In Durham, the principles behind the Communities Plan have been bringing a run-down area back to life. But work started six years before the plan was launched.
The Sherburn Road area of Durham used to be littered with burned-out cars and dilapidated buildings, roofs looted of their slates. But today there is no evidence of Sherburn Road's desperate history. New, private tenure houses line the approach and the other buildings are all in a state of good repair. There is no graffiti or litter.

On an estate with 131 void houses in 1996, there is now, for the first time ever, a waiting list.

The turnaround has been the result of a partnership between Durham council, Three Rivers Housing Group and local people, which began in 1997. They decided to rebuild a community, rather than a housing estate. "The physical problems were just part of the issue," explains Martin Jefferson, regeneration manager at Three Rivers.

"We needed to create pride in the area."

As well as investing £5m in buildings, the group set up the Sherburn Road Regeneration Initiative, an organisation comprising council departments and residents, to tackle crime, social issues and unemployment. Before finishing – on schedule – last month, it secured £4.18m in single regeneration budget funding from regeneration agency One North East.

By working with supermarket Tesco, the council, the employment service and retail union USDAW, it also provided 340 jobs.

In many ways, it was a textbook approach to regeneration taken from the Communities Plan – except it happened six years before the plan was even published.

Sherburn Road's troubles were huge. Originally built in the 1930s to house the city's "problem families", the area has always had a stigma attached to it. In 1992, Durham council tried to tackle the dereliction and crime levels on the estate by doing major improvement works, leaving only two voids. Just four years later there were more than 100 voids on the estate. Male unemployment was 31.4% and almost half of all burglaries in Durham were committed in Sherburn Road. Something had to be done. "The council was desperate when it approached us," says Jefferson. "Sherburn Road had a negative valuation of £3.4m."

Three Rivers took on one of the two Sherburn Road estates – 223 properties – in a stock transfer in 1997. It demolished 67 houses and installed new kitchens and bathrooms in the rest. To reduce burglaries, new doors and windows were fitted and each house got its own alarm system.

Residents were involved at every stage. Elaine Leong, Three Rivers' marketing manager, explains: "We had one-to-one consultations and a competition at local schools to design a dream home. The residents even chose the colour of the paint."

A community centre was built where the homes used to stand, using single regeneration budget (SRB) money. Its facilities include a cafeteria, gym, creche, launderette and computer suite, and it offers basic skills courses that it hopes will provide residents with skills leading to employment.

Manager Christine Wood says: "We have three paid staff and seven volunteers and about 350 people use the centre each week. Tesco used it to train people from the estate for their new store. Two years on, most of the people still have jobs there. It's been a real success."

David Williams has lived on the estate for most of his life. "The whole atmosphere on the estate has changed," he says. "There's still a bit of trouble, but now it tends to be kids doing silly things."

Bruce Munroe, the remaining member of the Sherburn Road Regeneration Initiative, agrees with Williams that there have been improvements: "There is a fairly high sense of loyalty on the estate now – but there are still young people without a sense of community responsibility. Problems like petty vandalism still exist." Munroe has first-hand experience of what he's talking about: the SRRI's vacant premises was recently torched.

Despite incidents like this, Three Rivers is optimistic. "We're now at the stage where we can gradually pull away and empower the residents," says Jefferson.

"We do still need to work on community development, though."

A key to this development is the Three Rivers office at Sherburn Road. It has two community officers and acts as a drop-in centre for residents and an administration base. One of the officers, Nigel Dowd, lives on the estate. "I live round the corner so I know what goes on here," he says. "Having the office on site also means that it's easier to talk to the residents."

His hands-on involvement has contributed to the success of the scheme and he plays a key part in the social life of the estate. "We've got a football team – we're about to win the Sunday league – and we coach at the local schools one night a week. We also organise events and parties; residents are starting to organise these themselves, which is great."

Dowd also plays a leading role in enforcement on the estate. As well as being involved in issues such as rent collection, he meets regularly with PC John Maynard, the estate's beat officer. Maynard says: "Crime on Sherburn Road is nothing like it used to be. We still do have incidents but in general it's really improved. People are starting to realise I'm here to help them."

The figures speak for themselves. Since 1996, burglary has dropped 90%, male unemployment has fallen to 20% and the percentage of tenants asking to be transferred from the estate – 32% at the height of its notoriety – is down to just half a per cent.

The main concern for Three Rivers now is whether the community spirit can be maintained now the regeneration initiative has been wound up. The SRB money for the community centre will soon run out and other European funding avenues are being explored. As Wood, the centre's manager, says: "There's a big challenge ahead to keep the atmosphere going."

Source

Housing Today