Today Connaught called for a National Framework Strategy to address labour shortages in regeneration areas.

Alan Johnston, Nick Hopkins and Mike Trant considered how housing organisations can ensure that housing developments and regeneration deliver wider benefits to the community.

Alan Johnston said that developing the skills and employability of local communities is an integral part of regeneration. He emphasised the importance of working in partnership with the private sector to deliver wider regeneration goals.

He then emphasised Connaught’s role in delivering effective partnership working before using a DVD to show how training had successfully given employment opportunities to young people in South Lanarkshire.

The session ended with Nick Hopkins who stressed the role of wider generation when seeking to deliver successful communities. He explained the important role that community benefit clauses can play in delivering training and employment skills for people in regeneration areas and urged developing landlords to adopt this example of best practice. This can be particularly important as unemployment rates are often high in these communities.

He ended by saying that projects organisations such as Wider Action can provide a much needed anchor in vulnerable communities.