Empowered or over-powered? The real experiences of local participation in the UK's New Deal for Communities

From object to subject: including marginalised citizens in policy making

“…Even where attempts are made at local level to create genuinely participatory spaces, as observed earlier with reference to the NDC these can be circumscribed by government priorities and targets (Dinham, 2005;Spicer and Evans, 2006;Wright et al, 2006). The importance of feedback and follow-up emerges from analysis of participatory initiatives generally as well as those with marginalised groups (Kirby with Bryson, 2002;Kirby et al, 2003;Barnes et al, 2004;Newman et al, 2004;Beresford and Hoban, 2005).…”

“…One consequence of acknowledgement of the right not to participate is the need to create better links of accountability between those who do participate and other members of the community (Dinham, 2005;Skidmore et al, 2006). This helps to address accusations that those who do participate are not 'representative' (Taylor, M., 2006) -an issue frequently raised with respect to both children and people living in poverty (Lansdown, 2001(Lansdown, , 2006Maguire and Truscott, 2006).…”

Is the ‘New Deal for Communities’ a New Deal for Equality? Getting Women on Board in Neighbourhood Governance

“…BAME groups and gender are a topic of deep-rooted concern often expressed through unease about the asserted (Lawless, 2004). It has also been differentiated from previous initiatives, as Government sought to redress past mistakes such as a lack of local ownership, of accountability and of long-term sustainability in neighbourhood renewal (Dinham, 2005;Lawless, 2004).…”

“…There is a logic that community engagement will enable local knowledge to enhance policy-making but it sits in uneasy tension with professional claims to knowledge. Evaluation of the NDC programme has questioned the possibility of deprived communities fully engaging in area-based regeneration given their lack of power in the face of a Government-led agenda (Lawless, 2004;Jones, 2003;Dinham, 2005). Others argue that it is a "miracle" people in deprived areas get involved at all given the pressures of their everyday lives (Blakeley and Evans, 2008).…”

“…These experiences are not unusual (see for example Dinham, 2005;Dargan, 2009) and despite the Government's rhetoric of learning from past mistakes, the NDC community representatives related to a perception of being 'less than equal' within the Board.…”