Calling time on alcohol-fuelled regeneration

They’ve turned long-neglected backstreets into trendy night spots and spawned demand for many associated businesses, from swanky restaurants to kebab shops. And in the process they have provided honey-traps for the developers of mixed-use apartments schemes targeted at young single renters.

Look through the promotional brochure or website of any large local authority and you will find it singing the praises of its bar culture – often to demonstrate just how wonderfully “cosmopolitan” its borough has become.

A glass of red wine a day is good for you. Too much, however, and the liver, and then the rest of the body, will go into a decline. Could the same apply to the health of our cities, towns and suburbs? Is there a point where the balance tips and lively bar locations binge-drink themselves into places where families don’t want to live or visit? That is the issue under debate in this month’s Regenerate, for which we travelled to Leeds, the original 24-hour city.

Diane Abbott MP knows about the problems of alcohol-related bad behaviour and street crime. She and her constituents face them on a daily basis in their Hackney neighbourhood. Abbott is working to help give police and communities powers to tackle alcohol-related disorder, as well as knife and gun crime, through the Violent Crime Reduction Bill. There are aspects of the bill that the property industry has doubts about, but the bill itself is much needed.

Bar development has encouraged the young, free and beer-loving to set up home in urban centres. But more than ever before, families are hankering after the four-bedroomed rural retreat – detached, of course.

There are concerns that policy has pushed housing supply too far towards apartments and away from houses, and that we now need to redress the balance. But families that can afford to buy a house won’t be lured to regeneration areas by bedrooms alone. It is the safety and success of the environment that will win them over – and those who can’t afford to buy have the right to expect the same. Regeneration has to be family friendly.