Understanding Area-based Regeneration: The New Deal for Communities Programme in England

The New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme is an ambitious English areabased initiative which aims, over 10 years, to transform 39 deprived neighbourhoods in relation to six outcomes: crime, education, health, worklessness, housing and the community. Data indicate modest programme-wide change against benchmarks.Evidence is used to examine the validity of the programme's four design parameters: a 10-year horizon is necessary to achieve change; holistic regeneration can help to achieve cross-outcome change; working with other agencies and having other overlapping ABIs helps change; and, having the community at the heart of the initiative enhances outcomes. Findings in relation to these design features have wider applicability across area regeneration policy.