The British Urban Regeneration Association intends to link up with a US counterpart to bring American developments and skills to the UK to aid urban renewal.
The partnership agreement between BURA and the International Economic Development Council will involve UK and US delegates attending joint conferences and training programmes on both sides of the Atlantic.

BURA managing director John Ladd and chief executive John Walker flew out to the USA last week to finalise details of the three-year project.

This move anticipates a government decision to create new "business improvement districts".

The idea behind these improvement districts, set out in a green paper, is that firms pool resources. These are then used to carry out improvements to the urban environment.