At the end of the day, neighbourhood management would have contributed to the government's greater aim of making life better for deprived communities by 'improving and joining up local services, and making them more responsive to local needs'. But the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit's big hope for finally getting to the root of deprivation is seemingly being undermined by a lack of clout just as it is showing signs of actually working. Credibility and status are amongst the biggest problems facing managers, Ms Linton says, and there is widespread belief in the public sector that neighbourhood management pathfinders are 'last year's money'. 'There have been so many things coming on board, like community cohesion and local strategic partnerships, that people think neighbourhood management is just another project,' she complains. 'We need to resell it within the agencies. This is a virtually impossible job without more support from central government.' Most pathfinders are now a year into their seven-year programme with Ms Linton's Greater Hollington Partnership, in Hastings, the most advanced. Should the NRU ignore her warnings, it won't have to wait long to hear a similar message from another source. Consultancy firm SQW Ltd has been charged with the task of providing ongoing evaluation for the programme and within the next few weeks will submit its second report to the NRU. Its initial study said pilot projects were being held back by unrealistic targets and confusing directives, too bound by bureaucracy to innovate and take risks. Project manager for the study Tim Thorlby says pathfinders are now making headway with some interesting examples of joint working coming out. He has no doubts the programme is one of the NRU'S most challenging; he is similarly convinced the government could do more. 'Persuading the public sector that neighbourhood renewal is their problem is the biggest challenge to the programme. 'It's a question of whether pathfinders can engage and persuade them and any support they can get would be helpful. I'm sure central government could do more.' The full detail of SQW'S findings won't be made public until late summer, but it is clear from those on the ground that while some in the public sector have embraced the project, others remain reluctant. Nick Mannion, manager of Knutton Cross Neighbourhood Management Initiative in Newcastle-under-Lyme, says success in engaging public sector agencies hinges on the culture of the particular organisation concerned. 'Certain types of public service providers are more engaged than others. There are some that have not engaged the regeneration agenda at all.' He adds: 'I haven't yet reached the stage when I name and shame them to the government office. But at the end of the day, what influence would the government office have on these organisations anyway?' The ultimate aim of the NRU is for neighbourhood management to be mainstreamed between years five and seven of the programme. And the only way to do that, Ms Linton argues, is for the government to make local authorities, health authorities, police forces and other public bodies more accountable. 'Central government must push local authorities and other agencies by asking them what they have changed as a result of neighbourhood management. What have you found out about working that way? They should be told to show evidence of these changes. 'But the government isn't doing that at the moment. If the agencies know they are going to be questioned every six months or every year about it they will sit up and take notice. Otherwise they will look at it as something that's running smoothly which they don't have to worry about. 'Governments keep reinventing the wheel by giving the same deprived areas money for projects. That's why neighbourhood management and the neighbourhood renewal strategy were well thought out. It's now a question of giving them the chance to embed. For that to happen the government has to ask agencies questions.' But ministers appear unwilling to give pathfinders enhanced status by upping the pressure on the public sector. This, says the ODPM, should be down to the community. 'One of the outcomes of neighbourhood management, together with community empowerment activity, should be that it skills up residents and bodies such as neighbourhood management partnerships to hold service providers to account for the quality of services in their area,' says a spokesperson for the department. 'Local accountability is crucially important.' That message of non-support takes the argument full circle with government standing back, emphasising the need to engage locally and pathfinders struggling to go forward and emphasising the difficulties doing just that. So it will be no comfort to know that many of the problems now arising were foreseen more than three years ago. The report on neighbourhood management of April 2000 by the then Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, is littered with references to the issue of how managers would interact with public sector agencies. It talks about neighbourhood managers 'marshalling the efforts of public, community, private and voluntary sector bodies behind renewal'. But it concedes managers would need 'sufficient status to be able to exert influence over key agencies' and adds 'strong relationships require parity between partners _ service providers will not listen to neighbourhood managers unless they have some power.' And it was right. Although the problems associated with approaching chief executives hasn't happened to me,' says Ms Linton, I know it has been a problem in other pathfinder areas. You can't get away from the fact that the public sector is hierarchical.' The closeness of pathfinders to local authorities is another thorny issue. Ms Linton says that while some pathfinder managers feel like council officers, she fought for six months to stop the authority absorbing her into one of its departments. Still, evidence gathered by SQW shows pathfinders have found their proximity to councils invaluable in giving them an 'inside track', although Mr Thorlby believes it may become 'more appropriate' in the future for pathfinders to distance themselves from local authorities. 'The key question is can you influence change better from the inside than the outside? We won't be able to answer that this year. It's still very early days.' This month the government is expected to announce a further ten pathfinders and Mr Mannion, like Ms Linton, believes the whole programme needs to be resold to the public sector. 'It needs to be presented in a positive way. Government needs to ask how they are working with their pathfinder and, most importantly, whether they need help. There's a shortage of people who can develop new services and can think outside the box. It's not fair on mainstream service providers to just say "why aren't you picking up these new ideas?"' Across the pathfinders there are numerous examples of how neighbourhood management is working in practice. At Greater Hollington the team has brought together four schools and helped them work in partnership. 'It was about taking the community's needs and delivering the answers,' explains Ms Linton. 'One example is the children had extremely high levels of tooth decay. It wasn't because they ate more sweets but because of the isolation of the area. There was a lack of local facilities and children were missing appointments. 'We brought in a mobile dental nurse for each school and the surrounding community. We've also brought in things like debt advisors. People are more likely to go to a local school than to make the trip into town because it's more convenient and they feel more at ease. The schools are now meeting regularly and coming up with their own projects. It's a great example of neighbourhood management based around schools.' But these signs of neighbourhood management bearing fruit will not become the norm, she stresses, unless the government has the conviction to give it greater support. 'This year it's absolutely crucial that government offices and central government reposition and resell this programme and don't allow agencies to put it on the backburner. 'That way it will be mainstreamed. Otherwise it will just be a little local project which will be fine while the team runs it but the minute it's gone will be just like SRB and all the other projects and communities will wonder where all the money went. This has got the potential to be different.' Evaluation details: www.sqw.co.uk/nme/ 'It's absolutely crucial that government offices resell this programme
and don't allow agencies to put it on the backburner.
That way it will be mainstreamed.'
Rachael Linton, neighbourhood manager, Greater Hollington, Hastings | 
