Community Regeneration in Renton

Renton is an outlying town 40 minutes by train from central Glasgow. Established 400 years ago, it became a flourishing town built largely around a large bleaching and dying industry, including a famous “turkey red”. With the decline of this industry and the closure of the nearby shipbuilding yards on the Clyde in the 1960s, the resulting mass unemployment led to this area becoming one of the most deprived communities in the region.

A number of local socialist activists, including Archie Thomson who I talked with on 21st August, worked hard in the area to address this, and over time built up a thriving community business, winning government contracts to supply social services to the area. However their belief in empowering the local people to become more independent rather than just applying bandaids to the problems eventually put them on the wrong side of the funders, contracts were withdrawn and the whole organization folded in disarray. Although as socialists they had a philosophical belief that the state should own the assets, they realized that they needed to become more financially independent in order to break away from dependency and the vulnerability of being under the control of the state.

Although Margaret Thatcher is largely reviled in this area, one useful initiative brought in during her time in office was a measure whereby a housing association could be formed in an area and the state tenants of that area could hold a ballot that, if successful, would see ownership of the buildings transfer to the housing association. The bureaucratic requirements associated with setting up the housing association are so onerous that few have been successful in the UK, but Archie and others formed the Cordale Housing Association in 1991 (Cordale is a particularly deprived area of Renton), achieved a 96% vote from the tenants for transfer of the assets, and have been steadily expanding their areas of concern since.

Cordale Housing Association was founded on the principle that "we won't build a better standard of housing for people to enjoy their poverty in". In other words, whilst responding to poor quality housing conditions was a fundamental objective, it was acknowledged that sustainable development would not be achieved unless equal priority was given to the longer-term vision of redressing the social, economic and environmental issues that disadvantaged and stigmatised local residents. Cordale Housing Association has evolved into the catalyst for social change in Renton and its surrounding areas, taking a lead role in a number of initiatives that link housing investment with health/addiction, unemployment, education, the arts, and community capacity building. They are continually building their asset base and therefore expanding the scale of what they can achieve. Government grants available to housing associations pay a proportion of the capital costs of new building. Owning houses and land means the association can also raise loans from the private sector, and rental income provides an ongoing income.

Over the last 15 years CHA has built 200 new houses and refurbished 60 apartments in Renton. A 3-story building of 40 Very Sheltered Housing apartments for older residents needing care is nearing completion right in the centre of town, and the next project of 279 houses on a 30 acre former mill site is about to commence construction.

In all of these projects, CHA works with local residents in partnership to regenerate the community. Tenants are encouraged to join management committees and get involved n the association, and youth engagement is a priority. When they started to take over housing in the area, 93% of tenants were on benefits. Today the proportion is more like 50%, with lower rent arrears, more pride in upkeep of the apartments and gardens, and more local employment opportunities. The houses are well-built and of equal quality with private houses in the area, and all tenants of the CHA are given gardening tools and expected to maintain their yards to an acceptable standard. Archie delights in walking guests down a street in Renton lined on both sides with attractive brick houses and asking which side has privately owned houses and which side belongs to the CHA. Needless to say I got it wrong.

Another important initiative in Renton closely associated with the housing association is the Carman Centre, which is a separate legal entity. The Carman Centre works alongside the housing association to address the social issues and deliver services to the community. It took over a building near the centre of town in the late 1990s, employs 17 staff in the cafe, social support area and doing manual work, and now generates GBP 500,000 p.a. in revenue.

More recently a Development Trust has been established to work on the more strategic level, and together these 3 organizations put together a local community strategic plan, formulating a vision for Renton into the future and developing priorities for action. Their vision is to bring about a thriving local economy, a vibrant village centre, a good mix of quality housing for all, and a first class local environment.

They are currently undertaking a social and economic audit to determine if and when the area managed by the CHA became a contributor to the public purse rather than a net user of public funds, taking into account employment levels, taxes, educational attainment levels, benefits and pensions paid, health outcomes etc. Archie firmly believes they have reached this point already, and has plenty of ideas for taking it further. I was hugely impressed by this project and the work that has been done to date, and in no doubt that their vision will continue to come into being.