These three wards became the target area for the SRB6 Programme. The severe, multiple deprivation impacted directly on residents in the target area in a number of ways. Education attainment was low and skills of the workforce low; 44% of the workforce had no qualifications. People in employment experienced low incomes, with an average annual wage of only 78% the national average. Poor housing conditions were prevalent. Violent crime rates and burglaries were higher than the County averages. Combined, these factors contributed to poor physical and mental health of individuals with the standard mortality ratio in Hyndburn particularly influenced by heart disease and respiratory problems. To address these multiple issues, the PACT Programme took a wide ranging approach.
Regenerating Hyndburn
People of Accrington and Church Together (PACT) was a real local community driven regeneration programme which built on a number of pre-existing partnerships and strategies:
• Hyndburn FIRST (which in the early years of the Programme incorporated Hyndburn Council’s regeneration services) which also facilitated the Community Action Partnership (CAP). The CAP was established to secure ERDF Objective 2 Priority 4 support but developed a wider regeneration role and became the local regeneration forum for Central, Church, Springhill and Barnfield wards. The CAP developed a local regeneration strategy, which was at the heart of the PACT programme.
• PROSPECTS Foundation, which was responsible for developing and implementing Hyndburn’s Local Agenda 21 Sustainability Action Plan. PROSPECTS was based on locality groups, including a panel for the Church area and had a good relationship with the CAP in Central and West Accrington.
• Accrington, Church and Great Harwood Partnership, the local element of the County Council’s Building Better Communities Programme. The partnership identified additional priority issues to complement the CAP strategy.
A PACT Board was established to deliver the SRB6 programme representing these partnerships, and public, private, voluntary and community organisations. Hyndburn Borough Council was Accountable Body for the programme and provided programme management, technical support and Board facilitation. The Board had responsibility for approving projects, allocating funding and overall delivery. It was a strong community led approach. Community representatives were particularly influential in securing Project Phoenix in the bid which has been a key element of the programme.
1 1998 Index of Local Deprivation
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The overall aim of the SRB6 Programme was to enable individuals and groups in one of the region’s most deprived communities to increase participation, improve competitiveness and overcome social exclusion.
The original bid set out four strategic objectives, which remain valid for Hyndburn (and in particular the three wards of Church, Central and Springhill) today:
• Improving community participation and access to opportunities for personal and shared development;
• Improving competitiveness and facilitating business start ups, including community businesses;
• Improving health and well being through early intervention and improving access to information, treatment and services; and
• Improving the natural and built environment.
An application was made to the North West Development Agency for £12.1m SRB6 funding in 1999. In a highly competitive arena, Hyndburn successfully secured £8m. Since 1999, 80 projects have been supported by SRB6 in Hyndburn and the full allocation has been used to help alleviate the level of deprivation and improve social inclusion.
A Final Evaluation was Undertaken to Assess Progress and Impact
In June 2008 Hyndburn Borough Council commissioned URS Corporation Ltd to provide an independent evaluation of the PACT SRB6 Programme. The scope was to explore the impact of the investment to ensure that public resources have been used effectively and achieved the anticipated impacts, to identify lessons for future regeneration and recommendations for future activity.
The evaluation involved face to face and telephone consultations with 15 key stakeholders and delivery partners, focus groups with the PACT Board, 14 members of Bullough Park Residents Association, seven Activate project beneficiaries, West Accrington Residents Association and users of the Health Outreach project.
In summary our evaluation found the SRB6 programme has delivered a number of key successes and supported a number of good practice projects. Community partnership and engagement has been at the heart of the regeneration programme, both at a strategic level through the Board but also at project level. This delivery arrangement is one of only a few examples nationally with such strong community ownership and has undoubtedly been a contributory factor to the overall success of SRB6 in Hyndburn.
Progress Against the Strategic Objectives
Overall, our evaluation suggests changes in key secondary data sets mask some good progress and delivery on the ground. For example, in 2007, Hyndburn as a district is relatively more deprived than it
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was in 2000 according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation.2 However, the rank of local concentration is particularly revealing. Hyndburn’s deprivation is concentrated into relatively small areas – or areas of intense deprivation. Our evidence suggests that the SRB6 programme has helped limit the decline. Furthermore, some impacts are not yet realised in the data available (some of which dates back to 2005 or even the 2001 census). In broad brush terms, deprived wards have experienced a fall in rank, with less deprived wards improving theirs. We set out a summary of progress against the four objectives below;
• Improving community participation and access to opportunities for personal and shared development. While the SRB6 programme has made significant progress in improving community participation, participation and engagement has been at the heart of the programme with strong involvement in the bid development and delivery through the Board. Agencies are also working together well in partnership, for example Sure Start hosts a number of other services and provides links with agencies such as Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Domestic Violence Forum (HARV) and the Women’s Centre.3
Projects such as Activate have developed good relationships in communities and have built up trust over time.4 Because of these relationships, other organisations and stakeholders have been able to use this as a link into the harder to reach target groups. Projects such as Young Carers have made efforts to support harder to reach clients and have worked with partner agencies to strengthen their understanding of Young Carers to help provide a more holistic service. While the programme has also helped increase capacity of the third sector, securing grant based funding remains a challenge for many (particularly smaller) organisations.
• Improving competitiveness and facilitating business start ups, including community businesses. The enterprise gap between Hyndburn and the region has fallen since 1999. The programme has performed well in terms of its enterprise outputs, over-achieving against targets for new businesses created and new businesses surviving for one year. This has helped to contribute to the decline in the enterprise gap. Projects such as East Lancs Moneyline and the Business
2 Hyndburn has moved up the rankings since IMD 2000. Although IMD is not directly comparable across years, IMD 2007 provides a better reflection of deprivation than IMD 2000 as the methodology has improved and includes a lower level of analysis than 2000.
3 The Women’s Centre provides one to one counselling and advisory services, personal development courses and training/support, which specifically addresses women's issues as they work to enter (or re- enter) the employment market.
4 Activate was a project aimed at improving peoples’ health and well-being as well as supporting them to enter (or re-enter) the labour market. It was delivered by K2 Development Services.
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Development Assistance Programme have provided valuable support to Hyndburn’s businesses and individuals wanting to set-up their own company but struggled to secure finance. The Council is also continuing to take active steps to foster business growth and start-ups. Following a successful Pennine Lancashire bid for £23.4m of Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) funding, in April 2007 Hyndburn and its neighbouring district councils and partners began implementing the LEGI No Limits programme. No Limits incorporates business start-up and growth finance, mentoring, community enterprise boards to generate business ideas, business competitions, specialist technology support, specialist business accommodation, community engagement via the three Pennine Lancashire Football Clubs.
• Improving health and well being through early intervention and improving access to information, treatment and services. There have been a number of innovative and good practice projects that have been delivered by SRB6 that have helped improve the general health and well being of individuals supported. For example, the health outreach programme delivered by the Neighbourhood Management team in Church; the breast feeding and oral health programme delivered by Little Angels and the Arts for Health programme which engaged the local community in developing public art projects in the two new community health centres. The breast-feeding programme has subsequently received mainstream funding from the PCT to continue for a further three years. Evidence of increased breast feeding rates is likely to have a positive long term effect on health. Latest health profile data for Hyndburn also shows the Borough to have high levels of children participating in physical activity. Overall though current health profiles for Hyndburn do not fully reflect the progress that has been made against this objective. For example, the gap between male life expectancy and the national average has fallen but still remains low. And Hyndburn performs worse than the national average on most indicators5.
• Improving the natural and built environments Focus group participants and consultees have commented upon the positive impact SRB6 has had on improving the physical environment within Hyndburn, including a number of parks and open spaces and the Blackburn Road area. West Accrington Residents Association representatives were particularly satisfied with Project Phoenix, but recognised the impact will be even greater as the development is completed.
5 Hyndburn Community Health Profile 2008
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Other Impacts and Achievements of the PACT SRB 6 Programme
As well as helping regenerate the three wards of Hyndburn and helping improve the lives of individuals supported within the three wards of Central, Church and Springhill and addressing the above objectives, information collected by the Council and partners provides a measure of the economic and regenerative benefits the investment achieved by March 2008:
• In total £29.5m match funding was secured, 60% more than the overall target of £18.4m. This means for every £1 of SRB, a further £3.70 of other funding has been spent in Hyndburn. This is higher than Blackburn, Burnley and Preston who secured an additional £1.65, £2.05, and £1.58 respectively through their SRB programmes;
• The programme has created 250 jobs and safeguarded a further 352 jobs The programme created 4921 construction jobs during the demolition, building and refurbishment of sites;
• The programme supported the building of the Sure Start Child and Family Centre in Church;
• The programme has helped 109 new businesses, 108 of which have survived for more than one year;
• The programme helped Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Domestic Violence forum (HARV) to secure dedicated premises to deliver their services;
• 15,895m2 commercial floorspace has been built or improved;
• 14.1 hectares of land have been improved;
• The public sector investment has addressed a number of market failures within the area and helped make it more attractive to private sector investors, who have invested more than £10.2m;
• 857 community and voluntary organisations have been supported. The Prosperity Recycling project was established as a social enterprise to address recycling issues whilst helping people with disabilities find employment. Their accredited ‘Learn to Work’ scheme has been extended to Oldham;
• Secured the Project Phoenix site for 170 new homes in West Accrington.
What Other Benefits Were Provided?
The Government recognised that in addition to the physical, social and economic benefits that public sector funding can provide, there are also strategic benefits which can be achieved and which add value to the regeneration process. Evaluation guidance set by the government to measure investment defines these benefits under the five headings:
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Leadership and catalyst The evidence suggests that a significant degree of confidence in the area exists, for example the private sector investment in the Phoenix site, and development in Accrington town centre. The Accrington town centre masterplan will also provide a framework for future investment. Hyndburn Borough Council, NWDA and wider partners will need to continue to work hard to ensure confidence remains in the area in light of the current economic climate, by promoting the comparative advantage of the town.
Strategic influence Strategic Influence refers to stimulating activity that defines the distinctive roles of partners, gets them to commit to shared objectives and allocate funding. SRB6 has helped partnership working across Hyndburn at a strategic level through the PACT Board but also at a project level with cross referrals and collaborative working evident. For example, Sure Starts hosts partner organisations, the Hyndburn Voluntary and Community Resource Centre provides accommodation for groups and delivery of specific courses. East Lancashire Moneyline and Citizens Advice Bureau work well together.
Leverage Leverage refers to providing resources or incentives to mobilise partners into action. In this case, we assess leverage by the extent to which SRB6 funding generated further investment from elsewhere. For every £1 of SRB6 spend, a further £3.70 was invested by the public and private sector, which is high for a programme of this scale and nature, and compared to Blackburn and Burnley SRB6 programmes. They levered £1.65 and £2.05 respectively and were both considered excellent by the independent evaluators.
Synergy Synergy refers to improving coordination between partners to achieve more by working together than would be equal to the sum of its parts. It was felt the Board had a unique understanding of challenges in the area and support required to address them. This was a key strength and helped them identify opportunities for joint working and minimised potential duplications. For example, SRB6 enabled Hyndburn Enterprise Trust to deliver programmes more tailored to local needs compared to Business Link but the organisations worked alongside each other for cross referrals. The Women’s Centre delivered support for women in partnership with Job Centre Plus, reaching people at a stage earlier than people who were ready to get involved with formal agencies.
Engagement Engagement refers to ensuring mechanisms are in place to engage key stakeholders (i.e. the public, residents and businesses) in the design and delivery of identified objectives. Interventions have been tailored to meet local needs. This has been an important feature of the programme, and has been at the heart of SRB6 in Hyndburn primarily through the PACT Board. We have gathered evidence of a number of mechanisms used to engage potential beneficiaries and stakeholders, and evidence of this is presented throughout this report.
What Would Have Happened Without the Investment?
The evaluation showed that much of the regeneration would not have happened without the SRB6 investment. SRB6 enabled Hyndburn to offer match funding to a range of projects in the 2000-2006 ERDF Priority 2 programme. Through Project Phoenix clearance and development project, it laid the groundwork for Hyndburn’s Housing Market Renewal Programme in West Accrington. It has also contributed to oher programmes such as the Pennine Lancashire LEGI programme. It is fair to say that without SRB6 and the effective PACT partnership, that the area may have worsened in terms of health statistics and would not have seen the wider improvements such as new business start-ups. Our analysis showed that up to 73% of achievements would not have happened without SRB6. This was supported by feedback from a range of people we consulted that were involved in the SRB6 programme.
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Conclusions
Community partnership and engagement has been at the heart of the regeneration programme, both at a strategic level through the Board but also at project level. This delivery arrangement is one of few examples in the country and region with such strong community ownership and has contributed to the overall success of SRB6 in Hyndburn.
The programme successfully delivered against its expenditure targets, utilising the full allocation of SRB6 to draw in additional investment in the area. It also delivered a significant proportion of the output targets and has been good value for money on a number of indicators when compared to the national evaluation. The programme included a good balance between ‘place’ and ‘people’ initiatives. Both are essential components for comprehensive regeneration. Good progress has been made on the ground against the strategic objectives though this is not fully represented in the secondary data currently available.
The SRB6 programme has helped to lay the foundations for future growth and has created a lasting legacy in a number of ways. Capital projects such as Gatty Park with Green Flag status, the Health Centre at Project Phoenix with its public artworks help provide a visible legacy of SRB6. Other capital projects such as supporting HARV to acquire and refurbish a building has helped secure the future of the organisation and strengthen the services it delivers. HARV has subsequently secured further long term funding.6 The Accrington town centre masterplan provides a framework for investment, and Hyndburn Borough Council is submitting an application to the NWDA to progress proposals.
The programme has helped build capacity within the third sector. PACT Board members were predominantly third sector and have developed appraisal and decision making skills, greater breadth of understanding of the local area and key challenges facing Hyndburn as well as enhanced understanding of how to secure external funding and the restrictions sometimes put on deliverers. Community and voluntary organisations have also been supported which has helped increase capacity of the third sector in Hyndburn, though securing external grant based funding continues to remain a challenge.
A good proportion of projects have appropriate forwards strategies, for example the community-recycling project has been able to increase its scale of operation due to SRB funding which has meant it is financially sustainable. Mainstream partners are committed to the maintenance of capital projects, for example Hyndburn Borough Council will maintain the improvements made at Gatty and Bullough Parks
While progress has been made and SRB6 has provided a catalyst for investment, there is a need for sustained momentum. For example, supporting the Working Neighbourhoods Fund which will help invest in the workforce; although GCSE attainment has improved since 1999, overall qualifications of the workforce have declined along with economic activity rates. Health and health inequalities remain a significant challenge within Hyndburn, but this is recognised within the LSP Community Strategy.
Moving forward it will be important to maintain the strong community involvement and commitment to maximise the effectiveness of future regeneration activity. For example, utilising the Working Neighbourhood Fund, Board members in the LSP Sustainable Community Strategy and engaging the community as development plans for the town centre progress.
6 Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Domestic Violence Forum
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In summary, our evaluation concludes the SRB6 programme in Hyndburn has delivered a number of key successes and good practice projects. It has levered in a high level of public and private match funding. Community engagement has been strong. The programme has helped to lay the foundations for future growth, but sustained momentum and investment is required.
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