Response to Professor Michael Parkinson’s report on the credit crunch and regeneration

Date: 30/01/2009

Responding to the publication of Professor Michael Parkinson's report on the credit crunch and regeneration,

Dermot Finch, director of the Centre for Cities said,

"This review makes grim reading. Privately-financed regeneration has undergone a major slowdown. The freeze on new development is now hitting cities hard - particularly those in the North, with thousands of job losses nationwide in commercial and residential construction.

There are still viable regeneration projects out there. The new Homes & Communities Agency, along with local councils, need to identify and kick-start the best development projects, with an urgent injection of public sector cash. This will help to get the regeneration market going, until the banks start lending again."

For more information please contact:

Rosamund Taylor, Acting External Affairs Manager, Centre for Cities, 020 7803 4316 / 07876 175 426 / r.taylor@centreforcities.org

Notes to editors

The Centre for Cities is a non-partisan research and policy institute, helping cities to improve their economic performance.

Professor Michael Parkinson's report The Credit Crunch and Regeneration: Impact and Implications is an independent report to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Cities Outlook 2009 - the Centre for Cities' flagship annual report, published on 26th January - argued that all cities will be affected by recession. It urges all cities to develop local action plans to counteract some of the worst effects of the downturn, including innovative ways to safeguard and generate employment.

The Centre also serves as research secretariat to the All-Party Urban Development Group (http://www.allparty-urbandevelopment.org.uk/). Its latest report, Building Local Jobs, sets out a number of ways that cities and businesses can work together to employ local people on future regeneration and development projects.