Communities the 'lynchpin' for estate regen according to the Prince's Foundation for Building Community

The Prince's Foundation for Building Community has emphasised the importance of community consultation in following the Government's recent focus on estate regeneration.

The Prince's Foundation Senior Director, Ben Bolgar, said:

“If good quality housing is to be provided for those that desperately need it and 'sink estates' to become more desirable and pleasant places to live, then local communities need to be involved from the very beginning. Community consultation is the absolute lynchpin to successful building programmes, whether breathing new life into estates or establishing completely new places.

“We believe the people who live in an area have the right to decide on the future of their homes. This is one, crucial, step that we outline in our report Six Steps to Estate Regeneration and one I hope that will be fundamental to all government plans to revitalise these homes.”

The Prince's Foundation for Building Community has also today accepted an invitation to sit on the Government's advisory panel for their Regeneration programme. As a member of the advisory panel, the Prince's Foundation will share its expertise and highlight the importance of estate regeneration plans including essentials such as community consultation and the 'right to remain' for existing residents.

“There are several key elements that our work has shown us are important to creating resilient, harmonious communities” Ben Bolgar adds. “A priority is ensuring existing communities are not permanently displaced by any changes. In addition, tenure blind integrated social and affordable housing is crucial”.

The Foundation has decades of experience working closely with communities to plan, design and build desirable, sustainable communities. The Prince's Foundation have released a series of reports in recent years contributing to housing debate and the important of community consultation, including Housing London: a Midrise Solution, Housing Communities: What People Want. The Prince's Foundation also worked with Hyde Housing Group to release the 6 Steps to Estate Regeneration Report, following a strategic discussion convened at The Packington Estate in London in 2014 to learn from successful estate regeneration projects.

ENDS

For further information contact: Kathryn Cook, Communications Manager, The Prince's Foundation for Building Community:

Notes to Editors:

The Prince's Foundation for Building Community

The Prince's Foundation for Building Community; transforming lives through engaging, educating and empowering people. www.princes-foundation.org

About the Housing Reports

Over the last two years, the Prince's Foundation for Building Community has produced pivotal reports on development and housing. March 2014 saw the launch of 'Housing London: A Mid-rise Solution'. This report looked at the ever-present issues of affordability and inclusivity facing London's housing supply. It offered recommendations of how more mid-rise housing could be achieved in the capital.

Then in November, we took that debate to the country at large. The Princes Foundation has long seen involving the community in any development as an essential element. We think that this helps produce places people want to see in their backyard. When we launched 'Housing Communities: What People Want', we co-hosted a discussion group on the Packington Estate in North London. The Packington Estate is a great example of successful estate regeneration, and the discussion looked at how this had been achieved and what could be learnt from it. We captured the ideas and knowledge from this discussion in our latest contribution to the housing debate 'Estate Regeneration: Six Steps to Success', produced in partnership with The Hyde Group.

• • http://housinglondon.org
• • http://www.housing-communities.org
• • http://bit.ly/6estatesteps