Living in Towns: Volume 1

8/3/2019 Living in Towns: Volume 1

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/living-in-towns-volume-1 1/44



INTERREG lie Project

**** ** ** ****

H W

North WestMetropolitan Area

Q)

E::::s-

Living in Towns

An Analysis of the Processes and Policies

to Encourage Urban Living

Volume I

Synopsis of Study

This volume is available in French and German

Partners in the Project

• South Bank University

• Ville d'Arrnentieres

• City of Cork Corporation

• Hampshire County Council

• City of Limerick Corporation

• Maidstone Borough Council

• Ville de Mons

• Stadt Witten

• NHTV and City of Breda

Funding of the Project

• European Regional

Development Fund (ERDF)

through the INTERREG lIe

Programme

• Matched funding from

Partners

• Department of Transport,Local Government and the

Regions, UK

• Royallnstitution of Chartered

Surveyors, UK

This document has been written on behalf of the Partnership by the project team at

South Bank University (lead partner). Design and production Graphics Service,

Faculty of the Built Environment, South Bank University, London, UK.

December 2001



Published by South Bank University

South Bank University is a charity and a company limited by guarantee, Registered in England No 986761.

Registered Office: 103 Borough Road, London SE1 OAA.

'.

..

-.

"



Contents

Executive Summary 5

Introduction

1.1 Project Context and Objectives 1I

1.2 Constructing a Partnership 1I

1.3 Methodology 12

2 Background factors

2.1 The Towns and their Character 15

2.2 Defining the Study Areas 16

2.3 Demography and Social Structure 17

2.4 General Economic Condition 18

3 Context

3.1 The Urban Policy Context 19

3.2 Housing Policy 20

3.3 Tenure Structures 21

3.4 Planning Policy and the Residential Market 22

3.5 Private / Public Partnerships 24

3.6 Financial and Fiscal Policy in the Process 27

3.7 Management Style 27

4 Practice

4.1 Planning Policies inTown Centres 31

Urban Design 31

Safety 33

Transport Policies .33

Housing Improvement 34

4.2 Land Assembly and Management 34

4.3 Finance and Investment 35

4.4 Co-ordination of Agencies and Strategies 35

4.5 Programming 36

4.6 Public Perception of Urban Living 36

5General

Objectives andRecommendations

Livng inTowns:Volume I:Synopsis of Study 3



Volume 2a

Study Objectives and Case Study Towns

Volume 2b

Change, Housing Opportunities and the Development PrCC3:iS

SummaryVolume 2a

Introduction

1.1 The Objectives of the Project

1.2 Methodology

1.3 The Empirical Case Studies

2 TheTowns and their Characteristics

2.1 Demography and Social Structure

2.2 Land Use Change

2.3 Amenities and the Environment

2.4 Circulation and Transport

2.5 The Perception of the Town as a Place to Live

SummaryVolume 2b

Part One: Change and Housing Opportunities

I Introduction

2 National Housing Systems

3 Planning Policy Frameworks for Housing Provision

4 Housing Plans at Local Level

5 Sites and Spaces for Housing

6 Summary

PartTwo:The Development Process

7 Introduction

8 LandTenure Systems

9 Agencies for Development

10 Financial Resources

I I Developing the Site

4 Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of Study

, .,

"



Executive Summary

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES

• The Project has been undertaken as part of the

INTERREG lIe programme. It supports an

important objective of the programme in the

NorthWest Metropolitan Area of Europe to use

residential growth as a motor for the regeneration

of urban centres and the enhancement of the

urban fabric.

• The principal objective of the project is to identify

examples of innovation, good policy and practice

that encourage greater residential activity within

the centre of medium-sized towns (75-150,000

population) and to highlight those that are

transferable between nations.• Case studies of several towns in the NWMA

provide the focus for the project: Limerick and

Cork (Ireland), Armentieres (France), Mons

(Belgium), Breda (Netherlands), Witten

(Germany), Maidstone and towns in Hampshire

(England).

METHODOLOGY

• The project team comprised representatives from

the South Bank University London (lead partner),

the municipalities and the County Council for

Hampshire, and the Netherlands Institute of

Tourism and Transport Studies in conjunct ion

with the city of Breda.

• The study process was led by the research team

from South Bank University who acted as the

agents for the communication and t ransfer of

information between par tners and as the

principal analysts of information obtained from

them.

• A Steering Group drawn from the partners, and

chaired by a representative from one of the

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of Study

municipalities, monitored and discussed progress

of the project and ensured consensus on how it

should proceed . It met formally on four

occasions, combining meetings with visits to

most of the case study towns.

• The analys is focussed on the study of eight topic

areas that the partnership considered might have

an influence on sustainable living in the centre of

towns. Materi al on the case study towns was

prepared by partners in the context of a cr itical

review of regional and national information and a

wider literature study.

PROJECT OUTCOMESThe findings of the project are presented in three

documents.

• Volume One: Synopsis of Study

This comprises the synopsis of the study

incorporating the background characteristics of

the towns, the policy contexts within which they

operate, and local initiatives and examples of

local practice. I t incorporates an executive

summary, also available as a separate document.

This document is available in English, French and

German.

• Volume 2a: Study Objectives and Case Study

Towns

This presents a detailed explanation of the project

objectives and methodology incorporating a

literature review of publications drawn from each

participating country. The characteris tics of the

case study towns are summarised and their

respective central areas defined.

5



• Volume 2b: Change, Housing Opportunities

and the Development Process

This examines the national housing systems,

looking in more detail at the policy frameworks

for plilnning housing provision at

national/regional and local levels. Consideration

is given to how these processeswork in the study

towns and what opportunities exist in each for

residential development. Important components

of the residential development process, land

tenure, development agencies, and financial

resources, are evaluated drawing on examples

and experience of the case study towns.

BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE

CASE STUDY TOWNS

• Case study towns are free standing, although

Armentieres and Witten are influenced by their

position in larger urban complexes of Lille and

the Rhur respectively.

• Each t own has some historic focus but specific

historic towns were not chosen as it was felt that

such special characteristics might skew housing

markets.

• Most study towns experienced population

decline since at least the 1950's, especially in their

inner areas.• A change from population decline to slow growth

was evident in Armentieres, Breda and

Maidstone. This trend had become more

pronounced during the last decade in both Cork

and Limerick.

• Slow decline in population continuing in Witten

and Mons.

• Hampshire towns are untypical as they showed

population growth throughout the study period.

• The general pat tern was a decline in numbers

among the very young and elderly and

significant growth in young adults . There was a

general decline in average household size with

increasing numbers and proport ions of single-

person households.

• A shift towards a more 'middle class' population

and increasing numbers of students resident in

the centre of towns having institutions of higher

education was a general characteristic.

POLICY CONTEXT

• There is evidence of convergence of urban policy

6

at national level in each country.

• The regeneration of towns is taking place in a

climate where the cohesion of the many strands

of policy embracing, for example, social,

employment and training, transport, design,

planning and housing are ref lec ted in more

integrated approaches to practice.

• Recent Irish, Walloon and French planning

legislation, together with policy statements in

England, have tended to take a more holistic view

of the policy process.

HOUSING POLICY

• National policy in each count ry encourages

growth of home ownership .

• Such an aim need not militate aga ins t the

encouragement of more residential

accommodation in the centre of towns.

• Local authori ties are seeking varie ty in tenures

and flexibility among housing agencies in the

provision of new homes in town centres.

• In Germany and Belgium there is strong and

longstanding encouragement to private

landlords. Measures to encourage this sector

have been int roduced in Ireland and England

more recently.

• Social housing providers have an important rolein each country as agents of regeneration of older

areas of housing: this is strongest in France and

weakest in Ireland and Germany.

PLANNING POLICY

• In England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands

there are clear policy directives to maximise the

use of inner urban land for housing and to restrict

urban sprawl.

• Such policy is no t so prominent in Ireland or

Germany but in each country such measures are

gaining greater acceptance.

• Mechanisms are emerging in each country that

are becoming part of the planning process for the

analysis of housing need/demand and supply

and extending this into considerations of urban

capacity and programming of land release for

housing development.

• A generalised model for the p lanning and

development of housing is suggested from an

analysis of such policy processes.

• Each local authority in the project, reflecting their




national context, has a particular strength among

the steps within the model.

• The spatial structures of the case study towns

have been examined to identi fy development

opportunities within a categorisation of

greenfield sites, brownfield si te s, infiIl sites,

conversion of redundant non-residential

buildings, and reclamation of abandoned

residential premises.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE INTERACTION

• The ex tent of publ ic sector direct involvement in

the development process varies greatly and is a

reflection of the cul ture of respective countries

and the social /economic circumstances of the

towns being s tudied. Public intervent ion in the

market tends to be greater in France than in the

other countries.

• There is an extensive programme of loans and

grants in each country to assist investment by

individuals, households and organisations to

facilitate the provision of new or improved

housing accommodation. There appear to be

fewer schemes available to assist the potential

occupiers of the accommodation provided.

• Public funding is most for thcoming in France

through central government agencies (Caisse desDepots) and local agencies (SEM's) and

mechanisms (ZAC's).

• The use of fiscal incent ives has attracted interest

in most of the count ries s tudied: Germany

supports private development of social housing;

the French Besson Scheme supports private

rented accommodation at agreed renta l levels.

The Urban Task Force and related policy debates

in England also encourage such measures. Every

country is developing proposals for the

encouragement of more living above shops. Theapplication of fiscal incentives has been most

developed in Ireland through successive

programmes up to the most recent Urban

Renewal Tax Scheme (and the associated flats

over the shop scheme) tha t has generated a

significant volume of private rented

accommodation in central areas of both Cork and

Limerick.

MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE

• There is a d iverse range of agencies operating in


each town ha ving an interest in central area

activities and particularly in housing.

• Within the Netherlands and Germany, housing

has been an integral part of the town planning

system for many years. In England, Ire land and

Belgium the sharper focus on housing in national

debates about planning for a sus ta inable future

has rekindled positive dialogue among town

planning and housing professionals. Practical

expression of this in France is less clear.

• All municipalities to a greater or lesser extent

operate in circumstances of limited budgets, bu t

in some instances the lack of political will was as

much a barrier to pro-active act ion as the lack of

resources.

• A significant influence on effective policy

implementat ion is the extent of interaction and

co-operation among departments within the

municipality and between these departments and

associated quasi-public and private bodies,

among the most important of which are the town

centre manager and local chambers of commerce.

All partners were actively improving such intra

authority co-operation.

• The style of town government appeared to be

influential . The directly elected mayor in

Armentieres and Witten afforded a focussed anddirective leadership and co-ordination, driving

their towns to reach a given vision.

LOCAL PRACTICE

• Urban Design. All towns have introduced or are

draft ing guidance on urban design so as to

enhance the public realm, building facades,

conversions of empty space above shops to

residential use, and infill developments.

Particular attention is being given to key

thoroughfares, town squares and areas adjoiningrailway stations.

• Safety. While there has been no stat ist ica l

evidence available to support the view that town

centres are intrinsically more unsafe than

elsewhere there is an increasing accent on safety

in such areas both for residents and visitors. The

project partners examined the extensive CCTV

scheme operating in Maidstone noting that many

of the Hampshire towns had similar schemes in

their town centres. The French and German

partners expressed reservations about the

7



acceptability of such extensive schemes operating

in the public realm in their own towns.

• Transport. In Cork, Limerick,Maidstone and the

Hampshire towns the local policy appears to be

d irected to maintaining hut m:maging car access

so as to reduce its impact on the town centre.

Within Mons, Breda , Witten and Armentieres

there are clear inves tments in the quali ty of the

town centres through public transport schemes to

and wi thin the centre. Provision for the use and

parking of cycles is more sophisticated in Breda

than elsewhere.

• Local Financial Schemes. Most finance made

available for restoration of buildings is from

national or regional programmes channelled via

local councils. There are few truly local initiatives

largely due to the limited annual budgets of local

councils . An example of an initiative is

Armentieres municipality 's joint venture with its

Transferable Practice or Policy

Integrated Town Planning and Housing Systems

Public Perception Analysis

Housing Needs Analysis

Urban Capacity Study Methodology

Land Availability Study

Programming Release of Housing Land

Town Centre Transport

Cycle Ways and Managed Cycle Parking

Local Financial Schemes: Public I Private Joint Venture

Fiscal Incentives fo r Private Housing Investment

CCTV Schemes in Town Centre

Styles of Local Governance

8

local chamber of commerce and several banks to

provide a subsidy to interest on loans for the

improvement works to bu ildings in the town

centre.

• Public Perception . .A.n early initiative of

Hampshire County Council to carry out a

questionnaire su rvey to assess the public

perception of the advantages and problems of in

town living was innovative and commended to

all partners.

CONCLUSIONS

The following areas of practice or policy context in

one partner town attracted the interest of others in

the project as providing a different model and fount

of ideas for innovation and development in their

own practice.

Other benefits that relate to the broader objectives of

Example Town I Country

Breda, Netherlands

Hampshire CC, England

Hampshire CC, England

Hampshire CC and Maidstone,

England

Cork,lreland

Mons, Belgium

Witten, Germany and Mons.

Belgium

Breda, Netherlands

Arrnentieres, France

Cork and Limerick, Ireland

Maidstone, England

Armentieres, France and Witten,

Germany




the INTERREGprogramme have included:

• In working with other European towns facing

similar issues concerning urban centres, the

partner towns have opened up perspectives not

only on the subject of the study but also on other

aspects of professional life, yie lding ideas for

beneficial policy development.

• The established network among representatives

of the towns is open to be used by partner towns

in the future to seek information and opinion,

and to explore further initiatives together.

Living inTowns:Volume I:Synopsis of Study 9



10 Living in Towns:Volume I : Synopsis of Study

,"



Introduction

1.1 PROJECT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES

An important objective of the North West

M et ro po li ta n A re a (NWMA) INTERREG lIe

research programme is th e m ai nte na nc e an d

enhancement of the viability of the urban centres

within the region, which is perhaps the most

urbanised in Europe. It is also intended to reverse

the process of decline an d degradation, caused by

economic structural change, which characterises

ma ny urban centres large an d small. These

att ributes help to compound a negat ive attitude

t ow ar ds t ow ns an d cities which is reflected in

popular reaction to them as being centres of crime,

pollution, traffic congestion, noise a nd poorenvironments.

The need to address these related problems is made

clear in certain of the objectives of the INTERREG

p ro gr am m e w hi ch are applicable to Measure 1.2

under which this Project is undertaken: for example

• To promote the quality of life in cities

• To balance the interest of medium sized towns

an d metropolitan areas

• To reduce unnecessary travel

• To prevent urban sprawl given th e relentless

process of peri-urbanisation in all member States

• To preserve an d enhance the cultural heritage

With this in mind the 'Living in Towns ' Project s et o u t

to focus on the p ar ti cu la r e n vi r on m en t of the

medium sized towns in the urban hierarchy a nd to

achieve the following subsidiary objectives related

to them within national policy contexts:

• To identify an d compare processes affecting the


section I

scale an d type of population living in town

centres in smaller urban areas within the NWMA

area.

• To identify the types of agencies engaged in

promoting greater liv ing in town centres, their

role an d objectives, mechanisms ad opted an d

degree of integration an d co-operation.

• To identify common problems an d achievements

an d to seek explana tions for differences an d

similarities in processes evident in each town

centre an d the responses to them by the priva te

an d public agencies studied

• To prepare and apply mechanisms for th e

evaluat ion of the experience within the towncentres studied an d which highlights innovative

policies an d mechanisms in the spatial planning

of r es id en ti al s et tl em en t which may be

considered by other member States

The Project therefore set ou t to analyse the patterns

of change in such medium sized centres an d to

discern what problems are no w manifesting

themselves. This wa s fol lowed by the examination

of the nature of the processes acting on such centres

to m ak e u rb an living less than desirable an d from

this to outline an d compare the policy responses of

the governments, national, regional an d local to the

problem. From this, examples of 'Good Practice'

an d innovative ideas could be demonstrated an d

more widely publicised within the urban

community.

1.2 CONSTRUCTING A PARTNERSHIP

Constructing a p art n er shi p , w h ich would give a

wide enough range of choice of towns in the main

countries, was t ime consuming. However using

11



University links such as that to Breda, and other

contact networks, the kernel of the partnership was

created. This consisted of a group of towns which

demonstrated the range of urban variety in 6 of the

NWMA Member States. .tu the same time

Hampshire County Council was also in the process

of creating a similar INTERREG IIc project and with

the co-operation and assistance of the Secretariat the

objectives of the two potentially overlapping project

ideas were brought together. Hampshire then

became one of the partners in 'Living in Towns'.

This brought a wider perspective to the Project by

adding a selection of different urban environments

within the one strategic planning structure and by

bringing a contrasting perspective to the local one of

the medium sized towns which formed the rest of

the partner authorities.

The partnership thus consisted of the following

local authorities;

• The Ville d'Armentieres in the Nord Pas -de

Calais Region France

• The Netherlands Ins ti tute of Tourism and

Transport Studies (NHTV) in conjunction with

the City of Breda, Netherlands.

• The City of Cork Corporation, Republic of Ireland• The City of Limerick Corporation, Republ ic of

Ireland

• Hampshire County Council, England

• Maidstone Borough Council, Kent, England

• The Ville de Mons, Wallonie, Belgium

• The Stadt Witten, Nord Rhine Westphalia,

Germany

The financing of the project relied on match funding

from all 7 full partner towns and the University and

from supporting funds from the DETR and the

RICS. In the case of Breda, which was unable to join

the partnership fully before the project approval

date there was no direct funding under the

programme bu t staff and students at the NHTV,

which has a strong Planning and Housing

Department, assisted the South Bank University

team. They also liaised with the City Council.

1.3 METHODOLOGY

Unlike all but one of the other INTERREG IIc

projects the University was the project co-ordinator.

12

This had several advantages. Firstly itwas apparent

that to 'normal' Local Authorities beset with the

budget constraints in running their statutory duties,

the possibility of sending staff on fact finding tours

ability to keep in touch with the literature, both

academic and professional, on a subject such as

town centre policy across several countries is

equally limited. The co-ordinating team did not

have these constraints and was able to move freely,

both physically and intellectually over the 'terrain'

and act as a conduit for information between the

partners.

Furthermore the co-ordinating team had the t ime

and a knowledge of the intellectual structures

needed to analyse and sift this information and

present it to the partner authori ties in a way that

was of value to them.

The main research work and management of the

project was undertaken by the co-ordinating team,

which consisted of three people: a Project Manager

who was responsible for the management and

financial aspects of the work, particularlywithin the

University, a Research Fellow, who as Project co

ordinator was responsible for the ongoing analyticalwork and links and interaction wi th Par tner

authorities and a ResearchAssistant. This latter post

was filled by a temporary appointment and then by

a permanent appointee. However two other staff

were funded for this task, one to liaise with the City

of Breda and deal with material in Dutch, the other

to ass ist in the l iaison with the Stadt Witten and to

assist in the handling of material received in

German.

Each of the partner authorities had one member of

staff who was responsible for the project and who

was assi sted of ten by other staff and who was

responsible for involving and progressing the

contributions of other professionals and political

figures in each town .

A full list of the Project Personnel is given in an

Appendix to this volume

The co-ordinating teamwere however always aware

that they were act ing with, and on behal f of, thei r


','



partners. The working process was therefore always

open to amendment and redirection in order to

enhance the outcome for the local authorities

concerned as well as to provide more theoretical

insights into the differences of policy and practice.

Although there was constant interaction between

the co-ordinating team and the other partners, the

key forum for the discussion and advance of the

work was the SteeringGroup . This was chaired by a

member of the partner towns and the co-ordinating

team brought their findings and recommendations

to this forum for ratification and discussion. At

every meeting there were constructive discussions

of the progress and the articulation of the themes

and issues which should be followed up and

developed. Thus the final report will have been

placed before this committee and agreed before its

final production and will reflect the joint

contributions of the Partnership.

A central feature of the project were the Site Visits to

partner authori ties. These were programmed to

coincide with Steering Group meetings which were

rotated around partner authori ties as much as

practically possible. In addition the University co

ordinating teammade research and discussion visits

to all partners throughout the project.

This afforded each host partner the opportunity to

demonstrate what had been done in thei r town to

tackle the problems of urban depopulation, both

within their national policy contexts and from their

own initiatives.

In every case the opportunity was taken to meet

with key figures in the planning and administrative

process in each town and very tight schedules of

visits and discussions were undertaken. These were

immensely informative as well as affording social

oppor tuni ties for the partner representatives to

extend their interchange of ideas in a more informal

way.

The projectwas constructed in a series of four Work

Packages which took the thread of the work through

a per iod of initial information gathering to a final

stage of report production.

The first work package stage was an introductory

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of S udy

one and culminated at the first steering group

meeting in Maidstone. At this meeting eight

research questions derived from the original project

objectives statement were circulated to all partner

towns.

These covered the following topics

• Demography

• Environment

• Transport

• Land Tenure

• Planning Policies

• Financial Mechanisms

• Agencies In the process

• Public Perceptions

The aim was to have a set of information bases

which were as consistent across the towns as could

be made possible. These were intended to provide a

basic body of information from which the main

issues and policy approaches in each could be

abstracted and further issues which focussed more

clearly on the question of the residential component

of the core areas and its policy context identified.

The analysis of the eight questions, the main body ofwork in Work Package 2, led to the identification of

three main lines of iterative analysis for Work

Package 3. The first of these was the identification of

the characterist ics of the towns which were of

interest and provided some contextual background

to understanding the problems faced by each. The

second was the outlining of the National or

Regional Policy contexts which had a significant

affect on the initiatives taken by each town. The final

section dealt with the detai ls of the practice evident

in each location and specific initiatives taken by the

towns themselves. From both the policy description

and the local practice it was intended that instances

of good practice could be identified and a summary

of the major examples of 'best practice' is given in

section 4.

In each case the topic under review was tackled in a

comparative manner and thereby the ancillary

objectives of the project to make such cross national

analyses was fulfiled.

13



A major objective at the outset of the project wa s the

examination of the literature existing on the subject

of the variety of methods of developing housing in

urban areas, in all the member States represented

and specific to the Study towns, and a Literature

Revie w was included as a pr imary task of theproject.

This proved a more difficult ta sk than first

envisaged, and in man y wa ys remains an

unfinished exercise . However enough was gleaned

to enable all the partners to get a grasp of the range

of practice and analysis which had already taken

place. The fact that local authority partners were

being invited to participate in an exercise previously

considered somewhat 'academic' and that it opened

up a wider perspective on a problem common to all

of them was perhaps the first po sitive result of the

Study.

Reviewing and attempting to use the results of

existing literature from English and Irish sources

was easier, not because of language accessibility, but

there seemed to be more interaction between the

authorities and the literature than in other countries.

Extending the review awa y from an Anglo-Irish

base was a major challenge.

Although general texts, which were not space

specific, were reviewed, in the various national

surveys clear spatial delimitations were necessary at

certain levels. In the United Kingdom only material

relating to England wa s examined, and in the cases

of Belgium and Germany, both federal S ta tes,

official documents related to the relevant Regional

authorities, Wallonie and Nord Rhein Westphalen

respectively.

The material reviewed wa s cla ssified under 6

headings,

• European Policy documents

• National, Regional and Local Policy documents

• Official reports

• Other studies

• Books

• Articles

The review is incorporated into the presentation and

analysis of material to be found in Volume 2a.

This review exposed the current wide range of

interest in the question of at tempting to reverse the

decline in population in western European towns

and more particularly how it can be achieved. It alsorevealed a common concern in all the study

countries and a variety of means of approach which

was reflected in both Na tional policy and local

practice in the study towns. A major feature has

been that this process is gathering pace and that

during the project period there were a number of

significant reports and initiatives published on this

issue which the co-ordinating team had to take into

account.

In addition a full list of the documentation

consulted will be given in the Volume 2b.

The working structure did not howe ver envisage

that the interaction of the entire partnership would

throw up certain 'unintended' results. These will also

be pointed out and areas where continuing

research, perhaps through the INTEREGG III

programme could be undertaken will be identified.

It wa s considered that the Methodology in itself was

one of these. In essence, due perhaps to the

perceived need to structure an academically led

Project, it had been thought through in terms of its

stru cture, process of working and analytical

frameworks before it wa s begun. However enough

flexibility was available to allow for unseen

evidence and issues.



sense of integrity as places but each also had

physical links to the ou ter town which extended

their core areas. The integration of these

surrounding areas into the urban core was a major

objective in both towns,

The Irish towns had been most vacated and faced

t he c learest cha ll enges to restore their former

cohesion. Cork had several elements which had

already been used to do this . Firstly the scheme for

North Main Street was a beginning of an approach

to renewal whi le the Shandon area with its

dominating church gave an off centre landmark

around which an ancillary regeneration focus could

be bui lt . Limerick equal ly had a two centre town.

The main commercia l area in Irish town gave one

focus where the Georgian heritage could be used as

stimulant to enhancement and population growth.

Beside it the old his toric core of English town had

the landmarks of the Anglican cathedral and the

castle to form a basis for skilful design of new

introductions.

In England, Maidstone has two main elements to its

urban form. The All Saints Church, the Tyrwhitt

Carriage museum and the Archbishop's Palace on

the banks of the river Medway provide the historicalcore, while the commercial centre is a long the old

roman road of Week Street and the High Street,

particularly around the Town Hall and the Queen's

Monument

The Hampshire towns were varied in character from

the historic cohesion of Winchester to the 'New

Town' character of Basingstoke and the 19th century

' industry' based centres of Aldershot and Eastleigh.

Four of the Towns had major water ways, canals or

rivers as significant elements in their visual

character, Breda, Cork, Limerick and Maidstone and

in each case there was growing realisation of this as

a factor to enhance the attractiveness of the town as

a place to live .

The character of each is i llustrated in Volume 2a.

2.2 DEFINING THE STUDY AREAS

A full picture of the study areas defined for the

project is given in Volume 2a.

16

In summary, the approach to defining areas for

more detailed study of the process of resident ial

development in town centres was quite pragmatic.

While a series of factors was examined to help

these did no t fit universally. For example, a 10

minutes walk from the Town centre, or the edge of

the essentially pre 1914 town etc, were considered as

rough guides. For instance, due to wa r time

des truction, the centre of Witten had been rebuilt

and was in large part much newer than the other

town centres. Also in Mons and Breda, the use of

the lines of former fortifications, in one case the old

walls in the other the encircling canals, gave clear

definitions to the inner-town area although in

certain places the processes of urban flight had gone

outside of these. In Cork the City council had

defined an inner area for its own purposes and this

suited the purposes of ou r study admirably. In

Limerick the old cores of English town and Irish

town defined the inner area clearly. Armentieres as

an individual commune with no suburbs within its

urban area, these hav ing been constructed in

neighbouring communes on both sides of the

Franco- Belgian border, was again easily identifiable

as a study area in its own right. In Hampshire, the

County Council focussed upon town centres withina number of towns, Aldershot, Alton,

Basingstoke,Eastleigh, Havant,and Winchester,

which were selected to represent a sample of the

urban centres in the County. In Witten there was a

clear Urban Centre, but around it and adjacent were

certain a reas wh ich were po tentially going to

change and should also be studied. Only in

Maidstone was there some definitional problem as

the Town Centre study area and the ward

boundaries were not contiguous and neither

covered some areas around the town where

interesting processes of change were occurring. A

fluid area for study was therefore proposed and

used.

In essence the Team considered that an academic

discussion of how to define a core area would not

produce a result that would enhance ou r

understanding of the processes and actors in the

repopulation of towns of this scale. Moreover

having certain boundaries would be useful

provided they did not unduly constrain the scope of

Living inTowns:Volume I : Synopsis of Study



the analysis.

2.3 DEMOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL

STRUCTURE

Any comparative study of population numbers and

characteristics is prone to a number of challenges ;variable census data and dates of collection ;

variability of definit ions between countries and

even over the years wi th in the same country, etc.

The study had to contend with a series of such

obstacles but a few conclusions could be drawn on

the processes and patterns of demographic change

which were of value to the understanding of the

problems each town faced .

Generally until the early 1990's, population decline,

slow but measurable, was the hallmark of the cores

of all of the study towns. It was most marked in the

two Irish towns and least evident inHampshire. The

period from around 1985 onwards is more

interesting because from then on, at different times,

each town began to show signs of a slowdown and

in some cases, a reversal of this process, although

the incomplete nature of the figures after the round

of censuses in 1990/1/2 makes too assertive an

analysis difficult.

The turnaround is most marked in the Hampshire

towns, where our understanding is that a

combination of existing strong planning policies

against urban sprawl and a very buoyant London

commuter housing market have given the impetus

to the redevelopment and use of in-town land for

housing. Sites available in proximity to stations

were clearly favoured by developers.

In-town population stability was evident in Breda,

where again the potent ia l for spatial expansion is

limited. A reversal of decline was also evident in

Limerick, Armentieres, Maidstone and Cork, and

perhaps most mildly in Mons.

In Witten the decline has continued, although there

is no evidence of an increase in property vacancy

such as had happened in the other towns.

In part the reason for these changes can be derived

from an analysis of the age changes manifested in

each. The decline in Witten has been paralleled by a

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsisof Study

relentless ageing of the population. This is due to

the fact that the current population moved in to the

town in the 1950's when it was extensively rebuilt.

The families created then have begun to move out

leaving an ageing population which has no t as yet

become too old to vacate their original homes. In theother towns mentioned, al though there is a large

elderly population, the hallmark has been the

increase in the population of young single people at

the expense of families with young children. This is

clearly reflected in a universal decrease in the size of

households, mostmarked in Ireland.

This has given rise to concern in Partner towns such

as Mons and Breda, where the result of this shift has

been the lack of development of facilities for

chi ldren in core areas. This merely accelerates the

movement of families from these areas

All of the towns also exhibited a clear change in the

socio-economic structure of this population

although the quality of information on this was

variable between towns. Most had significant

'working class' elements in the 1960's and 70's bu t

at differential rates this population has declined or

moved ou t to peripheral estates and been replaced

in more recent years with a more 'Middle Class 'structure of managers, technical staff and

professional groups.

Hidden in these figures but evident on the ground

was the effect of having major educational facilities

in the towns. In Cork, Breda and Mons, major

Universities provided a large mobile studentmarket

for private rented dwellings which was being used

to populate older private rented property. This was

also happening to a lesser extent in Winchester

which has a University college. Witten is developing

a new University which may affect this sector.

Certain other towns, Maidstone and Limerick had

higher education facilities but these general ly

served a local marke t and did no t generate a

resident population in their own right.

A final significant change was in the tenure

structure of the housing. Every town showed a

decline in the t radit ional tenure of private renting

and the growth of owner occupat ion or social

17

.'



housing. In Ireland p rivat e r en ting although

declining absolutely until very recently, did not do

so relatively because there was no great expansion

of the two other tenures to take its place . In the

English towns there was a considerable expansion

of owner occupation, freehold and leasehold, bu t

very little expansion of social housing. This

signified a desire by the author ities to constrain

direct intervention and to leave the ini tiat ive to the

private sector or to work closely with 'Registered

Social Landlords',who are not part of the municipal

structure. These were in marked contrast to the

continental examples in France, Belgium, and the

Netherlands where the social sector was a

significant agent in the reconstruct ion of town

centres.Germany

provided a sl igh tly differentexample where there was some social development

bu t tenure remained mainly in the private rented

sector. There was however little movement in the

property sector here and not enough to demonstrate

trends,

2.4 GENERAL ECONOMIC CONDITION

A final contextual subject, which almost resulted in

the formulation and test ing of a hypothesis was the

extent to which pol ic ies for the planning and

improvement of core areas were conditioned by

local economic conditions.

Here again it was not possible to come to definite

conclusions. Mons, in an area of serious economic

decline was comparable in the quality of its

environment to Maidstone in the prosperous South

East of England. Witten, which appeared to the co-

ordinating team to be sound and prosperous was

considered in a German context to be severely

disadvantaged,

Although local economic conditions affected critical

factors such as unemployment rates, wages,

spend ing power and therefore house prices and

rents, there was no evidence that they governed the

choice of residen tial location for differing social

groups. It was demonstrated by the analysis that

other factors such as lifestyle preference, the depth

of cultural attachment to an 'urban' rather than a

'rural' historic pattern of development and planning

policies which inhibited urban sprawl wereinfinitely more influential.

18

Thus in Ireland the recent unprecedented economic

growth has created house price inflation and driven

many households ou t of the owner occupied market

into a rented one which is less developed due to a

traditional lack of demand for housing for such a

population. The provision of rented housing to meet

this demand has been almost exclusively an in-town

phenomenon.


'.

z:



Context

3.1 THE URBAN POLICY CONTEXT

In every pa rtner authori ty it was clear that they

were working within a set of policy parameters set

by national or regional authori ties. These had a

distinct influence and control on what could be

done.

The following policy areas were ident if ied as

exerting some influence on the action taken by

authorities in relation to their policies for town

centre regeneration:

• Housing policy

• Planning policies• Employment policies

• Social exclusion and other social policies

• Design policies

• Transport policies

• Organisational and management policies

Whatwas also evidentwas the extent to which these

were a consistent set of issues in each partner

country. The emphasis var ied a little bu t the

repopulation of urban areas was in reaction to

concerns in each of these .

As a result there has been a certain amount of

convergence in policy concerns and to a lesser

extent in the policy focus for action to tackle

problems. Thus the recent Irish, Walloon and French

planning legislation as well policy statements in

England tended to take a more holistic, socially

focussed view of the planning process and to treat it

more as a process rather than a regulatory

framework. As we noted, and will be outlined in

section 4, this is having a profound effect on practice


section 3

at the local level.

Equally the area of housing policy was becoming a

central par t of a wider debate on the total context for

Urban Living.

In England, the Urban Task Force chaired by Lord

Rogers produced their final r epor t, 'Toward s an

Urban Renaissance' in 1999. The aim of this report

was to bring sustainability, good urban design and

better use of land, particularly in urban areas to the

top of the planning agenda. The recommendations

from this report fed in to the Government's Urban

White Paper, 'Our Town s and Cities: The Future -Delivering an Urban Renaissance' (November 2000).

The White Paper also amplified the policies for

using urban capacity studies and applying the

sequential test approach to identifying housing sites

introduced earlier in the Planning Policy Guidance

Note 3: Housing (March 2000)

Papers itinerant to these as well as the recent

'Approach to Neighbourhood Renewal', report give

a clear signal of a concentration of policy on the

regeneration of urban areas and of the need tointegrate all the Policy initiatives.

In France the creation of the 'Delegation

Interministerielle a la Ville' reflects a similar drive to

policy cohesion and regeneration of towns and

cities. Is has been followed by the influential 'Sueur'

Report, 'Demain la Ville ', and the translation of these

ideas into a new Planning Act. The emphasis has

shifted from the preparation of the more traditional

regulatory pas and SDAU structures to the more

flexible process oriented structure. Thus under the

19



Loi Solidarite et Renouvellement Urbain - SRU of

December 2000 the new Plans Locaux d'Urbanisme

will have to contain clear policy statements and

outline how the PLU will achieve them.

This is also reflected in the policy shifts evident in

Ireland and in the Belgian regions where new

legislation and policy guidance have accentuated

the need to rebuild the cores of towns and revitalise

them. In both Germany and the Netherlands the

integration of policy has been much more long

standing than in the other Member States bu t in

both there has been an official shift of policy for

variety of reasons, to urban regeneration.

In effect all the study towns were acting in National

contexts where their efforts to regenerate their

towns were officially encouraged in every aspect of

urban policy. Howeve r two areas have more

influence on the ability to succeed in this than

others, Housing Policy and Planning Policy.

3.2 HOUSING POLICY

A starting point for the analysis of the effectiveness

of strategies for the encouragement of urban living

is at the National level. The policies of each country

in respect of housing were examined in relation tothe following criteria

a) did they encourage tenures which could be more

easily accommodated in inner urban areas

b) did they have a bias spatially to the development

or improvement of housing in inner urban areas,

or were they integrated with planning policies

which did so.

In every country the first aim of National Housing

policy has been to encourage the growth of home

ownership. The differences between them was the

extent to which each national agency recognised the

limits of this pol icy and the extent to which they

were prepared to assist in the realisation of

alternatives where needed.

The greatest gap between the two occurred in

Ireland. The Irish government has a clear policy to

encourage home ownership and in the context of the

land tenure system this meant the development of

single family dwellings. The level of this tenure and

20

type is already the highest in western Europe

estimated at 81% in 2000.This has been backed by a

policy to sell off the existing stock of social 'council'

housing, although through the Planning and

Development Act 2000 the government will be

attempting to require 20% social housing included

in all private developments. The Irish Government

has also encouraged the growth of a 'voluntary

sector ' but so far it has been residual in its

application and an extension of the diminishing

social sector. The construction of private rented

apartments using tax incentives has been aimed at a

younger 'pre - ownership' population and is not the

beginning of the development of a major shift in

policy direction. Thus although the Irish must now

be (outside of Dublin) one of the bes t housed

nations in Europe, they live in house types which

are not generally suited to inner areas. There

appears to be no incentive to use or develop

English style long leases, which can accommodate a

form of owner-occupation with high density living.

Until the mid 1990's the policy approach in England

was in many ways similar, and the extension of

owner occupation has been the result. However the

existence of the 'leasehold' system which allows the

ownership of an apartment does facilitate theextension of owner occupation to all forms of

bui ld ing in all areas of a town. Equally the social

and private rented sectors can be found in all types

of development and therefore the encouragement of

owner occupation does not necessarily mean the

encouragement of individual houses and the

vacation of inner urban sites . Indeed in England and

France there is a process whereby social tenants can

transform their tenancy into ownership without

changing accommodation. This is known as

'staircasing' in England and 'Parcours Residentiel' inFrance.

Since the mid 1990's there has been a more balanced

approach to t enure types and Local Housing

Authorities (through their formal 3-5 year housing

strategies) now lead on the co-ordination of the

development and production of affordable homes in

inner areas by Registered Social Landlord (RSL)

partners.

Whilst the Housing Corporation's regulatory

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of S udy



processes govern the policy and practice of RSL's,

their development of affordable new homes is

greatly influenced by local housing partnerships,

local authori ty 3-5 year strategies and joint

commissioning arrangements (which include the

Housing Corporation).

The Housing Investment Programme (HIP) process

was introduced in 1977, and provides a mechanism

for local authority enabling activity by

programming the annua l investment of local

authority 'Social Housing Grant' (SHG) to housing

associations for specific affordable housing

schemes. The Housing Association's Approved

Development Programme (ADP) is also co-

ordinated and prioritised by the local authority each

year within a four year rolling programme . This

provides additional SHG for developing new homes

within the local authorities overall housing strategy

and priorities. The uniqueness of these

programming mechanisms appear to be overlooked

in the wider planning structure and now with the

growing cohesion of urban policy they represent

potential ways in which the new approaches in land

use planning, contained within PPG3, described

below, could be translated into a budget time plan

as well.

In the other partner countries a similar situation

holds in that under the more continental systems of

property ownership it is possible to hold an

apartment in fee simple and there is not therefore a

conflict between the pursuit of home ownership and

the development of multi unit blocks.

However in France, the Netherlands and Germany

the encouragement of owner occupation does not

work to the exclusion of the encouragement of other

tenures where appropriate and in a sense the policy

could almost be considered to be tenure neutral.

The situation in Belgium is more complicated. The

count ry has a historic bias to owner occupation of

individual and terrace housing bu t such ownership

of apartments is also common. Priva te renting is

also common bu t not subsidised. Social housing has

been a minor sector of the housing stock and has not

been given policy encouragement until recently in

Brussels and Wallonie.

Living inTowns:Volume I : Synopsis of Study

3.3 TENURE STRUCTURES

As can be seen from the above, the way in which

residential property is held or 'owned' is an

important factor in the land use pattern. The

national systems of tenure were studied in some

depth and a summary of this is given in the Volume

2b.

The main conclusions were tha t under all the

continental systems there is the possibili ty of

holding an apartment in 'fee simple' without being

under the title of someone else and this means that

apartment development is common and accepted.

In England and Ireland this can only be done under

the Leasehold system. The changes to the law

proposed in England, which will introduce

'Commonhold', a new form of ownership for multi

dwelling units, may introduce more flexibility and a

new tenure typewhich will be more useable in town

core areas. The leasehold system did not seem very

popular in Ireland where there is a strong desire for

full 'Freehold ' type tenure and the ownership of

individual houses, despite economic circumstances

throwing up an increasing number of younger more

mobile people who cannot necessarily afford this.

English style 'leases' for res idential proper ty, as a

variant of commercial property tenures have beenexperimented with in Belgium bu t have not proved

popular, The ownership of property 'free and

unencumbered' is a strong cultural factor!

In investigating this aspect of the nature of

residential tenure there were clear

misunderstandings as to the meaning and usage of

the term 'lease' between the continental partners

and the English and Irish ones. In the English

derived system (which does not include Scotland) a

lease is a property contract involving the division of

rights in a property and giving the lessee rights and

status which are tradeable as assets on the market; ie

a lease can be bought and sold as if it were a

freehold ownership. In the continental system a 'bail

a long duree' is a personal contract between two

individuals which is not an asset saleable by the

'lessee'. This may in part explain the 'cultural '

antipathy to this form of tenure experienced in

Belgium, bu t not in Ireland.

21



3.4 PLANNING 'POLICY AND THERESIDENTIAL MARKET

The Planning systems of the Member States

represented were examined. However since these

ha ve been summarised in other projects and

excellently descr ibed in the EU 'Compendium of

Planning Systems' series it was not felt necessary to

introduce such a summary to this project. Instead

the analysis has concentrated on the key question of

what policy and practice each system has for the

Planning of Housing, from statistical analyses of

markets and needs to the delivery of the

construction of residential dwellings.

The framework of planning policies is however

often a composite of other policies and the need to

locate housing in towns is often not encouraged

through planning policies for its own sake but to

achieve other objectives.

There is a range of planning policies which aim to

control the location and character of housing and

thereby make bette r use of urban area s; these

encompass

a) Aesthetic reasons to use derelict buildings or sites

b) To protect the urban fringe and surroundingcountryside for agricultural reasons or landscape

protection

c) To cut down on car usage and encourage public

transport

d) To create a 'critical mass' of people to use town

centre facilities and shops

More recently the need to control the consumer to

whom the housing is directed has also began to

feature in the objectives . Thus housing for social

sector tenants, affordable housing and key worker

housing ha ve become major concerns. However the

extent to which this can be achieved is dependent on

the abili ty of the planning mechanism to control the

end user of the housing. In England attempts to

introduce quotas of 'affordable housing' to all

developments have a chequered history. In France

and other States it is however possible within the

planning system to dictate the statute under which

the housing will be developed and sold or rented.

This gives continental countries an ability to

manipulate the social character of housing areas to a

22

greater degree and thus to meet needs for housing

for particular types of worker. In England the

housing of 'key workers' in labour shortage areas is

more of a housing mat ter than a planning matter

even although the reasons for it are of a wide

economic and social origin

In the Hampshire case in England, the local

authori ties in Basingstoke and Winchester have

gone further in commissioning studies of the nature

of housing 'need ' in their local economies to

underpin the rest of the housing provision process.

However such analyses underpin government

policy in the UK to ensure that 60% of all housing is

built on previously used 'Brownfield' land in and

adjacent to existing urban areas . The Dutch

Government also has a predisposi tion to restrict

development to existing urban areas

The mechanics of planning for housing has a certain

commonality in all countries and involves the

authorities in the drawing up of 'Land Availability'

studies.

These have recently evolved into more sophisticated

District wide 'Urban Capacity Studies' in Englandwhich theGovernment now require local authorities

to produce following publication in 2000 of the

Planning Policy Guidance No. 3 and the document

'Tapping the Potential '. These include the need for

the 'sequential tests', which must . be applied to

demonstrate that a site in an urban peripheral

location has only been pu t forward because sites in

more urban locations are not available or have

insurmountable development problems.

Essentially they involve looking at a series of

development opportunities which has been used in

the other national situations in this Project.

a) Greenfield Sites:

Land where there has been no previous

development. Not surprisingly the Project yielded

only one example of this, a site on the edge of the

town centre of Limerick

b) Brownfield Sites:

Land on which there has been previous




development and the redevelopment for another

use is possible.

c) Infill sites:

Small parcels of land or derelict buildings that are

mixed in with other uses and which could be

developed for up to around 10 units. Gardens and

other spaces effectively abandoned behind frontage

developments are often ignored. They offer

considerable scope for well designed high density

developments that are sympathetic to the scale and

grain of the surrounding buildings as exemplified

by schemes in the centre of Mons.

d) Conversion sites:

Buildings no longer required in their original non

residential use that have potential for conversion to

provide dwellings. There is often conflict in policy

between the desire to convert the space to housing

use and the desire to retain the building in order to

maintain a stock of premises for other uses.

e) Recycling previous residential space I vacantproperty:

Spaces that would previously be in residential use

and could be reclaimed. Le.flats over shops

These policy directives are brought together in the

Development Plans which relate to any given

location. In the case of the English towns we are

examining they are translated into policy statements

in the County Structure Plans and into more precise

allocations in the Local orUnitary Development Plans

for each town.

A similar exercise has been developed in Belgium.

In the 1998 Reform of the Code Wallon

d'Amenagement du Territoire et d'Urbanisme and the

1999 adoption of the Regional Strategic Plan several

innovat ions were introduced to facil ita te the

monitoring of urban development:

• Introduction of a right to pre-emption

• Creation of a list of abandoned economic sites,

(SAED)

• Creation of an Operational Fund to be used for all

Regeneration Policies

The strategic plan has four main objectives:

Living inTowns:Volume I:Synopsis of Study

• Increase urban density, by recycling land and

buildings

• Articulate town centres and other

neighbourhoods

• Encourage a level of 'Mixed Use'

• Make the spatial structure more readable by

using visual landmarks etc

The pract ice has requ ired the del ineation and

programming of Zones d' Amenagement Differes'

(formerly Zones d"Extensions de l'Habiiat) and these

are part of the approach taken in Mons.

The third case of the emergence of such mechanisms

is in Ireland, where pursuant to the Planning and

Development Act 2000, towns have been encouraged

to undertake an analysis of their housing markets

and their needs in relation to the availability of sites

in all areas of the town. This has been done in Cork

but not so far in Limerick. These are assisted by new

Guidelines on Residential Density produced in 1999.

In France since 1993 urban complexes have been

required to prepare a Programme locale de L'Habitat.

Attempts to research these and compare them with

the other examples above have been inconclusive

and no clear picture of their use and effectiveness asan instrument in Planning for Housing has been

obtained. This may be due to the fact that they have

been overtaken as tools in this exercise by the

Planning Act of 2000, the SRU, which changes

fundamentally the way in which the planning

mechanism works. Interestingly the policy

objectives set out for the new SRU, are very similar

to those being developed in the UK and Belgium:

• Urban renewal and high density development

rather than peripheral extension

• Cohesion of the policy objectives of all the

agencies operating in the one area

• Sustainability, especially the cohesion of land use

and transport planning

• Public participation in the development of

policies and their application in a given area.

There is thus a clear desire in French urban policy to

foster development in towns rather than to continue

urban sprawl and this underpins policy initiatives

such as the 'Ville Renouvelle' and Politique de la Ville

23



strategies which focus on regeneration. These are

translated into planning documents through the

Schema Directeurs. In the case of Armentieres this is

a metropolitan wide document managed by the

Agence Urbain de l'Urbanisme et d' I'Amenagement du

Territoire du Metropole Lilloise

The German Government in 1998 produced a

guidance document entitled, 'Policies for the

Maintenance and strengthening of Inner Cities ', which

was reinforced by policy guidance at Lander level.

There did not appear to be such national policy

directives in the Netherlands. However this may be

due to the fact that this process is so intrinsically

part of the total planning process that it is not

necessary to isolate it as a separate procedure?

In the case of the Netherlands the National Planning

structure dearly has a predisposition to the

encouragement of development in towns, not least

because there are l imited amounts of rural fringe

land which can be developed.

The analysis of these policy processes revea led a

series of steps which were not all undertaken by all

of the towns, or were taken to different levels bythem.

1. Identifying housing needs in relation to

employment markets and social changes and

quantifying these.

2. Calculating demands for different types of

housing.

3. Identifying site and space availability through

land availability studies

4. Relating these through to even the smaller sites

and vacant premises available in town centres in

Urban Capacity Studies

5. Having processes and mechanisms to match the

needs for housing to the land and space available

and take act ion to ensure development, and not

rely solely on the 'market' or third parties such as

Housing Associations to deliver.

6. Having a programming mechanism for this

delivery

Using the examples we have studied as a proxy for

each national system a s imple matrix reveals the

24

following performance pattern for each of these six

steps. However it must be borne in mind that it

could be argued that every partner did every step to

some degree or other; the objective of the table is to

demonstrate where each has a well used process or

is developing new or innovative ones.

What this analysis does not reveal is the extent to

which the policy statement is backed up by more

forceful measures which di rect ly or indirectly

ensure that the policy can be implemented.

This can be done by strong restrictions on urban

growth which reduce the options to developers to

either conforming with the objectives of recycling

urban land or not building at all.

In many areas developers may prefer the 'not at all'

option to developing in difficult inner sites. There

are no sanctions which can be taken to ensure their

participation and the strategy therefore relies on

public intervention in the land or housing markets

to either assemble sites or build houses themselves

to ensure success. While in the UK local planning

authorities have the ability to assemble land

through its compulso ry purchase powers, this is

seldom done as it is a lengthy and costly processand it is seldom likely to obtain political support

Again the two Irish towns in the study, although

they are now under taking more sophisticated

housing land availability studies, still have no

restriction on out of town development which in the

other towns 'force' developers to look to inner sites.

In France and the Netherlands there is a strong

'Social Housing' sector which can be used and

which the relevant authorities are prepared to use

to develop such sites in the absence of private

interest.

This raises the issue of the relationship of the public

sector and the p riva te sector and how they co-

operate to meet these needs, or not.

3.5 PRIVATE I PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS

The analysis of the interaction of the Private and the

Public participants in the development of housing,

outlined and analysed in detail in Volume 2b points

to two main areas of contact, in the land market and




STAGE

TOWN 2 3 4 5 6

Limerick , / , /

Cork , / , /

Hampshire , / , / , / , / , / , /

Maidstone , / , / , / , /

Armentie res , / , / , / , /

Mons , / , / , /

Breda , /

Witten , / , /

, / , / indicates particular expertise in this area

, / indicates action in progress

Table 1: Urban Capacity: Pattern of Performance Among Partner Authorities in each of Six Steps

in the f inancing of projects. Howe ver there is also a

need to examine the nature of the types of Agenciesinvolved in the developmen t indus try in these two

areas

In the land market the action taken will often

depend on two sets of factor s, who owns the land

com ing on to the market and the size of the site. In

every study area, or adjacent to it, therewas a mix of

both of these factors .

The di fferences in the process between the towns

was more evident when financing the

redevelopment of such sit es for housing was

examined.Here again there was a mix of sources of

funding , Public most eviden t in France with the

intervention of the State agency the Ca isse des Depots

et Consignations; Mixed and Private more evident in

the other towns.

There were examples where the local authorities,

usually acting within a financial framework

controlled by national governments, were unwilling

to act and left the initiative to the private sector,


even if there was an urgent need for certain types of

housing in the area. In other cases the authoritieswere prepared to take the initiative and could call

on public sources of finance and funding

institutions.

In the social housing sector Maidstone's Registered

Social Landlords are acti vely involved in the

development of affordable homes through the

Council's Social Housing Gran t (SHG) programme

and the Housing Corporation's , Approved

Development Programme (ADP). Investment has

totalled £2.5m over the period 1999-2002 from the

local authority and £4.1m from the SHG funds.

Maidstone Homes Initiative Partnership will also

produce further investment in new homes for key

workers over the next three years. These schemes

are however not rest ricted to the core areas of the

Borough.

In Cork and Limerick, a similar situation pertains in

so far as the desire is for the housing development

process to be dominated by the private sector, bu t all

three towns exist in local economies where the

25



pressure is no t so great as that experienced in

Hampshire. None of these councils are willing to

actively involve th e public sector in a major wa y in

development an d have quite clear financial

constraints to prevent them from doing so. Action is

slow, bu t Limerick have recently begun to take steps

to encourage the occupation of flats over shops by

buying up certain properties to establish 'good title '

an d free up blockages in the process of

development.

The process in Witten has been rather obscure as the

t ow n h as few areas where it can intervene,but there

is considerable doubt t ha t e ve n w he n o wn er s state

that their land is no longer required that the Council

could or w o ul d w is h to purchase it. However there

are some areas of old persons housing where the

public a ut ho ri ti es h av e clearly been willing to

engage in land acquisition. Larger sites such as the

ex-industrial land are more problematic an d the

Council clearly regard it as the responsibility of the

owners to take t he d ev el op me nt of such sites

forward when the time is ripe.

In Belgium, since the 1980's, the Walloon Region has

progressively developed its housing policy

instruments. Urban regeneration operations wereintroduced. Grants were given to communes which

renovated bui ld ings in central areas. These were

focussed on ensuring a mix of residents a nd housing

types as well as th e integration of residential,

commercial uses, green spaces an d parking. This

policy is demonstrated in Mons with th e realisation

of the Quartier Rachot development.

The Netherlands, as exemplified by th e

development of the sites in central Breda ha s a

clearly proactive public sector, bu t one which works

closely with the private investment and

development industries. Most of the sites being

actively promoted in Breda are publicly owned eg

ex-military sites.

Only in Armentieres di d there appear to be a

mechanism an d will for the town to intervene to

acquire private sites an d pu t them in to a process of

development, such as in the Rex Cinema site an d

several ex-factory sites .

26

As can be seen from looking at the process from the

point of view of l an d s up pl y it is difficult to

disentangle this from the question of where the

finance for development is coming from.

In the examples above, there wa s a clear reluctance

for public authorit ies in the UK an d Ireland to use

powers such as Compulsory Purchase to intervene

in what is regarded as an essential ly private area of

action. A similar reluctance wa s noted in Germany,

although the scope for action in the centre of Witten

was limited with few sites being available.

Recent experience in Breda points to a withdrawal

from the housing market by the public authorities.

Although the finance for public or housing

association projects still comes from the national

an d local governments, this has declined in volume

an d more emphasis is no w being pu t on private

sector companies to provide private sector housing.

In Wallonie the provisions of the recent Act give the

municipalities th e powers an d the financ ial

wherewithall to enter the land market an d activate

proposals.

Only in France through the Caisse des Depots, the

Contract system an d mechanisms such as the ZACZone d'Amenagement Concerte, does there seem to be

a system which is geared to intervention to redress

the inaction of the pr iva te development market.

This was being used to good effect in Armentieres as

in the ZAC LeBizet.

AGENCIES

Concerted efforts to ident ify an d categorise the

agencies involved in the process of development

were less than successful. However in all countries

except Ireland the development of 'social housing'

or 'affordable' housing is no w being undertaken by

semi pub lic housing association type agencies:

Registered Social Landlords / HLM's / Housing

Compan ies, etc. The growth of this intermediate

sector has however begun in Ireland although at

present it deals with special needs housing only.

In Germany there is a greater emphasis on the use of

p ri va te l an dl or ds than in any other country.

However in England there have been initiatives, in

the partner towns, to find a role for the private

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of Sudy



landlord to work with RSLs to provide housing in

town centres. In Belgium a similar in itia tive ha s

involved the direct use of private landlords as

providers of social housing units through th e

medium of 'Agences Immobilieres Sociales ' wh o act

as intermediaries between the privtae landlord an d

the lo w - income tenants.

In every country however independent private

landlordism appears to be in decline.

Only in Ireland is there a rather outdated model of

'Council housing' i.e. direct local authority

provision of social housing. However in a limited

wa y this type of management has been us ed to help

b ri ng u n us ed t ow n centre space back into use.

In the pr iva te sector there aga in appears to be a

reluctance of major housing developers to tackle the

development of anything bu t th e larger an d

uncomplicated sites for rented or owner-occupied

apartments. The only area where this is a major

feature of in- town housing d ev el op me nt w as in

Hampshire an d to a minor extent in Maidstone.

(where there has been increased willingness by

developers to redevelop 'brownfield ' sites in th e

town centre).

In Ireland there have been numerous examples of

such developments within designated Urban

Renewal Areas which have benefit ed from tax

incentives to bui ld more housing for rent in town

centres. Where the larger p ri va te i nv es tm en t

companies operated best was in the commercial

market where ancillary flat development might be

part of th e scheme, such as in Breda.

3.6 FINANCIAL AND FISCAL POLICY IN THE

PROCESS

The fiscal an d financial investment contexts within

which the process of residential repopulation of

central areas is undertaken has been examined by

asking ho w do national policies an d programmes

for financial management and taxation etc affect the

direction of investment to town centres.

The clearest example of such fiscal incentives comes

from Ireland. The full details of the tax incentive

scheme are given in Volume 2b bu t in summary the

Living in Towns:Volume I: Synopsis of Study

1994 scheme, which ha s no w been modified, give a

tax break to investors wh o construct residential

property in the core areas of Irish cities. There are

several major schemes in Limerick, an d fewer bu t

more strategically located schemes in Cork

Incentives have also been available for schemes to

bring redundant flats over shops back into use. In

Cork the 'Living over the Business ' scheme has been

derive d from this national initiative.

Between 1991 an d 1994 the Government in England

established a fund to assist schemes to convert

empty spaces above shops to residential purposes.

This ha d limited effect in Ma idstone an d the

Hampshire towns studied. Thus in the 2001 budget

in th e United Kingdom tax incen tives for th e

development of potentia l residential space were

introduced bu t it is too early to state whether this

will have profound or negligeable effect.

There are also measures in France which ca n be used

to improve town centre property. The most recent

were the measures under the 'Besson scheme' which

enables owners to set their construction costs to

provide private rental accommodation against their

tax liability.

Also under the aegis of the Agence Naiionale pour

l'Amelioration de l'Habitat, ANAH, grants are given to

individuals an d through the Operation Public de

l'Amelioraiion de l'Habiiat, OPAH to local HLM's in

specific areas to refurbish or renovate housing.

3.7 MANAGEMENT STYLE

In addressing this matter four related quest ions

arose.

The first arose from the experience of the team in

e xa mi ni ng t he wa y in w hi ch Au th or it ies w er e

proactive or reactive in their approach to

redevelopment an d enhancement of their core

urban areas. Although public finance wa s

constra ined to a greater or lesser extent in each of

the study towns, the evidence suggests that in some

cases the lack of political will wa s as much a barrier

to act ion as the lack of the resources to act.

The second aspect to be examined w as w hether the

27



emphasis in approach reflected the style of

government at local level. In both the French and

German examples there was a clear directional style

led by the Mayor of both towns and symptomatic of

the government process in each country. This

contrasted with the politicised council and technical

officer led model in England.

The third related to the interactionbetween different

departments and professions in their responsibility

and level of cooperation in the revitalisation of town

centres.

A vexed question was the role of Town Centre

Managers in the total process and their relationship

to other officers. In Cork, Maidstone and

particularly in Mons, new Town Centre Managers

are making a vital contribution to the revitalisation

of the Core area. However their focus is s light ly

different from that of the Technical officers of the

authority in that they tended to represent the

private sector, retailers, office companies etc.

The team acknowledge the va lue of a Town Centre

Manager (TCM) and the contribution they can make

in the totality of tools used, and their role in putting

private sector interes ts into the process. HoweverTCM is no t the total answer and over dynamism in

this field can lead to conflict between or to a lack of

cohesion in approaches. The answer lies in having

focussed and strong strategic and integrated goals

for the town which can direct this new energy and

cont ribut ion into a process which has beneficial

effects on all the actors engaged in the process. This

returns the issue to the actors at the helm and makes

it incumbent on them to see that this process of

giving coherence to the total range of initiatives

takes place.

In Witten the process of Town Marketing, the

German equivalent of TCM, was clearly directed by

the Mayors's office and gave a clear framework for

the other actors. I t is not restricted to the promotion

of private sector interests bu t is widely drawn to

bring private and public initiatives together. Thus

the promotion of the image of the town is aimed at

enhancing both the commercial and residential

sectors. As part of this, strategies for the upgrading

of housing which has become sub standard by

28

contemporary standards have been initiated to keep

population in the town itself.

In France the emergence of the Mayor - manager,

r ather than the traditional Mayor - 'notable ' is

giving a boost to a more professional organisation in

the Mairie. There was clear evidence of this

emerging in Armentieres.

In other cases particularly in England there has been

a lack of coordination between departments at local

level, Le. between housing and planning

departments. However the climate here is changing

as the briefs for each department have evolved. For

instance in the housing field the role of the Housing

department is no longer just to manage local

authori ty housing stock, but to think more

strategically about the totality of housing provision

and to ensure the delivery of much of it. As a result

they have to develop closer links to the Planning

department to whom the question of housing

supply in all its facets has become a central question.

Equally agencies concerned with transport, public

and private are being drawn into a wider debate on

the total quality and sustainibility of the town

environment; in fact the entire issue of 'urban

living'.

However in France and the Netherlands such

interaction has been a long standing feature of the

total planning process.

At a major policy level there clearly has to be some

rethinking of traditional processes of town

management, competences and roles, to enable

Authorities tomove intomore modern management

modes

The final area of concern in the management of

development relates to the integration of policy

between different levels of government.

This is at its most complex in France where there are

5 levels of government which can contribute to the

formulation and delivery of any s trategy for

housing development, bu t where there is a high

level of consultation and integration at work. In the

case of Armen ti eres the several levels can be

significant in the entire process from policy

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsisof Study

r :.

t ; . ' .

.. ~

.. . ::

0.· .. .:



formulation to delivery.

In England a similar bu t as yet less well integrated

hierarchy exists and which may be further extended

by the development of regional agencies from the

current Government Offices for the regions. In the

Netherlands there is a clear 3 level structure where

the policies and plans are integrated for the

planning and development of land.

In the case of Germany there are three levels and in

Belgium and Ireland only two of significance. The

simple matrix set ou t below shows this variety.

A full list of all agencies and their functions is given

in the Volumes 2b, bu t the complexity of

government structures in France is particularly

notable with England a close second. This is

explained by the paral le ling of agencies in France

with central Government offices being 'shadowed'

by locally representative assemblies at virtually

every level.

Thus it can be seen that in every case there are a

large number of agencies involved requiring co

ordination in 3 dimensions before a scheme can be

delivered.

• Between Private and Public agencies

• Within public agencies horizontally

• Vertically within the public sector

The message from Armentieres and Witten is that

the co-ordination needed and the delivery on behalf

of the Town itself seems to be better achieved where

there is clear directive control from a Mayor 's office

rather than the hope that the myriad agencies will

work cohesively by consultation.

Germany France Nethertands Belgium England Ireland

National ./ ./ . / . /

Regional ./ .1./ . I . /

County Department ././ ./ ./

Metro Urban ./ . /

Local Authority./ . / . / . / . / . I

Commune

. / . / In France, at both Regional and Departmental levelthere are two types of goverment body: one representing

the State, the other representing the local electorate.

Table 2: Levels of Goverment in each Country

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of Study 29



30 Living inTowns:Volume I:Synopsis of S udy

"

-r -. ,

, :.. .. . ...



Practice

Within the policy contexts set out above the Partner

author it ies under took a series of actions, some in

direct re sponse to the policy framework and

guidance, as outl ined in section 3, others on their

own initiative but within the ir competences to

enhance their town as a place to live. The aim of this

section is to communicate this level of act ivity and

to pinpoint areas where there have been particular

examples of 'Good Practice' by the Municipal

Authorities

4.1 POLICIES IN TOWN CENTRES

The decline in the vitality of the core areas on thetowns has led in every case to the production of

specific planning policies for their revitalisation in

recent years. Only Armentieres, the smallest of the

study towns, where the central area is difficult to

delimit from the rest of the town, had no specific

area plan. It did however have distinct proposals for

the area as part of the overall POS for the town.

A clear point of difference was the extent to which

the local authori ties were prepared to follow up

their plan policies into implementive action.

In Cork, Limerick, Hampshi re and Maidstone,

public action was limited to those areas where the

public authorities had a s ta tutory duty to fulfil.

Other areas of action in the domain of private

landowners were left to the private sector, although

there were a few notable exceptions such as the

Fremlins Brewery redevelopment in Maidstone. The

town centre strategies were therefore intended to

enhance the attractiveness of the core area for

private investment.


section 4

This is most evident in the Hampshire Town Centre

Strategywhich places much emphasis on facilitating

and providingframeworks for private sector action. It

seems to stop short of action such as compulsory

purchase and joint action with the private sector. A

good example is the development of the Pirelli

factory site in Eastleigh. This site will provide

housing and some ancillary use and be

programmed for development by private agencies

over a 10 year period. The public role seems to be

limited to attempting to assure the delivery of some

affordable housing within an agreed 'Design Brief'.

A contrast is the development of an industrial

wasteland in Armentieres where the municipalityhas purchased the site and is di recting the ent ire

development, thereby assuring the delivery of social

housing

URBAN DESIGN

At the outset this was not felt to be an important

aspect of the project and it did not feature in the

original objectives of the Project as a factor.

However it became clea r that as the analysis

progressed its impor tance became more evident .

The attractiveness of a town as a place to live can be

enhanced if the qual ity of the environment is

constantly improving and it is a major planning

objective to achieve this.

A key element of such policies is to ensure that any

new buildings inserted into the core areas be of the

highest standard. Equally, in its normal programme

of works to improve the efficiency of the area if a

council is mindful of Design, a great deal can be

done to achieve such an enhancement. Thus things

such as stree t furniture and s treet art , paving,

31



lighting, advertising, green spaces, cleaning and

anti-litter initiatives, shop signs and landscaping

are all contributory elements which can be

upgraded to make the inner areas of any town, not

just historic towns, more invit ing, safer and

enjoyable. A survey of the policies and practices of

this type in the study towns revealed that all of them

had begun to introduce guides or to take on

personnel who were skilled at this form of design

work.

The most noteworthy examples seen by the group

were:

a) The Georgian area of Limerick

This is the core of Irish Town bu t has become

extremely run down as the commercial core has

spread into it and it has had to adapt to traffic and

servicing. However the City Council now has

schemes in hand to improve it and to ensure the

enhancement of it as an area of historic character.

Some sites such as Perry Square are already being

refurbished by private voluntary effort and little by

little the area is becoming pleasanter.

b) The High Street area of Cork

This is the site of the scheme which won the RTPIannual Planning Award in 1999. Despi te much

urban degradation in and around the area the

scheme has shown what can be done by a

combination of public facilitation of private action,

public housing strategy and private investment to

restore such areas.

c) HampshireTown Centre Appraisal

This is a guidance document bu t it provides a

framework for all the towns in the County to work

with the private landowners and investors toenhance their character and liveability. Eastleigh is a

good example of this scheme and the shopping

centre has been much improved by more cheerful

and coherent design which also links the

surrounding res idential areas in to the town centre

more sympathetically.

d) Breda Canal Restoration Scheme

This is a scheme to restore some of the old canals of

the city which had been fil led in. In doing so traffic

will be reduced and the environment will be

32

enhanced. This will most certainly make living in

the city centre more pleasant.

e) Witten Street Improvements

In conjunction with the enhancement of the tram

links to Bochum, the City Council has remodelled

the streetscape of Bahnhofstrasse the main

shopping street. This is to be linked into the

redes ign of the Town hall square. There has been

considerable public deba te abou t this and no

scheme agreeable to everyone has yet been

approved. There is however a tremendous

commitment to the enhancement of the urban

environment to make Wit ten one of the more

liveable of the Ruhr towns.

f) Maidstone Streetscape Manual

Maidstone has adopted a programme of

improvements to the town centre streetscape,

including improving signage and other street

furniture. In addition the council has been working

with the Civic Trust to produce a 'Streetscape

Manual' .

In Maidstone the streetscape of the high street is

being renovated and it is expected that the new

development at the Old Fremlin's Brewery site,which may now have a residential element, will

enhance the at tract iveness of this important area

between the core and the station. As part of the

development proposals there are plans to build a

public square outside the north entrance to the

building.

In Mons, the main focus of attention is the redesign

of the surrounding Boulevard on the line of the old

walls. Here the renovation of the 'Machine a Eau ' and

remnants of the old walls are some of the schemesthat will enhance this ring and re integrate the areas

around the town centre into it in a more cohesive

way.

The Ville d'Armentieres has excit ing plans for the

redesign of the two squares, currently parking lots,

at the core of the town and facing the splendid Hotel

de Ville. Also the enti re area around the Station, in

itself an attractive building, and the streets linking it

to the main square , will be renovated and

redes igned to give an enti re ly different feel to the


,. -

'.:

",

. , .. ....

" ." ' .



core of the town.

Indeed a particular focus for the introduction of an

urban design initiative is in such station areas.

Traditionally these have been neglected and are

often rather seedy. However in Armentieres,

Maidstone, Cork, Witten and Breda, redevelopment

of the station or adjacent areas has given the Local

Authority the opportunity to enhance and redesign

this critical area of town. The effect of having a

pleasant 'entrance way' is important to the entire

experience of a place.

It was clear that every town had begun a process of

environmental and design improvements.

At a smaller scale evidence of restoration schemes

for individual buildings or the attention paid to the

design of the new has also contributed.

Some examples of note are:

• The Haus Witten Music Centre in Witten; an

outstanding reconstruction of an old chateau

• Cruises Hotel in Limerick; a very sensitive

introduction to the urban fabric

• The rehabilitation of houses and offices and shops

in central Mons

A final major design problem which all the towns

face is the reestablishment of independent access to

the upper stories of shops or offices in the core

commercial areas. In schemes in Cork attempts have

been made to overcome this by opening rear access

and using existing alley way entrances. This is a

critical if apparently small aspect of bringing much

of the 'lost' space back into use .

SAFETY

The question of safety was also an important

consideration in view of a perceived belief that

personal safety was at risk in such areas,

particularly at night. Crime figures were sought, bu t

due to the way in which the y were collected and

classified by Police Forces, could not shed any clear

light on this view. However some towns had

anecdotal evidence of areas or times of the day in

which crime was a par ticular problem and were

actively taking steps to counter it.

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsisof Sudy

In Arment ieres there is a scheme, 'Agents Locaux de

Mediation Sociale', where special wardens patrol the

streets to give assistance and resolve problems

among the inhabitants . A s imilar scheme was

introduced by the Town Centre Management

scheme in Mons.

Maidstone has a lready instituted a Town Centre

CCTV system which has proved highly effective. It

has proved useful in deterring late evening

rowdiness and in-store theft, and so far there has

been no reaction against it locally. Other towns were

considering the introduction of such a system.

It did however give rise to questions concerning, for

example, the Civil Rights of people being

photographed without the ir consent and the

possibility of whether it only caused displacement

of 'cr ime' to other less policed areas. There were

clear reservations as to the scheme by the French

and German partners on the project.

TRANSPORT POLICIES

As with urban design, no great emphasis was given

to this factor in the initial project design, bu t at the

first meeting in Maidstone it became clear that it

was a vital aspect of the experience of a town forresidents and visitors alike. Transport policies are

part of the strategy for the town in each of our study

areas.

In general there was a divide in emphasis between

the continental and ' island' towns on the balance to

be struck between public transport and the

accommodation of the car. In Mons, Breda, Witten

and Armentieres the accent was on the

enhancement of public transport and in the

management of streets and accessibility to maximise

its use. The use of the minibus service to traverse the

core of Mons was noteworthy and could provide a

model for other towns.

As might be expected bicycles were a feature of

Breda, BUT were properly catered for by the

provision of a thorough network of cycle ways and

secure cycle parks. Witten was also experimenting

with a cycle renting scheme based in the main

rai lway station. The lessons for other towns are

there to be copied.

33



In Witten the enhancement of the tramway

infrastructure is central to both the residential and

commercial strategy of the town council. The

improvements to the railway connections to

Dortmund are central to the traffic strategy of the

town, as are those proposed between Armentieres

and Lille. The improvements to the connections

from Breda to the new TCV system linking it to

Rotterdam and Antwerp were the catalyst to the

improvements of the railway station area.

In the Hampshi re towns and in Maids tone, there

was a recognition of the need to manage car access

and reduce its impact on the central core areas but it

was still a major objective of policy to provide good

car access . This was particularly true of Maidstone

which felt itself to be in commercial competi tion

with the Bluewater Shopping Centre which has

good car accessibility and extensive free car

parking. The council therefore operates an

extremely well used 'Park and Ride ' system which

provides over 2000 free car parking spaces. Cork

equally, while espousing better public transport had

a pol icy of trying to enhance car access.

The effects of this on liveabil ity were difficult to

assess, as none of the towns had 'Ca r Free'initiatives for old or new residential areas.

HOUSING IMPROVEMENT

Quite apart from the issue of whether the authorities

wished to enhance urban living or notwas the issue

of what had been done to date to improve the

existing stock of housing in the town centres.

Although derelict premises were found in most

study towns, there also appeared to be policies

already in hand to tackle this. Rehabilitation

programmes were central to this. Here there was agreat deal of commonality in the approach, and all

towns had policies and programmes to encourage

the private owner, whether landlord or owner-

occcupier, to improve existing premises.

4.2 LAND ASSEMBLY AND MANAGEMENT

This review revealed a considerable dynamism in

the evolution of practice, for example there have

been great s tr ides in the development of urban

housing strategies, particularly in Cork and in the

UK. However there were no examples where the

34

process was carried out in an exemplary fashion

In the English Towns the 'Urban Capacity' studies,

if extended to include inner small sites and spaces

would be a valuable mechanism. However this did

no t extend to the development of a delivery

mechanism in response to need. Thus some social

housing landlords could follow it up bu t it would be

on their initiative; equally in the private sector the

implementation was left to the private market. Thus

a balanced response to perceived need, and the

redevelopment of inner town space was matter of

chance rather than design. The land availability and

space availabil ity assessment mechanisms are

however commendable in that they are now being

extended to assess need .

In Hampshire and Maidstone there has been a

growing realisation that there are categories of

'essential workers' which find it diff icult to afford

housing in their areas. These however go beyond

the traditional public sector workers such as

policemen, nurses, teachers to include other even

lower paid workers such as shop assistants, cleaners

etc who have been priced ou t of the area. This has

led Hampshire County Counci l to undertake a

study of 'housing need' seen from a labour marketpoint of view, as a prerequisite of the 'Urban

Capacity Study'.

The Irish land availability studies are also

commendable, and the Cork study has been

circulated to Project partners. However this needs

to extend more towards the assessment of need and

the delivery of the required housing beyond the

now reduced tax exemption mechanisms. In

Limerick there have been strategic interventions to

activate the land market through 'back to back' land

deals, where the City council has stepped in to

purchase and sell on land which was not being

brought into development. This was in part due to

the need to establish 'Good Title' where ownership

records had been destroyed or lost in historic

upheavals.

The Mons process, the Zonesd 'Amenagement Differe'

(ZAD), in the 'Schema de Structure' covered much

of what was discovered in England and Ireland bu t

also included a programming mechanism which


"



was unique and worthy of replication. This

consisted of the arranging of specific sites in a

sequence ofwhen their development was desired to

accord with the other policies especially transport in

the Schema.

There was no clear mechanism evident in either

Breda or Witten although some parts of the process

were covered.

As part of the projec t the team attempted to

undertake 'space vacancy studies' in each town

centre bu t this did not prove attainable in every

town within the time. Only Armentieres made a

serious attempt at it and in Maidstone it was felt to

be premature in view of the impending 'Urban

Capacity Study ' in to which it would be

incorporated. However in meetings with Partners

and in visiting the towns even bringing this fact to

the attention of those acting in these areas was

instructive and the idea of surveying 'minispaces'

will add to the range of assessment techniques for a

better analysis of urban dynamics.

The process in Armentieres was however

particularly unique. The identif icat ion of sites for

redevelopment was highly developed. There was a

s trong emphasis on delivery with financialavailability through State funding based in the

Caisse des Depots and the 'Contract ' system. This

did not however appear to be based in any strong

housing need or strategy. The absence of thismay be

due to the fact that the metropolitan PLH was being

rethought and the town has worked in a vacuum in

this strategic issue for some time.

This may change as the new planning system may

provide a framework for a more process based

approach. This can be based on the thorough review

which has been undertaken by the Metropolitan

agency, the 'Agence de Deoelopmeni et d'Urbanisme de

Lille Metropole, which has recently published its

review of the 1999 census and its Tableau de Bard de

L'Habitat.

4.3 FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

There were few examples of local financial

init iatives, probably reflect ing the strict l imits on

local public spending. Indeed the town of Witten is

particularly bereft of resources. This makes it very

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synops is of Study

difficult for local agencies and mayors of

municipal it ies to ini tiate ideas without pinning

them to higher level plans. However in Breda there

is a scheme which is locally funded to restore

residential premises in buildings where the facades

could be restored as part of the conservation processof the historic core of the town; this is linked to a

local Living over theShop' scheme.

A similar system existed in Armentieres where the

Chamber of Commerce and the Town Council

jointly provide low interest loans for the

refurbishment of shop fronts. This can be used to

make those buildings partly used for retail activities

more attractive, thus making the potential

residential accommodation above more marketable.

There has been some examinat ion of the effect of

rent levels on investment in core area housing bu t

not enough has been discovered from which a clear

judgement can be made . There is a requi rement to

keep a regis ter of rents and to ensure that they do

not become excessive in WiUen, and i ndeed all

partners have some form of fair rent, but not

controlled rent, policy. The effect on the

marketability of accommodation is not evident.

4.4 COORDINATION OF AGENCIES AND

STRATEGIES

In every partner authority there was a plethora of

departments, agencies and professionals working

on one aspect or another of the town centre or core

area strategies; nowhere exhibited a clear model to

follow.

The challenge in effective co-ordination was most

evident where there was a 'Technical' rather than a

'Political' lead to s trategy. Thus in Mons an

emphasis was pu t on the need to increase co

ordination between the planning department, the

needs of the housing section and the commercial

revitalisation objectives of the Town Centre

Manager. In Cork and Maidstone similar tensions

occurred. In the latter the TCM office wish to extend

their brief to include tourism. In Limerick planning

and housing strategies were caught up in a Town

versus County strategy debate. Hampshire towns

and Breda seemed to have the best working

arrangements. However the team was impressed by

35



the models in Armentieres and Witten where in the

nature of local administration the role of the town

mayor's office in formulating and implementing

housing strategies as part of the tota l town strategy

wa s crucial. In both, although there were ev ident

differences of objective among different professional

groups, there was a clear steer to the resolution of

any conflicts and the del ive ry of projects. This

model has much to commend it, although there is

the danger that political considerations ma y

outweigh sound technical advice.

4.5 PROGRAMMING

A major factor to be taken in to account was the

difficulty of knitting together the various

programmes of the different professional groups

and levels of government department, never mind

the different imperatives of the private sector. This

may be much of the reason for the tension between

planners and town centre managers. The planning

process is by its consultative nature long and time

consuming. An intervention by an essentially

private sector led body has often a more immediate

target.

However the achievement of some amelioration of

town centre living conditions may take time. TheZAD system in Mons has within it the germ of a

solution in that the programming idea, if it were

extended to include TCM needs and the city core,

could do much to improve this mechanism and

provide a model for other partners and countries.

4.6 PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF URBAN LIV ING

Hampshire County Council is to be commended for

starting in to the analysis of what people at large

think of their towns and trying to discern what

attracts and repels potential inhabitants.

The su rvey raises the issue of negat ive image and

factors such as parking, noise, safety, facilities and

the general environment and comes to conclusions

on the general importance of these to inhab itant s

and how t he pub lic autho rit ies might address

concerns in order to enhance the attractiveness of

their town centres as places to live.

Their study has already been circulated around the

partnership and is summarised in Volume 2a.

36

In Maidstone and Cork tentative steps have been

taken to pursue this sort of inquiry. We consider

that, based on the Hampshire example, a more

rigorous survey mechanism could be developed

and tested in the partner towns and in others.




section 5

General Objectives and Conclusions

The Objectives of the Study within the INTERREG

lIe programme have been set out at the beginning of

the Report . The team believe that these have been

achieved to a large extent and the nature of the

factors control ling the level and type of in town

living exposed and compared.

It is clear that in all partner authorities the desire to

restore their Inner areas as part of the general urban

strategy is strong and that all are engaged in

development of s trategies to under take this. The

study has been a vehicle for the exchange of this

information and has been a conduit for discussions

betweea-.fowns at a more detailed level than isgenerally experienced in the INTERREG

programme. They are however vital constituents of

the urban fabric and their vitality is critical to

achieving the 'balanced system of urban and rural

population distribution etc'.

It is cleat .that no one Town or Country had all the

answers to the problems of the decline and

revitalisation of urban areas and how to induce a

stable repopulat ion of them. However each had

something unique to contribute and which

interested others. . During the Steering Group

meetings which enabled visits to be made to each

country in the project, copious notes were made and

unending questions stimulated.

In a ttempting to enhance the transfer of ideas the

following table has been drawn up to demonstrate

what 'good practice' has been identified and which

towns and by definition, countries might benefit

from absorbing these into their urban policy. I t had

been intended to attempt to identi fy the barriers


which might prevent this and make suggestions as

to how these might be overcome bu t there has not

been sufficient time to permit more than a cursory

analysis of this.

To amplify this the team noted the following areas

where the practice or the policy context in one

partner attracted the interest of the others as it

provided a different model and a fount of ideas for

innovation in their own practice.

At the building or block level considerable interest

was shown in ways to open up space at upper levels

and improve access generally. This wasdemonstrated best in Cork and Mons. At the more

general town centre scale, every town was engaged

in enhancement works and there was a wealth of

design initiatives to examine and copy. The way in

which the tramway had been integrated into the

town core in Witten, the restoration of Georgian

premises in Limerick, refurbishment of North Main

Street in Cork, the Chasse park scheme in Breda,

Quart ier Rachot in Mons, the plans for the Station

area in Armentieres, and a variety of smaller

initiatives in the English towns were of special note.

In the integration of transport into the urban

structure in a sympathetic way the minibus service

in Mons and the cycleways of Breda provided ideas

for better management in the other towns.

Safety was a concern to all towns and although

several were engaged in introducing methods of

enhancing this, it was possible to see how one

approach by adopting CCTV would operate and the

effect it had in the system currently opera ting in

37



AUTHORITY POLICY TO EXPORT IMPORTING

(National Example) AGENCY

Hampshire • Public Perception Analysis All others

• Urban Capacity / Needs Analysis All non UK

Maidstone • Urban Capacity Study Methodology All others

• CCTV Scheme in Town Centre All non UK

Armentie res • Financing of Development UK -Ireland

(France)

Cork • Land Availability All others

(Ireland)

Ireland • Fiscal Incentives to Renting All others

Mons • Programming of Land Release All others

(Wallonie) • Co-ordination of InternalDepartments and other Agencies such

as Town Centre Management

• Town Centre Transport System

Breda • Cycleways and Managed Cycle All others

Parking

• Integrated Town Planning and All others

Housing Processes

Witten • Town Centre Transport System All others

South Bank LINT • Small Space Analysis

Team

Table 3: Major Areas of Transferable Policy and Practice

BARRIERS

None evident

Considerable in

Treasury

National Treasuries

Maidstone. The 'Police de Proximite' scheme in

Arrnentieres also attracted interes t as an innovative

programme. This was closely related to the problem

of a general negative public perception of town

centres and the study of this undertaken by

Hampshire provided a template for the other

partners to begin to analyse this and devise

responses to deal with their own local situation.

In the process of planning for housing development

there was evidence of an increase in the

commitment of local authorities to develop more

rigorous and more comprehensive processes to

undertake this. Although the new policy guidelines

in England were perhaps the most comprehensive

they were being replicated by similar processes in

other countries some of which were stronger in the

practice of certain parts of the total process. These

have been detailed previously bu t the Project team

38

considered that examining the extent to which these

processes could be integrated and implemented in

all situations was worthy of a pilot practical project.

By doing so the potential for the transferability of

the best practice, English needs and market analysis ,

Irish and English land and space availabil i ty

studies, French financing, Irish tax regimes, Belgian

programming mechanisms, could be tested in a

practical situation.

A final area where there were clear messages to be

transferred was in the analysis of the processes of

management of the various functions of a 'town

council ' and the degree of cohesion and direction

which was imparted to this process. Here there was

clear evidence that although the enhancement of

communications between all the actors engaged in

the process of town centre improvement was

gathering pace in every study authori ty, it had




proceeded fastest and with the most effect where

there was clear integra tion of the political and

technical inputs through one office and one person.

This was clearly the case in Armentieres and Witten

where the elected Mayors saw it as their role to

drive their towns forward and deliver a better

environment for everyone. This merely underlined

the fact that the necessary catalyst to change in the

perception and experience of our towns as places to

live is the will, almost a hunger, to achieve it.

One of the by products of the project has been a

series of unintended consequences which may

produce results which extend beyond the strict

confines of the project objectives.

In making contact with other European towns with

roughly similar problems, the partner towns have

opened up perspectives on not only the subject of

the study bu t also other aspects of their daily

agenda of tasks which may also yield ideas on

policy development of benefit. The network is open

and can be used by the partner towns in future to

seek information and explore initiatives.

Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of Study 39



40 Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of Study



ProjectTeam and Partners

PROJECT TEAMSouth Bank University

Faculty of the Built Environment

202Wandsworth Road

London SW8 2JZ

England

Professor Barry Redding

Tel: +44 (0)20 78157319

Email: reddinbg@sbu .ac.uk

Charles Fraser

Tel: +44 (0)20 7815 7302

Email: [email protected]

Lament Le Ny

Tel: +44 (0)20 7815 7365


Fax: +44 (0)20 7815 7350

Gundrun Lawlor

Ben Smith

PARTNERS

Ville d'Armentieres

Region Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Contacts: Ms Sandrine Lebleu


Mr Christophe Cousin

Email: ch [email protected]

The Netherlands Institute of Tourism and

Transport Studies, NHTV

In conjunction with the City of Breda,Netherlands

Contact: Ms Sandra Sijbers


Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopsis of Sudy

appendix

The City of Cork Corporation

Republic of Ireland

Contacts: Ms Ann Bogan

Email: corkplan@ioLie

Ms Fiona Macsharry


Hampshire County Council

England

Contact: Ms Amanda Gregory


The City of Limerick Corporation

Republic of IrelandContacts: Mr Richard Tobin


Ms Elena Suteu


Maidstone Borough Council

Kent, England

Contacts: Mr Richard Powell


Ms Jill Rae


Ville de Mons

Wallonia, Belgium

Contact: Ms Ariane Akaki


StadtWitten

North Rhine Westphalia, Germany

Contact: Mr Klaus Volkel


41



42 Living inTowns:Volume I: Synopss of Study

Living in Towns: Volume 1

Documents

Transcript of Living in Towns: Volume 1