What is Neighbourhood Renewal Policy For?

Current policies on neighbourhood renewal in England are unrecognisable from thosethat were in place ten years ago. In this paper, I argue that this is not because Labour’spolicies failed. Indeed there is a clear picture both of absolute improvement in thepoorest neighbourhoods and closing gaps with other neighbourhoods, although largegaps still remained. However, despite this, Labour changed its mind overneighbourhood renewal, losing sight of what this policy regime was for, as distinct frompolicies on economic regeneration. The Coalition has, in important respects, picked upthe baton laid down by Gordon Brown, although not the one carried by Tony Blair.Those who would like to see a return to some of the aspects of neighbourhood renewalpolicy pursued in the early 2000s need, therefore, to revisit fundamental argumentsabout policy purposes, as well as the mechanisms by which policies are pursued.