According to the national report, many councils are experiencing difficulty in making the partnership approach to regeneration work. The current approach is complex and cumbersome, with too many partnership arrangements, funding streams and regimes arising from Welsh Assembly Government initiatives. Outcomes are not being monitored, making it impossible to evaluate the success of previous initiatives and funding is generally short-term, which hinders longer-term planning.

Wales’ unique history has resulted in many areas needing regeneration. The world’s first industrial nation, it experienced rapid growth in the nineteenth century, followed by considerable decline in the next. Affordable housing, transport infrastructure and the future of rural communities are just some of the regeneration issues facing Wales today.

With councils playing a key role in upgrading the social, physical and economic framework of Wales, the report makes a number of recommendations to promote improvement, including:

•  Local partnerships should be required to develop clear ten-year strategies as part of their community strategies, which should align with the Wales Spatial Plan (see Notes to Editors).
•  The Welsh Assembly Government should exercise greater clarity and coordination in setting national and regional priorities, which will provide a framework for local regeneration.
• The Welsh Assembly Government should also simplify its funding and monitoring systems and make them longer in term.

Auditor General, Jeremy Colman commented,

“The approach must be simplified. Councils are leading partnerships that have a genuine commitment to reversing decline and transforming quality of life in Welsh communities and this commitment is shared and supported by the Assembly but there is an urgent need for better coordinated and simpler frameworks at national and local level.”

Notes to Editors:

• The Regeneration Improvement Study analyses the regeneration process within Wales, to determine whether its effective efficient and sustainable, in order to provide guidance to local authorities and the Welsh Assembly Government and other public bodies on how to manage and monitor the regeneration process at national and local levels.
• As part of this study, meetings were held with all 22 councils, the Welsh Assembly Government, Welsh Local Government Association, the Welsh Development Agency and other key players in regeneration in Wales. A range of national and local documentation was also analysed, discussions held with focus groups, councillors, office partners and numerous regeneration projects were reviewed.
• The Wales Spatial Plan, ‘People Places, Future,’ was published in November 2004 by the Welsh Assembly Government.  It sets out an agenda for the next 20 years, describing what is required to put Wales firmly on the path towards sustainable spatial development.  
• The Wales Audit Office (WAO) is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure.
• The WAO was created on 1st April 2005 following the passing of the Public Audit (Wales) Act, which expanded the functions of the Auditor General for Wales and enabled the transfer of staffs from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.

For more information please contact Rachel Harries (Communications and Media Officer) on 02920 262 675.