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North Solihull Partnership

Delivering growth and renewal in challenging markets

Keywords: Partnership Working, West Midlands, Community, Education, Employment, Housing

Overview

All the best practices in sustainability and regeneration began as innovative ideas. The Homes & Communities Academy Award for ‘New Ventures’ recognises an organisation that has achieved a new way of delivering homes and communities, and long-term vision for change.

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Launching new ventures in times of economic hardship can be risky, but the judges wanted to see evidence that a scheme has managed to maintain its momentum to deliver real sustainable change in a community.

The winner – North Solihull Partnership – is investing £1.8 billion over 15-20 years to regenerate some of the most deprived wards in the country.

It’s one of the UK’s largest community-led regeneration projects, covering 1,000 acres of land and 40,000 people. It aims to make noticeable improvements to the lives of local people and those who work or visit the area, in respect to housing choice, education, health, employment and physical environment.

And it’s doing so without access to a dedicated Government funding stream. This “huge and hugely ambitious project”, as our judges called it, is being driven by a public-private partnership between Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, regeneration company Inpartnership, Registered Social Landlord Whitefriars Housing Group and residential developer Bellway Homes.

Since launching in 2005, the partnership has already delivered 250 homes, two primary schools and 23 social rented units.

The programme’s goals over the next 15 include creating 1000 permanent jobs, five new villages, 8,500 new homes and 10 new primary schools. It is also making huge investments in infrastructure and services.

The judges said they were impressed by the way in which the scheme blends a number of competing priorities: “It integrates housing and social investment very well, and the clear priority being given to investment in education is exemplary.”

» Background

Background

Solihull in the West Midlands is one of the most polarised boroughs in the country. Affluent in the south, the north contains three wards that count among England’s 10 per cent most deprived.

Local people have low incomes, generations of families are out of work and 48 per cent have no qualifications.

Health statistics are also stark, showing that a child born in north Solihull will live on average seven years less than a child born in the south.

The area is in urgent need of large-scale, sustainable regeneration, but it does not qualify for significant area-based regeneration funding because of Solihull’s relative overall affluence.

Lacking access to dedicated funding streams, the local authority had no choice but to be innovative in its approach to regenerating north Solihull.

In 2004, the council invited tenders to set up a strategic partnership to tackle some of the area’s problems and close the gap between the two parts of the borough.

After a 12 month, 3-stage process of tendering and procurement which included the involvement of the local community and diverse stakeholders, the North Solihull Partnership (LLP) was formed.

The partnership is made up of the council, investment company Inpartnership, housing association Whitefriars Group and house developer Bellway Homes.

In 2005, they began working on an ambitious 15-20 years programme to make a noticeable improvement to the lives of local people.

» The Project

Overview «

The Project

The North Solihull Partnership takes a holistic approach to regeneration, setting out to improve quality of life for local people.

It aims to deliver high quality neighbourhoods with sense of place, and healthy, safe communities with more opportunities for education, training and employment.

Despite this broad agenda, the four partners – the council, Inpartnership, Whitefriars housing association and Bellway Homes – have a clear vision of what they want to achieve.

This clarity on objectives, said the judges, is of “critical importance in maintaining confidence, particularly as the delivery of the vision will demand some tough choices for partners and residents alike.”

The project's strategic framework was agreed and adopted early in the process.
It sets out an ambitious programme of works, including:

- Improving 12,500 homes so they meet or exceed the 'Decent Homes' standard, and building 8500 new homes (£512 million to be invested in social and affordable housing and £855 million in private).
- Improving education by investing £70 million in creating 10 new primary schools.
- Improving infrastructure and the local environment (£304 million).
- Creating five new village centres (£100 million), which will include youth and community facilities, market squares and High Streets, healthcare facilities and business space.

A design code has been agreed and a design champion has been appointed to oversee all design and planning work.

To fund this programme, the partners have invested £11 million in developing land released by the council. The scheme aims to bring in £994 million in additional external funding from other public and private sources.

The partnership couldn’t achieve such a sweeping transformation programme without getting the community on side. The team set up general consultation events during the project, as well as specific ones, before submitting planning applications for particular works. They also created residents’ groups in each of the wards, which are briefed and consulted regularly on the neighbourhood plans.

» The Impact

Background «

The Impact

It might only be five years in to a 20 year programme, but the North Solihull Partnership is achieving real results for local people. In 2008, the Audit Commission said the scheme was “already beginning to have an impact".

While some projects are in planning or consultation stage, others have already been completed:

- more than 250 new homes built; 449 houses and apartments under way
- 23 affordable homes built; more than 100 under construction
- more than 350 people re-housed to clear way for further regeneration
- one new village centre open
- all secondary schools refurbished
- college moved to a new campus
- two out of ten new primary schools open

North Solihull resident, Nicola Tuner, has been living in the area for 27 years. Since the scheme began, she has been re-housed and her son Connor is to start a new primary school. Despite the upheaval, Nicola says north Solihull is changing for the better. “New facilities mean that the schools can really become a centre for the community to use and to grow around,” she says.

The partnership has also invested £500,000 in community projects, which, says Interpartnership managing director Duncan Sutherland, “have been felt by the whole community.”

One project has provided training and improved pathways to employment for construction workers. Since it began, more than 100 people have receiving training and more than 50 have found work or work placements.

Other initiatives include helping new local businesses get off their feet and helping established businesses compete for contracts.

The partnership has also helped organise and fund community events, including the North Solihull Festival and the first North Solihull Cycle Ride.

These achievements have attracted national attention. The project has received visits from government ministers, as well as substantial media coverage and numerous industry awards for regeneration.

» Lessons Learned

The Project «

Lessons Learned

The size and complexity of the North Solihull scheme has been an asset and, at times, a challenge.

Such a huge project requires serious investment, yet because of its size and scope, the programme was not tailored towards any specific government programmes and did not therefore have a dedicated source of funding.

To get off the ground, the four partners had to provide the initial investment and deliver improvements. By doing this the partnership was able to “prove its worth”, says Inpartnership managing director Duncan Sutherland.

It’s now attracting support from a range of government agencies including the Department for Children, Families and Schools, Communities and Local Government, Advantage West Midlands and the Homes and Communities Agency.

The size of the project also meant it had to contend with a multitude of stakeholders and interest groups. Getting a diverse partnership working together was tough, says Duncan. It was ultimately achieved, he believes, through “hard work from all partners and upfront work on the shared vision for all to gain ownership of the goals and objectives.”

The group also had to work with three different local communities. “At the start of the programme the capacity of the various communities to interact with the partnership was very slim,” explains Duncan.

The partnership ran workshops, meetings and the set up of residents groups to make sure the scheme was meeting the needs of the community. “We have made strides with residents and stakeholders becoming much more involved in the planning and implementation process,” he adds.

With such a long-term project, keeping momentum going can also be a challenge, especially during an economic downturn. Sutherland puts the continued progress of the scheme down to the structure and long-term commitment of the partnership. “A project of this complexity needs to be completed over at least 15 years,” he says, “long-term programmes can ride the various economic cycles.”

» Reference

The Impact «