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Social worker Robert Quinn has been a resident on Anfield Road for 16 years, an area more famous for the glory of Liverpool football club than the desirability of the neighbourhood. By the late nineties it had become a byword for crime and dereliction. 鈥淚t was a really bad place to live,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y flat was broken into almost on a daily basis at one stage. People just handed the keys back to the housing associations or to the mortgage companies saying they could not take it anymore.鈥� Now it looks like attempts to regenerate the area could be hit by a 拢300m raid on regeneration funding by prime minister Gordon Brown to pay for his recent housing rescue package. Quinn feels betrayed. 鈥淭he area was starting to change,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e had the masterplan in place for turning around the whole area. If we don鈥檛 get funding, the dream of making this community sustainable will not be realised.鈥�

The 拢1bn housing package announced last month includes 拢300m lifted out of the budgets of the nine regional development agencies (RDAs) 鈥� quangos charged with driving economic development in England, on schemes as diverse as the Olympic legacy and the redevelopment of central Sunderland.

The government argues that, at a time when public finances are tighter than they have been for a decade, reassigning these funds is essential, and a missing 拢300m will not bankrupt organisations with about 拢6bn to spend over the next three years.

However, those involved in urban renewal claim it will hit development hard, just when we can least afford it. And those trying to deliver redevelopment schemes with a limited amount of RDA cash are concerned over just where the axe will fall.

That it will have to fall somewhere is in little doubt. Richard Ellis, chair of the East of England Development Agency (Eeda), says the decision to cut his organisation鈥檚 拢130m budget by 拢1.5m in 2009-10 and by 拢20m in 2010-11 will force Eeda to withdraw approval for some of the developments that were due to start in the region in 2010.

鈥淚t will have a significant impact on long-term projects,鈥� says Ellis, citing Yarmouth Outer Harbour and Norwich鈥檚 Hethel Engineering Centre and Epic media centre as just some schemes where any subsequent development could be jeopardised.

鈥淪chemes that were starting will have to be shelved, and those that won鈥檛 start will affect those who were designing and planning them.鈥� This will have a knock-on effect on an already beleaguered industry, he adds.

鈥淭he decision is disappointing, to say the least,鈥� says Steve Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA), of the 拢50m cut to the body鈥檚 拢1.15bn budget for three years to 2011.

Warren Bradley, leader of Liverpool council, says the drop in the NWDA鈥檚 budget will threaten plans to revitalise Anfield, Everton, Kirkdale and Walton. 鈥淚t is really frustrating as council leader, but more so for the people who live in those communities who can鈥檛 see a light at the end of the tunnel,鈥� says Bradley.

One of these people is Frank Prendergast, project manager for the Anfield and Breckfield regeneration. He is concerned that cuts could spell delays for the scheme, which is already moving at a glacial pace. 鈥淭he masterplan was supposed to create jobs and bring the area into the 21st century. We鈥檝e not seen great developments so far,鈥� he says.

Hundreds of homes in the area were to be replaced by new properties, but more than 800 remain vacant and boarded up and have become a focus for crime and destruction.

Prendergast says this is devastating for community morale. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how people cope, when empty properties are being vandalised and set on fire,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 get investment, what will happen?鈥�

Misdirection

On 2 September, Bryan Gray, chair of NWDA, wrote to John Hutton, secretary of state for business, about the budget raid. In the letter, he questioned why a housing support package should be funded from the RDAs鈥� budget, when housing was not part of their remit. He said long-term funding for economic development was the best way of 鈥渕itigating the effects of changing economic conditions鈥�.

Brown鈥檚 plan was designed to tackle the housing crisis and restore his crumbling reputation. The plan included waiving stamp duty on homes that cost less than 拢175,000, moves to help people keep their homes and a 拢300m initiative to help first-time buyers. The government hopes these measures will encourage people to buy homes and, hence, kick-start the housing market.

But for Prendergast, there is no guarantee the inhabitants of Anfield and Breckfield will reap any of the benefits. 鈥淭he principle of regeneration in our area was to help local people get onto the housing ladder,鈥� he says. 鈥淎t the moment this is not happening.鈥�

Dominic Williams, director of Hewdon Consulting, says: 鈥淭he amount of money involved is hardly enough to tickle the pimple on the backside of the housing market.鈥� In contrast, he adds, the move will hamper the RDAs鈥� ability to deliver vital schemes.

Eeda鈥檚 Ellis says the effect of cutting the budgets of RDAs is much greater than it would be if the same amount was cut from the budget of a private sector project. In addition, he says that the funding may be misdirected. 鈥淲e carefully target our regeneration money to areas in most need,鈥� he says. He does not believe the government鈥檚 package of measures would account for this.

Short-term thinking

A communities department spokesperson says: 鈥淚t is right that we deal with the immediate pressures in the housing market and help people who wish to buy homes.鈥�

But, for many, the move is an example of a worrying trend in this economic climate 鈥� that is, short-term politically motivated measures, devised mainly to appease a disgruntled electorate, taking priority over longer-lasting interventions.

Jon Ladd, executive director of the Urban Land Institute, says: 鈥淚n urgent times we have to focus on the short-term to a degree, but the overarching strategy should be long-term investment.鈥� If the government continues to cast aside long-term projects in an attempt to win approval, then, Ladd says, 鈥渨e might as well forget about the regeneration work we have been doing over the past 10 years鈥�.