This new report gives an overview of changes resulting from the New Deal for Communities Programme which is designed to narrow gaps between the 39 most deprived localities and the rest of the country.

Surveys showed a 27 percentage points increase in those who think the Programme has improved the area. The greatest improvements have come from residents becoming less fearful of specific crimes and with actual declines in crimes and antisocial behaviour.

The Programme is measured against 94 indicators, only eight of which moved in an adverse direction. Over the six year period 2002 to 2008 the percentage of residents who had heard of their local NDC rose 15 percentage points to 78 per cent. Of those who had heard of their local Partnership in 2008, 60 per cent thought it had improved the area as a place to live, three percentage points more than in 2006 and almost twice the proportion in 2002. By 2008 61 per cent of residents who had heard of their local NDC expressed some form of trust in it, compared with 49 per cent trusting their local council.

There has also been a steady increase in the proportion of NDC residents feeling part of the local community, from 35 per cent in 2002 to 45 per cent in 2008. The NDC Programme-wide average is still considerably lower than the national equivalent of 59 per cent.

NEW DEAL FOR COMMUNITIES: AN OVERVIEW OF CHANGE is available from DCLG.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/crosssectiondatandcp