End of an era...
...or start of the next one?

A REFLECTIVE LOOK AT THE BARTON &
TREDWORTH SRB SCHEME
By Paul Smith, Chair of the SRB Partnership and BTD Ltd.

It has been an interesting five years for Barton & Tredworth, but origins go back to the early nineties. At the time the City Council looked at the evidence of need within the housing stock of the area, and decided that some targeted action was needed.

A major survey was undertaken in 1992, looking at the condition of housing, and also asking residents what other issues were of most concern to them. As you can imagine, it wasn't just housing that was mentioned... in fact, this was a little way down the list. Top of people's concerns were things like community safety, jobs and incomes, child care, and the environment.

At that time the council was able to establish a Renewal Area to make a targeted effort to improve housing conditions over 10 years. This commenced in 1993, and has made some inroads, although limited government funding has meant that we haven't done as much as we would have liked. The renewal area is able to make a limited impact on environmental improvements but is principally a housing scheme. We have been able to also include features such as secure by design into housing schemes, but the renewal area by itself isn't able to meet some of the wider needs of the community.

This is where the SRB scheme comes in. The government introduced a new concept of joined-up regeneration in 1994, inviting bids for new schemes under its Single Regeneration Budget (SRB). This came just at the right time for Barton & Tredworth, since we already had the statistical evidence to make a good case. A partnership was formed between Gloucester City Council, Gloucestershire Training & Enterprise Council (now The Link Group), Gloucestershire Ethnic Minority Business Association, and Gloucestershire Housing Association, and a bid was sent to government within the set timescale. Whilst we didn't get every thing we had bid for (£5 million), we were delighted to be awarded £2.4 million over 5 years, against stiff competition from other areas.

The scheme then started on 1st April 1995, and has been accountable to the Government Office for the South West each year, for the delivery of an action plan to meet our original objectives. These were to address a wide range of training, employment and environmental issues, using the government funding, but also trying to lever in additional resources to make the work go further. This recognises the fact that a sum of around £500,000 each year, whilst sounding substantial in its own right, does not go very far in isolation. Support for a few environmental, community and business schemes each year soon eats it up.

So the partnership thought early on about the need to link into other projects and sources of funding to make the money go further. You will see from another end-of-scheme report that this has allowed the SRB scheme to be associated with local investment much greater than our own funding, such as the 'safer city' work to improve road safety, the new leisure centre including a 'living and learning centre', and the major refurbishment of All Saints church.

There have been two other major strands of principle underlying the work of the partnership. One has been to try to make the best use of the government resources as investment rather than simple project spending. The other has been to try to create a way to sustain the regeneration energy beyond the five year life of the SRB scheme. The first of these principles has been followed in a number of ways, most significant of which has been the establishment of BTD Ltd, a regeneration company seeking to generate profits to covenant back into the local community into the future. Through this approach the company now has a number of asset holdings in the area, generating jobs and income. Examples include the acquisition and phased redevelopment of St. James Trading Estate which already provides employment for 30 people, with planned expansion to double this number in the future.

In respect of sustaining the regeneration work, the trading company is only the investment arm. More critical has been the establishment of the Barton, Tredworth and Eastgate Community Development Trust, managed by local people, which was set up last year to work for the benefit of the area by identifying local needs and developing local, community-led, initiatives.

The board of BTD Ltd has welcomed the development of the Trust. Built into the constitution of the company are nine board places, the first four of which have been taken up by the SRB partners. The remaining five places are deliberately created to enable the Trust to nominate board members, to broaden the ranges of skills on the board, and to encourage local input. To date, one of these places has been filled by a Trust nominee, and it is hoped that more will follow as the Trust grows stronger.

In conclusion, whilst this is the end of the formal SRB scheme, the partnership hopes that it has put in place structures and assets which will enable community based regeneration activity to continue long into the future. Much has been achieved over the last five years, but there are always further challenges facing inner city communities. I wish the Community Development Trust well in its endeavours to carry on the work, and hope that BTD can play its part in assisting this through sustainable investment within the area.

Paul Smith, Director (Community Services),
Gloucester City Council Chair, Barton & Tredworth SRB Partnership Chair, BTD Ltd

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