Darwen - From Plan for Towns to Plan for Neighbourhoods

Darwen – From Plan for Towns to Plan for Neighbourhoods

In early 2024, the Sunak Conservative Government announced that Darwen would be one of 55 towns to receive a £20m endowment fund over the ten years 2025 to 2035. Guidance on the development of Long-Term Plans for Towns enforced a very tight deadline, given the imminent 2024 General Election.

The Challenge:

In May, Genecon were engaged by Blackburn with Darwen Council to support the newly formed ‘Town Board’ to develop a 10-year vision and 3-year delivery plan for Darwen. Genecon were pleased to be appointed, having supported the Council with the successful development of the Darwen Town Deal, and their successful Levelling Up Fund bids.

At the same time, Genecon was working on Long-Term Plans for other northern towns including Burnley, and Wigan and Leigh, giving us the opportunity to share learning and bring a wider perspective.

By the time Genecon became involved in the project, Blackburn with Darwen had established a new Town Board, choosing to do so as a group separate from the already established Town Deal Board but with the Chair of the Town Deal Board connecting the membership of the two groups.

The Council and Town Board had also agreed the boundary of the new ‘Long Term Plan area’ ensuring it focussed on the same geography as the Town Deal.

Deco Publique were also commissioned to undertake a survey and to run several public consultation events to refresh the understanding residents’ views of the local issues important to them.

How we did it differently:

Genecon’s role was to work with the Town Board and the Council to bring together the findings of the public consultation, analysis of demographic and economic data for Darwen and the views of key stakeholders on the Town Board, and to develop a long term 10 year vision for the town and a strategy for the delivery of projects in the first 3 years, for submission to government by the deadline.

Despite the short delivery timescale, public engagement activities had successfully engaged a broad range of local stakeholders. Genecon’s work with the Town Board and Council led to the gathering of around 70 ideas for local projects, aligned with the three Long Term Plan themes of High Streets, Heritage and Regeneration; Transport and Connectivity; and Safety and Security. Work to gather project ideas also identified a range of other projects focussed on housing, education, employment, and health. These issues were important to local people but not included in the scope of the Long-Term Plans, as defined by the Sunak Conservative Government

Evident from this early work was that many of the projects suggested for the Long-Term Plan were relatively small scale, with delivery by local community organisations. This gave the Long-Term Plan a very different flavour from the Darwen Town Deal that had focussed on larger scale capital projects delivered by private sector and/or public sector stakeholders. The types of projects identified also meant that the ‘shape’ of Long-Term Plan delivery was moving toward a series of grant funding programmes that would be delivered by the Council. Delivery of such programmes is administratively burdensome for local authorities and can be viewed as more challenging to deliver than larger scale capital projects.

The tight timescales for delivery of the Long-Term Plan for Towns presented a considerable challenge for local partners. The council played a significant role in steering the rapid development of the 10 Year Vision and 3 Year Plan and had to do so to deliver the submission by the required timescales. This did, however, mean that the Board felt less involved in decisions about strategic priorities than it would have had there been longer for the work to be completed.

Genecon successfully completed the development of the 10-year vision and 3-year delivery plan for Darwen, within the required timescales. However, the change of government following the 2024 General Election meant the programme was on hold pending a review by the new Labour Government.

From Plan for Towns to Plan for Neighbourhoods:

The recent announcement that the programme will continue and be rebadged as the Long-Term Plan for Neighbourhoods has been welcomed. This decision was an easy one for the new Labour Government to make, avoiding criticism that would have been inevitable had the programme been cancelled, and spending the £20m for each town over a 10-year period beginning in 2026.

The new programme now focusses on three new strategic themes:

Thriving places.

Stronger communities.

Taking back control.

It is interesting to note that the scope of the programme has been widened to include factors such as employment, health and education. This brings into the scope of the programme areas that have been funded through ‘mainstream’ public sector funding and grants such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Councils and their local partners in reconstituted ‘Neighbourhood Boards’ now have the job of refreshing their boards and redeveloping their visions and plans in 2025, before funding is approved from 2026.

How the plans change from their original structure and whether new priorities and projects are included will merit close attention. This more extended timescale should also enable Neighbourhood Board to feel more in control of the Long-Term Plan process and delivery.

Genecon looks forward to continuing to work on the Long-Term Plans for Neighbourhoods programmes and to supporting councils to develop and deliver their projects.

For more information about how Genecon can help you with your Long-Term Plan for Neighbourhoods, contact us at info@genecon.co.uk.

*Images courtesy of Blackburn with Darwen Council

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Darwen – From Plan for Towns to Plan for Neighbourhoods

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