Norwich Partnership Learning Programme

Background

Norwich City Council was the first local authority in the country to conclude a partnership agreement with the HCA under its Local Investment Planning process (formerly the Single Conversation). The agreement will involve delivery of an £8 million HCA investment programme in Norwich over the 2010-20 period. A range of housing and regeneration activity will be undertaken, including delivery of up to 1,200 new homes at Bowthorpe Three Score, 100 affordable homes on surplus Council-owned land, and more immediate proposals such as improvements to 800 council homes to make them more energy efficient. A number of community projects have also been supported, including refurbishment of the city centre Memorial Gardens, a visitor centre for the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, a new youth centre, and a skate park at Eaton Park.

The HCA Regional Director for the East of England wanted to support this investment by bringing together City Council and HCA personnel to undertake cross-disciplinary skills and capacity development activity, and to develop stronger collaborative approaches between the two organisations. The HCA and Norwich City Council agreed that a shared learning programme would be a useful way to enhance the effectiveness with which housing and regeneration initiatives under the investment programme were implemented, and the HCA Skills and Knowledge Team was invited to work with the City Council to develop the Partnership Learning Programme.

Project

The principal objective of the Partnership Learning Programme is to address gaps in the collective skills and knowledge base of Norwich City Council and HCA personnel. The Programme also aims to encourage partners to think creatively about design options, and to build their confidence in taking the initiative with developers.

These objectives seek to embed the LIP process by developing closer links between the partners involved and encouraging more collaborative approaches. The ultimate aim is to ensure the effective delivery of the HCA investment programme, maximising the benefit brought to local people and the return on investment generated.

An initial diagnostic process identified areas where skills and capacity development would be beneficial, including addressing the impact of the recession on regeneration, securing better design quality, and developing new interdisciplinary working practices. Partners were keen to move away from a traditional, narrow focus on planning and the built environment, in favour of a more holistic, sustainable communities approach.
The outline Learning Programme was agreed in November 2009, with workshops to be delivered between April 2010 and March 2011; it is funded by the HCA at a cost of some £30,000. Programme delivery is managed by the HCA East of England Regional Skills Adviser, with the British Urban Regeneration Association (BURA) helping to organise the first two sessions. Workshop leaders include specialists from within the HCA, alongside external tutors. The sessions are interactive and practical, incorporating group exercises and case studies.

As a bespoke intervention, Programme content responds to issues identified in the preliminary diagnostic work. It is designed as an action-learning process that is closely linked to the various phases involved in delivering the Norwich investment. There are five workshops in total, of which two had been completed at the time of writing: Development Economics for Non-Developers; and Partnership Working for Risk. The Development Economics workshop looked to enhance participants’ understanding of the development process and highlight the key factors determining viability, particularly in times of recession. The Partnership session focused on improving local partnership working and regeneration risk sharing.

The third workshop will focus on Design Awareness, equipping participants with skills and understanding around housing and urban design decision-making. In addition to classroom learning, a local ‘walkabout’ will be undertaken to demonstrate the key principles in practice. The fourth workshop will explore how best local partners can secure an employment and skills dividend from development activity in Norwich, including working up plans for the partnership infrastructure that may need to be in place.

Although the content of the fifth workshop was not finalised at the time of writing, it may focus upon improving wider process issues, including management of complex capital programmes, implementation of interdisciplinary working practices, and development of leaner delivery approaches.
There are two principal, linked target groups: Norwich City Council officers involved in planning, housing and regeneration; and personnel from the HCA East of England team involved in the Norwich investment programme. In addition, a number of other local partners have attended the workshops.

Impact

Each workshop session involves up to 25 participants. There is some overlap in attendees, with 40-50 people likely to benefit in total.
In achieving a range of significant outcomes, the Partnership Learning Programme has met its stated objectives. People from different organisational and professional backgrounds exchanged views and experience, leading to greater shared understanding. The involvement of HCA staff helped to widen the discussion beyond a locality-specific viewpoint, and allowed best practice from elsewhere to be highlighted. In turn, HCA delegates benefited from City Council colleagues’ knowledge of local conditions and dynamics.

Feedback on the Development Economics workshop demonstrates high levels of satisfaction. Participants were unanimous in finding its content relevant, and feeling that involvement would impact positively on their work. The interactive case studies and group exercises were viewed particularly enthusiastically, and the tutors highly rated. Content on technical aspects such as development appraisal techniques was valuable, with participants gaining a better understanding of the developer perspective:

‘getting into the mind of the developer was really good, as it isn’t our normal mode.’

Workshop delegates highlighted how the sessions had supported the development of a common vision for the HCA investment in Norwich, and helped to build trust and relationships between Council and HCA staff:

‘breaking the funder-client relationship was useful. As a result, we are likely to be more honest, open and flexible over each other’s requirements.’

Shared learning helped encourage dialogue, leading to an increased understanding of the different positions of those involved in the workshops. Attendees commented on the development of a common identity and focus, which should help to increase motivation around implementing the HCA investment. The workshops contributed to common understanding both between different City Council departments, and between the Council and HCA:

‘people with different backgrounds learning together helps to support getting out of the silos ... we now feel better about working together.’

The development of more effectively functioning networks was formalised within the City Council by creating a new ‘virtual team’, largely drawn from beneficiaries of the training, and focusing on regeneration prioritisation and the development of new funding strategies.

The practical orientation of the workshops was welcomed, particularly around how they helped participants to get up to speed with current thinking and ways of working. The workshops also contributed to improved working practices by increasing the confidence of attendees, both around how to negotiate with developers, and more broadly, how to manage the HCA investment programme.

The wider impacts flowing out of the Learning Programme will take some time to become realised, particularly given that much of the HCA’s investment is not yet on stream. Nevertheless, participants clearly expected involvement to pay dividends in terms of improved housing and regeneration developments that meet the needs of local people more fully, and that create more desirable and sustainable places in which to live:

‘we will be able to attract and engage with the best partner to deliver our project, and then deliver something that achieves our objectives.’

Lessons Learned

There are a number of lessons to be learnt from delivery of the Partnership Learning Programme that might prove useful to partners looking to implement similar skills and capacity development activity elsewhere.

• Decisions over the content of the Norwich workshops were based upon findings from the initial diagnostic process. Local skills and capacity development activity is much more likely to be successful if it is bespoke, premised on a clear understanding both of the needs of its target group and the nature of the local economic and institutional context.
• The design of the Programme also sought to ensure that workshop content was closely linked to the various phases of the HCA investment it was supporting, and particularly to overcoming specific challenges involved in implementing the investment.
• One of the difficulties faced by programmes of this sort is to ensure that the benefits spread beyond the relatively small group of people in receipt of provision. A new virtual team was set up within Norwich City Council to help institutionalise learning coming out of the workshops. Partners elsewhere should consider establishing similar vehicles to facilitate knowledge transfer and capture over the longer-term.
• Against the overall value of the HCA investment in Norwich, the cost of the Learning Programme is minimal. Providers should continue to make the case for investment in skills and capacity development, given the value for money that can be achieved in contributing to the successful delivery of housing and regeneration initiatives. This is particularly so in a climate when training budgets are coming under increasing threat.
• The Partnership Learning Programme demonstrates the significant contribution that skills and capacity development can make to the Local Investment Planning process. There are many places around the country that lack the skills and experience to implement large scale investments; if this is not addressed, the risk to successful delivery of local housing and regeneration developments will increase.
• Under the coalition government’s localism agenda, local partners will gain greater power and flexibility in delivering services to their communities, with local authorities gaining more responsibility for local planning and housing decisions. As a result, some authorities are likely to identify skills and capacity gaps on which they might welcome outside assistance. In this context, the market for targeted support of the kind offered to Norwich partners by the HCA is likely to be a growing one.
• The Partnership Learning Programme was designed as a sustainable intervention delivered within a defined time frame. Although it is sensible not to act as a ‘crutch’ to local partners, given that the Norwich housing and regeneration investment spans ten years, there is a good rationale for extending the Learning Programme beyond its five up-front workshops. There would be value in incorporating skills and knowledge provision as an integral part of the Local Investment Planning process, and ensuring ongoing provision to address new issues that might emerge over time due to changes in the national or local context.

Reference

Carlton Roberts-James
T: 07833 049061
E: Carlton.RobertsJames@hca.gsi.gov.uk

Gwyn Jones
City Growth and Development Manager
Norwich City Council
City Hall
St. Peter’s Street
Norwich. NR2 1NH
T: 01603 212364
E: gwynjones@norwich.gov.uk

HCA case study: Single Conversation, Norwich