What is the £3.6bn Towns Fund really for?

摘要

The word "regeneration" gets bandied about a lot, probably because it's regarded as "a good thing" - good for the communities that stand to benefit from investment in their built environment and good for the construction professionals associated with such projects. Ask architects, planners, consultants and builders why that's the case and they will most likely say it's because what really motivates them - aside from creating great places - is seeing the positive effect that well-conceived building projects can have on the lives of real people. So the news, last month, that central government is putting more money into regeneration in the form of the £3.6bn Towns Fund can only make a good thing even better, right? Many in the industry have welcomed the government's renewed commitment to area-based regeneration after Gordon Brown lost interest back in 2008 and then the coalition shut down the main funding streams.