URBAN deprivation and its attendant problems of crime and social breakdown rarely seem out of the media. Recent reports on the issue have included news of the growing class divide and the stagnation of class movement as well as evidence of the ever-widening North-South wealth divide.
The record levels of interest are welcome at a time when offers of support and funding are valued more than ever before. According to a recent study by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), the prosperity gulf between the North of England a
nd the South-East has widened over the past 10 years. The Yorkshire and Humber region's average income per head is £12,224, which compares poorly to the UK average of £13,302 and the London average of £15,482. The IPPR, once known as "Tony Blair's favourite think-tank", is now accusing the Government of being in a state of denial about the extent of the North-South divide.
As a co-founder of the Camberwell Project, a Leeds-based regeneration and social enterprise company, we have helped to secure £15.6m of public funding to transform some of the city's most deprived areas. Camberwell Project is among a band of companies spearheading this drive to support and inspire some of our most rundown neighbourhoods to regenerate themselves by providing the tools and resources to "feed" enterprise.
Big ticket regeneration schemes such as London's Lower Lea Valley, in preparation for the Olympics, and Bradford's city centre regeneration do much to raise hopes as well as improve the quality of facilities in those areas and, above all, property prices. However, whether they make a discernable difference to people living in those communities has yet to be assessed.
Our focus is on delivering relatively small-scale local enterprise-driven schemes that position self-improvement – and the tools to achieve that – alongside championing entrepreneurial spirit to provide powerful and positive role models of success. The social enterprise approach is unstintingly business-driven but mixed with a desire to give back and make a difference.
Social enterprise has been described as what happens when "business brains combine with good causes". Whereas most companies set out to maximise profits for their shareholders, social enterprises have higher aims and plough some of their profits back into their communities.
Today, social enterprises are believed to account for five per cent of all businesses and to contribute £8.4bn a year to the UK's economy – that's almost one per cent of our annual gross domestic product. Social enterprises include household names such as Cafédirect and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant. The new Prime Minister has paid tribute to the "people who make a difference" to our communities, and has pledged £50m of endowments for "local foundations". Even the Conservatives are in fierce pursuit of an agenda for the greater good, and have established a "Social Enterprise Zones Task Force".
Voluntary and community sector organisations desperately need grant funding, but social enterprises operate in the market and expect to make a profit on their trading. Kick-starting social enterprise-led regeneration requires a major investment from backers that are happy with a modest return; much more investment than the Government is offering in grants.
How can we increase that level of investment? The tax relief for private investors proposed by the Tories recently could achieve significant results if it was set at the right level. The rates of return on investment, which, by necessity are lower in social enterprises than in the private sector, would become much more attractive as a result. That level of tax relief has to be higher than the 20 per cent in the Enterprise Investment Scheme (a 100 per cent write-off against tax would really shift resources) and confining relief to "zones" as the Tories propose is bound to cause confusion.
Having recently secured £4.5m in private and public funding to transform the derelict former Harehills Middle School in Leeds into a pioneering enterprise centre – including a pay-as-you-go business hub, managed business space and conference facilities – I understand the challenges in persuading investors to plough money into this relatively new sector.
My belief is that the Government's role is to provide the basic infrastructure for success: strong and effective transport links, a sound and robust economy, and incentives for investors as well as achievers. Promoting enterprise, driving an appetite for success and delivering solid and sustainable regeneration can best be delivered by social enterprise.
This would involve a comprehensive shift in the way regeneration and social deprivation is tackled. Without that, I fear, our most deprived communities will become ever more void of hope, achievement and change –something all of us will bear the brunt of.
Chris Hill is director of the Camberwell Project, a social enterprise endeavour in Leeds.The full article contains 814 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
