Making the links: economic deprivation, neighbourhood renewal and scales of governance

Abstract

A policy focus of the New Labour Government in the UK has been upon attempts to tackle problems of concentrations of deprivation at the neighbourhood scale. This paper presents evidence from five local authority districts to consider how issues of scale matter in seeking to address such problems and the institutional arrangements and policies currently in place to improve their economic prospects. The results demonstrate that for economic deprivation to be tackled more effectively requires both a clearer specification for the rationale for the kind of intervention and improved integration and co-ordination of strategies and actions at various spatial scales.