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- F.A.Q.
Frequently-Asked Questions
Corporate
- What does English Partnerships do?
- What happened to the Commission for the New Towns and the Urban Regeneration Agency?
Funding
- Can you tell me more about the housing gap-funding regime? When will it be available?
- I understand that English Partnerships can offer funding for land and property / physical regeneration schemes. Please send me details.
- Where can I find out more about the Coalfields Enterprise Fund?
- What happened to PIP, the previous gap funding regime?
- What happened to the Derelict Land Grant and the Land Reclamation Programme, which you used to operate?
- What happened to the Community Investment Fund?
The "£60,000 home"
Acquiring land
- I am interested in land for a self-build project. Do you have any land available?
- I understand that English Partnerships has land available for agriculture and grazing. How can I find out more?
Doing business with English Partnerships
Working for English Partnerships
- Where can I find out about jobs at English Partnerships?
- Does English Partnerships offer student placements or a graduate training scheme?
Publications
- How can I order a copy of the Urban Design Compendium or Urban Design Compendium 2, Delivering Quality Places?
- Where can I find Additionality: A full guide?
Corporate
Q: What does English Partnerships do?
A: English Partnerships is the government’s national regeneration agency. Our aim is to deliver high quality, sustainable growth in England.
We do this by developing our portfolio of strategic sites and acting as the government’s specialist advisor on brownfield land. We also ensure that surplus public sector assets are used to support wider government objectives, especially those contained in the Sustainable Communities Plan.
English Partnerships helps to create communities where people can afford to live and want to live, and supports the urban renaissance by improving the quality of our towns and cities.
Q: What happened to the Commission for the New Towns and the Urban Regeneration Agency?
A: The Commission for the New Towns and the national functions of the Urban Regeneration Agency (then known as English Partnerships) were combined to form English Partnerships, which was launched on 10 May 1999 as the national force for regeneration and development. English Partnerships retains the powers of both its forerunners.
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Funding
Q: Can you tell me more about the housing gap-funding regime? When will it be available?
A: English Partnerships launched the final stage of its consultation on housing ‘gap’ funding on 24 July 2003. The relevant documents can be downloaded from the Housing Gap-Funding page. The consultation period closed on 5 September 2003.
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Q: I understand that English Partnerships can offer funding for land and property / physical regeneration schemes. Please send me details.
A: Both English Partnerships and the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) are able to offer such funding. Currently, land and property gap-funding schemes are delivered by the RDAs in their region. To find the RDA for your region please consult the interactive map and RDA addresses pages.
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Q: Where can I find out more about the Coalfields Enterprise Fund?
A: English Partnerships has worked with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to develop the Coalfields Enterprise Fund, which was launched on 26 April 2004. It is a commercial venture capital fund set up to support the growth of businesses and encourage entrepreneurship in England's coalfields.
Further information about the fund, including investment criteria and contact details, can be found on the DCLG website.
Q: What happened to PIP, the previous gap-funding regime?
A: English Partnerships set up the Partnership Investment Programme (PIP) in 1994 to support the physical regeneration of deprived areas. PIP provided gap-funding and innovative partnership mechanisms to enable developers and other partners to undertake schemes where legitimate development costs would otherwise exceed end values. The programme closed to new applications in December 1999 when the European Commission ruled that it was in breach of the State Aid rules and therefore not compatible with the principles of the Common Market. RDAs are continuing to deliver existing approved projects under their land and property programmes.
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Q: What happened to the Derelict Land Grant and the Land Reclamation Programme, which you used to operate?
A: The Derelict Land Grant (DLG) was payable for reclaiming or improving land or for bringing land into productive use, under section 1 of the DLG Act 1982. This was managed by the then Department of the Environment until 1994 when English Partnerships (as the Urban Regeneration Agency) was created. It dealt with new applications for grants under a new Land Reclamation Programme, with revised application and eligibility criteria. This was part of its overall Investment Fund, along with the Partnership Investment Programme and Direct Development projects.
With the formation of the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in April 1999, Land Reclamation Programme projects transferred to the RDAs (London followed in July 2000) and the operation of this fund by English Partnerships ceased. Land Reclamation Programme projects already approved at that time continue to be delivered by the RDAs through their Land and Property programmes. Decisions on successor programmes and their precise aims and eligibility criteria fall to each RDA. You should contact the RDAs for further details. To find the RDA for your region please consult the interactive map and RDA addresses pages.
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Q: What happened to the Community Investment Fund?
A: English Partnerships set up the Community Investment Fund (CIF) in 1995 to develop flexible investment funds to support community-led physical regeneration of deprived areas. CIF was designed to enable local communities to participate more effectively in local regeneration. It provided funding (usually below £100,000) for capital works to improve land and buildings for locally-based voluntary groups and non-profit distributing ventures. To qualify, projects needed to be financially sustainable, to fit with English Partnerships´ objectives and other local regeneration strategies, and to produce economic and social benefits at a community level.
With the formation of the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in April 1999, CIF projects transferred to the RDAs (London followed in July 2000) and the operation of this fund by English Partnerships ceased. CIF projects already approved at that time continue to be delivered by the RDAs, with decisions on successor programmes and their precise aims and eligibility criteria falling to each RDA. You should contact the RDAs for further details: to find the RDA for your region please consult the interactive map and RDA addresses pages.
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Acquiring land
Q: I am interested in land for a self-build project. Do you have any land available?
A: We currently only have individual development plots available in Milton Keynes. These Small Development Opportunities (SDO’s) and are not reserved exclusively for self-builders, but are available periodically through either tender or auction. Interested parties should contact Ian Ivory by email or telephone 01908 353648. General advertisements for plots are listed in Self Build & Design and Plot Search magazines.
Q: I understand that English Partnerships has land available for agriculture and grazing. How can I find out more?
A: English Partnerships has a limited amount of land in use for agriculture and pony grazing in a variety of areas in the North-West & West Midlands regions which from time-to-time becomes vacant. If you are interested in renting land and wish to have your name included on a "waiting list" then please contact the office local to the area of interest :
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Telford, Redditch: Nick Ashcroft, tel 01952 237723
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Warrington, Runcorn, Skelmersdale, Central Lancashire, Washington: Phil Jolly, tel 01925 644648
The "£60,000 home"
Q: How can I find out more about the "£60,000 home" initiative announced by John Prescott in autumn 2004?
A: The Government has announced that there will be a competition to demonstrate that it is possible to build a good-quality home for a construction cost of £60,000. The figure of £60,000 is a target construction cost, not a development cost or a sale price. English Partnerships will run the competition for the Department for Communities and Local Governmentffice(DCLG) and sites will be provided by English Partnerships. For further information, please see the Design for Manufacture Competition page.
Doing business with English Partnerships
Q: How does English Partnerships select its suppliers and consultants?
A: As a public body English Partnerships has procurement rules based upon guidance issued by HM Treasury. It is English Partnerships´ policy to procure contracts for services, supplies and works by competitive tender (or by competitive written quotation if the contract is of a low value). There are very few exceptions to this policy. Business opportunities are usually advertised in appropriate trade journals, via the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) Tenders Direct and Tenders Electronic Daily websites and on the Current Opportunities for Suppliers page.
Further information about English Partnerships' panels can be found on the Consultants' Panels page.
Manufacturers and suppliers of products and services who wish to propose their use in our projects and developments should contact the preferred developer directly. Preferred developers will select products and services for each scheme based on their ability to satisfy the standards which have been set by English Partnerships. Where a preferred developer has been selected for a scheme, this is stated in the project profile.
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Working for English Partnerships
Q: Where can I find out about jobs at English Partnerships?
A: English Partnerships generally advertises vacant posts in professional journals and the national / local press as appropriate, and also publishes vacancies on the Current Vacancies page of this website. Prospective applicants are encouraged to monitor these for suitable opportunities.
Regrettably, it is not possible for us to consider speculative applications for vacancies which arise.
Q: Does English Partnerships offer student placements or a graduate training scheme?
A: English Partnerships has a history of supporting people in developing their career in the regeneration industry. In order to offer new opportunities to assist those wishing to become regeneration specialists, we have established a Graduate Development Programme, which will provide a group of selected graduates with training in regeneration skills, practical job experience (gained from working in different departments within English Partnerships), and a broader knowledge of regeneration (gained from placements within related organisations in the field). Further information and an application form can be found on the Graduate Development Programme page.
Information about student placements can be found on the Working for English Partnerships page.
Publications
Q: How can I order a copy of the Urban Design Compendium or Urban Design Compendium 2, Delivering Quality Places?
A: There is an Urban Design Compendium website which provides urban design guidance and all the case studies from the publications. The publications can also be downloaded free of charge from the Publications page.
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Q: Where can I find Additionality: A full guide?
A: The revised English Partnerships Guide to Additionality is now available to download or order from the Publications page.
