A new deal for the community? Public participation in regeneration and local service delivery

In the UK regeneration strategies and patterns of local service provision h ave usually been imposed from the top down. Most communities have had littl e influence over plans to revitalise their areas or the design and delivery of services. The 'New Labour' government has emphasised its commitment to involving local people in a wide range of policy decisions relating to empl oyment, health, crime reduction, education,local government services and re generation. According to ministers an enhanced role for local people will i ncrease local accountability and improve service standards. Previous experi ence of community-focused initiatives suggests however that there are signi ficant obstacles to increasing public participation. Moreover, the present government's commitment to 'bottom-up' initiatives and local experimentatio n may be at odds with its strong centralising instinct and continuing insis tence on 'zero tolerance of failure'.