Study outlines benefits of regeneration to the public purse

Every pound invested in regeneration generates £2.30 worth of direct social benefit on average, a government-commissioned report has found.

The study, published earlier this week by the Department for Communities and Local Government, compares the public sector cost of various types of regeneration work with the value of each resulting benefit, such as from job creation.

Regeneration initiatives focused on start-up and spin-out businesses had the greatest cost-benefit ratio, generating £6.80 for every £1 invested, the report reveals.

Other effective types of regeneration activity included work to provide general business support, which generated £6 for every £1 spent, and that focused on industrial and commercial property, which brought £5.80 worth of benefits for every £1 invested.

However, the study found that environmental improvements to the public realm only generated 90 pence of benefit for every £1 of investment. Similarly, schemes intended to tackle worklessness only just broke even in terms of their overall social benefit: generating £1.04 on average for every £1 spent, it says.

The report is based on public sector spending and regeneration programmes that were delivered in England in 2009/10 and 2010/11.