[

]

Source: Bateson (2005)

2014

Birmingham City Council

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1

2.1 Castle Vale 1

2.1.1 Castle Vale: 1964-Present 2

3.1 Key Challenges 3

3.1.1 Stigma3

3.1.2 Opposition 4

4.1 What has made Castle Vale a success?......................................................5

4.1.1 Partnerships 5

4.1.2 Consultation 6

4.1.3 Management and Organisation 8

4.1.4 Expertise and Marketing 9

5. Lessons learned........................................................................................10

References...................................................................................................11

List of Figures

Figure 1 The Castle Vale estate..................................................................... - 1 -

Figure 2 View of Farnborough road overlooking the Vale 1979......................- 2 -

Figure 3 Sainsbury's at the Castle Vale retail park Source:.............................- 5 -

Figure 4 Three systems of the economy...................................................................- 6 -

Figure 5 The Castle Vale residents conference 2000.....................................................- 7 -

Figure 6 The Sanctuary..................................................................................- 8 -

1. Introduction

As the space for community involvement in regeneration has changed in previous years

through the Localism Act (2011) and Big Society, some communities have achieved success

and others haven't. The purpose of this report is to examine the best practice examples of

community involvement in regeneration in Castle Vale, Birmingham. Key factors that have

helped Castle Vale become an example of best practice and the challenges the area has

faced will be explored within. Ultimately, the report will be used by Birmingham City Council

to inform future community regeneration in the city.

2.1 Castle Vale

The estate is

approximately

five miles

north east of

Birmingham

city centre

with a

population of

roughly 11,000

people

(Coatham and

Martinali,

2010). In

reference to

figure 1 the

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Figure 1 The Castle Vale estate

estate has a small retail park, a number of schools and a sports centre. The area is 200 acres

in size (Birmingham city council, 1995) (BCC) and is located in the Tyburn ward of

Birmingham. Adjacent to the Castle Vale site is the Jaguar car plant (see figure 1), split by

the A452 Chester Road. Historically, the site was formerly the Castle Bromwich airfield

where WWII spitfires and Lancaster bombers were tested.

2.1.1 Castle Vale: 1964-Present

In 1964 work began on the estate to address the housing shortage in Birmingham

and at the end of construction, was comprised of 5000 homes which included 2000

high rise flats located in the 34 tower blocks on the estate (figure 2). By the early

1970s the estate had a number of public amenities such as a shopping centre, bus

service and library.

However, at the same time

social conditions

deteriorated, with violence

and drugs becoming a major

problem (BCC, 1995;

Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003;

Mornement, 2005) and the

area had become depressed and stigmatised (Dean and Hastings, 2000).

Into the late 80s and early 90s unemployment spiked at 26%, educational attainment

and the general health of residents was very poor (BCC, 1995; Mornement, 2005). In

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Figure 2 View of Farnborough road overlooking the Vale 1979 Source: Mornement (2005)

1993 the Castle Vale Housing Action Trust (HAT) was formed and the area

designated a Government funded regeneration area. One year later, the HAT was

transferred from BCC and in 1996 confirmed its service until 2005.

The CVCHA took transfer of 2500 homes when the HAT finished in 2005 and a

community development unit (CDU) was set up as a succession vehicle (Duncan and

Thomas, 2007) and management of The Sanctuary. Currently, the CVCHA has the

long term responsibility for homes and services whilst acting as the parent company

to the CVCRS which provides social and community projects (Coatham and Martinali,

2010).

3.1 Key Challenges

Castle Vale, amidst the success, faced a number of key challenges particularly in the

early stages of regeneration. Due to the poor physical image caused by years of

crime, vandalism and neglect and the social conditions of Castle Vale there was a

particularly negative stigma associated with the estate (Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003;

Mornement, 2005) which had the potential to intensify the problems faced (Dean

and Hastings, 2000).

3.1.1 Stigma The stigma attached to Castle Vale hindered outside investment

coming into the estate as land had a negative value and therefore reduced the

potential to attract private business and prospective residents. The crime aspect was

a key problem for Castle Vale as a community to deal with, not just instances of

crime but the fear of crime fostered distrust across the estate. Furthermore, a key

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downside of this stigma is that many people became economically disadvantaged

which can lead to a situation of compound disadvantage (Pacione, 2009).

A contributor to the negative stigma associated with Castle Vale was the quality of

housing and community facilities which were very poor (Mornement, 2005) due to

poor governance of the area. The outcome of this was while there was a negative

stigma from the outside looking in there was also a notion of inside looking out that

caused internal distrust among residents and towards various organisations evident

in section 3.1.2.

3.1.2 Opposition In addition, the HAT experienced opposition from both local

traders and residents with regards to some decision making. Specifically, when the

HAT outlined Sainsbury's as a major retailer for the area, local residents deemed this

option to expensive and out of place with the spending power of the immediate area

(Dean and Hastings, 2000; Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003) with the preferred option

being a Netto.

Further opposition from local residents came in the form of concern for the value of

their property as with improvements to existing homes it may have had an adverse

effect (Kennedy, 2013). However, the opposite impact occurred as house prices in

Castle Vale have increased on both old and new homes. Furthermore, one of the

problems faced by the HAT was concerned with the devolution of power as on the

top level of the Arnstein ladder (Arnstein, 2011) is citizen power which according to

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Cox in Mornement (2005) in Castle Vale, a left wing group believed that community

empowerment meant the handling of the budget should be amongst residents.

Similarly, opposition came from existing traders when asked to transfer to

alternative outlets which would indicate trust levels were difficult to establish as

traders believed the HAT weren't acting solely in the interest of Castle Vale (Mitchell

and Kirkup, 2003).

4.1 What has made Castle Vale a success?

A number of key characteristics have been identified in the Castle Vale area that have

contributed to its successful regeneration and have addressed some of the key challenges

highlighted in section 3 and these will be explored below.

4.1.1 Partnerships are one of the key factors behind the successful regeneration

of Castle Vale. Mitchell and Kirkup (2003)

highlight the partnership approach as a

key driver of the regeneration of Castle

Vale with the Housing Action Trust (HAT)

actively engaging with various three

sectors of economy (figure 4)

Rydin (2011) identifies a three

dimensional approach to partnerships: public, commercial and community sectors.

This concept can be applied to Castle Vale

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Figure 3 Sainsbury's at the Castle Vale retail park Source:

Mornement (2005)

as over its lifetime the HAT has engaged with Birmingham City Council (BCC), the

result of this was creating the Castle Vale Master Plan which defined key areas for

improvement.

Commercially, the HAT developed a partnership between Sainsbury's (see figure 3)

and other small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that enabled jobs and training

courses to be developed. From a community perspective, local residents, schools

and voluntary organisations such as Merlin Venture Ltd (Mornement, 2005) were

encouraged towards the

partnership approach as this

helped to build relationships

between groups (DCLG, 2007)

and ultimately, develops

social capital and capacity

building (Adams and Tiesdell,

2013; Cochrane, 2007).

Crucially here, it is the

recognition of a number of stakeholders working together that allows a better

response to the problems faced in section 2.1.1 and innovative responses are a by

product of this (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013; Coatham and Martinali, 2010).

4.1.2 Consultation has been identified as a driver allowing Castle Vale to be

heralded as a success (Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003; Coatham and Martinali, 2010).

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Figure 4 Three systems of the economy Source: Pearce (2003)

Many commentators (Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003; Pacione, 2009; Rydin, 2011) argue

consultation with the community (see figure 5) is integral to successful places.

The first example of good

practice through consultation

is the HAT itself as the

structure includes local

residents who provide ideas

and opinions about the area.

A direct result of the

consultation process was

that the Castle Vale Master

Plan 1995 was created which directly addressed the key problems that residents

highlighted (Mornement, 2005). This approach helped to address some of the key

challenges mentioned in section 3 such as crime and the stigma attached to the

estate.

Consultation is further evident in 2005 when the HAT transferred to Castle Vale

Community Housing Association (CVCHA) which is resident led (CVCHA, 2013a) and

thus represents the higher levels of the Arnstein ladder of citizen power (Adams and

Tiesdell, 2013). In addition, a neighbourhood partnership board (NPB) was set up in

2002 (Mornement, 2005) and oversees the legacy of Castle Vale and again is run by a

resident board (CVCHA, 2013b) again reinforcing the idea of citizen power and

satisfying The Localism Act (2011) through the devolution of power.

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Figure 5 The Castle Vale residents conference 2000 Source: Mornement (2005)

4.1.3 Management and Organisation- According to Mitchell and Kirkup (2003)

the organisation and management of Castle Vale have been key drivers of success.

The HAT board is constructed of

various stakeholders; most

importantly it has a number of

residents which links to the

previous characteristics of

partnerships and consultation as

with this inclusion of residents it

allowed the transfer of knowledge

through effective engagement.

The organisation of the HAT allows

various improvement areas to be addressed through different vehicles such as Castle

Vale Community Regeneration Services

(CVCRS) and is constructed of residents and independents allowing for a mix of local

knowledge and wider expertise to develop capacity.

Succession is a key part of the management and structure theme, as well as a key

example of best practice through long term planning and sustainability. When the

HAT came to the end of its life, the CVCHA and NPB were established in order to

continue the work started by the HAT in 1993 (Coatham and Martinalli, 2010). In

addition the CVCHA, CVCRS and NPB are the key vehicles used in the long term

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Figure 6 The Sanctuary

planning and the entire process is illustrative of the capacity building concept (Rydin,

2011; Adams and Tiesdell, 2013).

Closely linked to the management and organisation characteristics is that of

transparency as board meetings are open to the public and reports are available to

residents developing networks of trust (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013). Furthermore,

there are a number of policies and procedures in place enabling effective

communication between various stakeholders which has ultimately established and

maintained relationships (Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003) through good governance.

Openness in Castle Vale has allowed many local residents to engage with the

regeneration of the area as activities at The Sanctuary (figure 6) are available to all

which in principle, in Castle Vale, address the problem of social exclusion (Imrie and

Raco, 2003).

4.1.4 Expertise and Marketing- A key example of good practice in Castle Vale is

that of effective marketing and expertise (Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003). Linked to the

organisation point earlier, expertise is concerned with the HAT board as members

had professional skills (Mitchell and Kirkup, 2003) which combined with local

knowledge allowed for retail and housing development (Mornement, 2005).

Significantly, this is an instance of where initiatives that flourish through partnership

and participation (Paxton et al., 2005). The upside of this, was that effective

networks have encouraged a variety of public and private investment, and has

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allowed successful vehicles to deliver services such as CVCRS which is argued to have

a strong financial base and long term sustainability (Coatham and Martinali, 2010).

5. Lessons learned

A general lesson to take from this report is that there is no one size fits all approach

to community engagement in regeneration and that there will be challenges along

the way. In the current climate Castle Vale would not be as successful due to the lack

of funding from central and local government. However, the Castle Vale

regeneration highlights that to move forward and overcome the challenges there

must be;

Firstly, a multi-dimensional partnership approach from private, public and

third sector is essential to build the capacity to move area forward.

Secondly, there must be an open, accountable and skilled management team

balanced with respected members of the community which should be used

to drive effective consultation and relationship building between community

groups.

Finally, through the efforts of partnership and consultation, an effective

strategy needs to be created with appropriate vehicles in place to deliver the

strategy and to oversee the future development of the area.

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Word Count: 2,000

References

Adams, D. and Tiesdell, S. (2013) Shaping Places Urban Planning, Design and Development, Routledge, Oxon.

Arnstein, S. (2011) A Ladder of Citizen Participation, in LeGates, R. and Stout, F. The City Reader, Routledge, Oxon, 238-250.

Birmingham City Council (1995) Castle Vale Master Plan, Castle Vale Housing Action Trust.

Bateson G. (2005) A History of Castle Vale, http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/castlevalehistory, Accessed 01/03/2014.

Coatham V. and Martinali L. (2010) The role of community-based organisations in sustaining community regeneration: An evaluation of the development and contribution of Castle Vale Community Regeneration Services (CVCRS), International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 30 (1/2), pp.84-101.

Cochrane, A. (2007) Understanding Urban Policy: A Critical Approach, Blackwell, Oxford.

CVCHA (2013, a) Castle Vale: All about us http://www.cvcha.org.uk/main.cfm?type=AUP Accessed 08/03/2014

CVCHA (2013, b) Castle Vale: Who are our board and committees? http://www.cvcha.org.uk/main.cfm?type=WHOBOARD Accessed 08/03/2014.

DCLG (2007) Learning to change Neighbourhoods: Lessons from the Guide Neighbourhood Programme, London, CLG, http://www.hitc.org.uk/neighbours4u/Change%20Neighbourhoods%20Summary.pdf, accessed 01/03/2014.

Dean, J. and Hastings, A. (2000) Challenging Images: Housing Estates, Stigma and Regeneration, Joseph Rowntree Foundation Report, Area Regeneration Programme.

Duncan, P. and Thomas, S. (2007) Successful Neighbourhoods: A good practice guide, DCLG, Chartered Institute of Housing, Coventry.

Imrie, R. and Raco, M. (2003) Urban Renaissance: New Labour, Community and Urban Policy, The Policy Press, Bristol.

Kennedy A. (2013) CVHAT Lessons in Regenerating Communities, Presentation to University of Birmingham.

Mitchell, A. and Kirkup, M. (2003) Retail Development and Urban Regeneration: A case study of Castle Vale, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 31 (9), pp.451-458.

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Mornement, A. (2005) No Longer Notorious: the Revival of Castle Vale, 1993-2005, Castle Vale Housing Action Trust, http://www.crp-ltd.co.uk/downloads/cv-no-longer-notorious-book.pdf, accessed 27/02/2014.

Pacione M. (2009) Urban Geography, Third Edition, Routledge, Oxon.

Paxton, W., Pearce, W., Unwin, J. and Molyneux, P. (2005) The Voluntary Sector Delivering Public Services; Transfer or Transformation, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York.

Pearce, J. (2003) Social Enterprise in Anytown, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London.

Rydin, Y. (2011) The Purpose of Planning: Creating Sustainable Towns and Cities, The Policy Press, Bristol.

The Localism Act (2011) UK Government, Crown, London.

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