£2bn spent but ‘no evidence’ pathfinders have had any impact

First up is the National Audit Office’s (NAO) investigation into the housing market renewal pathfinder programme. In summary, the NAO says it can’t be sure that the nine pathfinders have had any impact at all.

While acknowledging that low demand for housing is now less severe in pathfinder areas, the report says it is not possible to attribute this to pathfinder activity, as there are many other factors involved.

“While there have been physical improvements in some neighbourhoods,” says Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, “it is unclear whether intervention itself has led to improvement in the problems of low demand.”

The early management of the programme is also criticised. In order to make quick progress, the report says, a number of schemes went ahead without being fully thought through when masterplans, heritage assessments and community engagement plans were not yet in place. It also said that the government had to be clearer about the pathfinder’s contribution to non-housing regeneration, such as better schools and transport links.

Edward Leigh, chair of the parliament’s public accounts committee, pulled no punches. “There is no evidence that pathfinders are bringing about improved social cohesion,” he stated. “You have to wonder if these areas would see the same or greater regeneration if left to their own devices.”

Meanwhile, right-of-centre think tank Policy Exchange has been pondering similar issues, with a report looking at whether urban policy, in any shape or form, has managed to turn around the fortunes of our declining cities. The answer, it seems, is a resounding no.

The report examined the overall impact on 18 British towns and cities in receipt of substantial urban renewal funding, including Liverpool, Coventry and Southampton, and judged them not on the merits of individual programmes, but on specific measures, such as unemployment levels or amount of personal income. The results, Policy Exchange say, show that the towns that have received funding are still not improving.

Oliver Marc Hartwich, Policy Exchange’s chief economist said: “Rather than poor cities and rich cities converging economically, they are doing the opposite. While we should not give up on urban policy, much of the £30bn spent in the last decade appears to have had no effect.”