Funding secured for deprived communities in regeneration plans

£1.4m of funding has been secured to help engage local residents with regeneration plans in one of Liverpool’s most deprived areas. 

The University of Liverpool’s Heseltine Institute for Public Policy has secured funding from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) project, to develop a greater understanding of local issues and to empower residents to engage in the redesign of public services.

The Heseltine Institute will invest the money into Clubmoor ward, an area of Liverpool with 15,000 residents and that is amongst the 5% most deprived areas in the UK.

The institute will use this funding to work with the already established MyClubmoor project, by engaging 60 residents and 20 community researchers and delivering 6 citizen focus groups and 2 community workshops.

This project is one of 53 others that have been selected by UKRI to target communities that would not normally engage in regeneration plans.

Susan Jarvis, deputy director of the Heseltine Institute said: ‘It is widely recognised that paternalistic ways of working, where citizens are passive recipients of services and professionals ‘know best’, is not only unsustainable but also irrelevant as it doesn’t deliver what citizens want or need.

‘Transformative action requires fundamentally rethinking public service delivery and recognising that assets are within people and communities.’

Tom Saunders, head of public engagement at UKRI said: ‘As part of UKRI’s new vision for public engagement we launched two new funding calls last year, one aimed at encouraging researchers to explore citizen methods, and another aimed at supporting researchers and universities to engage with communities and places who have fewer opportunities to participate in research and innovation.

‘In 2020 and beyond, we will build on the lessons we learn through funding these pilot projects to help us achieve our ambition of making research and innovation responsive to the knowledge, priorities and values of society and open to participation by people from all backgrounds.’

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