Letter to the editor

Issue 79

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May 13, 2010

Dear Editor,

Re: Focus on the private sector – Issue 78 – The Review of Renewal Areas in Wales

Simon Inkson's article on the Welsh Assembly Governments report on Renewal Areas in Wales provides a useful précis of Jonathan Willis's review. However, I would urge readers to download the report and read it for themselves wales.gov.uk

Whilst Simon's review correctly reiterates the factual content of the review, I feel I must take issue with some of the comments in Simon's critique, in particular, those about clearance and redevelopment.

Firstly, the process of Neighbourhood Renewal Assessment (NRA) which leads to the declaration of Renewal Areas, will normally consider all potential options that are likely to meet pre-defined criteria such as political and community acceptability. In appropriate circumstances, such as areas of dereliction or areas having a high proportion of voids, an option for clearance will normally be considered alongside improvement options and be thoroughly tested for economic viability and social acceptability.

Where a good case can be made which stands up to rigorous testing, clearance will form a part of the area plan for some Renewal Areas - the Renewal Area in Merthyr Vale East is an example. Clearance of some homes became the preferred option - out of an area with 1,534 private sector homes, 192 were planned for clearance. However, the success of this Renewal Area, combined with market conditions, quickly restored confidence in the area and many of the properties scheduled for clearance were improved at a substantially lower overall cost.

In relation to Simon's comments about the need for future investment to secure the long term future of properties when applied to Renewal Areas, these future costs will have been taken into account as part of the NRA economic appraisal.

My last comment is in relation to a potential role for i2i in ensuring an holistic approach to area based regeneration. They may well be able to do that, but I am sure that a careful read of the whole ‘Willis’ report will demonstrate that housing-led regeneration though renewal areas passes the ‘holistic test’, has been developed and refined over many years by local authorities and can be achieved without the need for the bulldozer.

Andrew T. Arthur, MPH, MCIEH, FRSPH, Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner and Chair of the management board of the Wales Region of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

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