Whose partnership? Community interests in the regeneration of a Scottish housing scheme

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Urban Partnerships are multi‐agency projects led by central government in Scotland intended to regenerate run‐down and deprived housing estates. They are multi‐sectoral projects but a large part of their agenda concerns housing. The Partnerships are explicitly based on the principle of resident involvement, taking lessons from previous projects. This paper examines one Partnership area, Ferguslie Park in Paisley where there had been a long tradition of resident involvement. It finds that in the early years of the Partnership the community was largely set aside while more powerful members of the Partnership pursued their own agendas. The reason for this is not simply that community interests were ignored, but that the political objectives of government, the complexity of the project and its timescale prevented meaningful local involvement.