Urban renewal and regional growth: muddled objectives and mixed progress

Since 1997, the Labour government has spent considerable sums trying to narrow the gap between poor areas - neighbourhoods, cities and regions - and the rest. The latest CEP Election Analysis from the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) considers the evidence on the effects of some of these policy initiatives, with a focus on the role of 'area-based initiatives', which try to improve outcomes in particular areas. According to author Professor Henry Overman, the evidence suggests that progress against objectives has been mixed. This is unsurprising: the economic processes that drive differences across cities and regions of the UK are poorly understood and what evidence we do have has played little part in the formulation of policy. As a result, there is confusion about what urban and regional policy could and should try to achieve - and the parties' positions tend to be based on belief rather than evidence.