After a decade of delivery, spanning three towns and a myriad of projects, much can be learned from WNDC’s experiences.
“West Northamptonshire Development Corporation has proved to be a success story.”
To capture these lessons in an independent and informative way, the European Institute of Urban Affairs conducted some research towards the end of WNDC’s existence. It included interviews with over 30 key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as data analysis and a literature review. The results were illuminating.
Based on the evidence, WNDC had mixed fortunes in its first five years. It started to make an impact in Daventry and Towcester town centres, but made slower progress in Northampton, while struggling to meet its overall housing targets. However, the following five years saw widespread improvements being delivered in unison as the regeneration of the area exploded into life. There were several reasons for this, including a re-focusing of the Corporation on urban regeneration projects at its midway point. New leadership and better partnership working were also crucial factors.
But the research was about more than WNDC; it offered important insights about Urban Development Corporations in general. In the light of these findings, The European Institute of Urban Affairs recommended to Government that:
UDCs remain part of the urban regeneration policy ‘toolkit’ as there will still be instances when they are the most appropriate policy response.
UDCs are likely to be needed where there is a tightly definable urban challenge of such complexity, specialised nature, scale or intensity that a special purpose vehicle of this type is necessary.
Other types of vehicle are likely to be more appropriate in planning and developing major new settlements and delivering comprehensive growth programmes.
UDCs should preferably be locally initiated and controlled but given favourable access to Government resources.
UDCs that are local authority-led can still be attractive to the private sector and deliver results.
UDCs could be part of a menu of options offered to urban areas as part of City Deals.
