Good Local Economics

My old house – a snapshot of the post-regeneration landscape

John P Houghton revisits the problem of empty homes and calls for imaginative local solutions as regeneration winds down and resources dry up

John Houghton’s childhood home in Kirkby, 12 months ago (left) and now (right).

I first wrote about my old house in January 2011. I’d been back to Kirkby, my home town in Merseyside, for Christmas and was shocked to find that the place I’d called home for most of childhood was an empty, vandalised wreck.

Communities Good Local Economics Regeneration

Can public services learn from the newspaper industry?

Communities Good Local Economics Regeneration

The smoke and mirrors of laissez-faire localism

Communities Good Local Economics

This is welfare abolition, not welfare reform

Communities Economic Development Good Local Economics Local Government Regeneration

The other side of the skills debate

Communities Economic Development Good Local Economics Local Government

Trading Places Challenge

Communities Economic Development Good Local Economics Local Government Regeneration

Cultural-led regeneration

Communities Economic Development Finance Good Local Economics Housing Local Government Regeneration

Using procurement to deliver social outcomes

Communities Good Local Economics

Big is not always beautiful

I was invited onto BBC Five Live the other evening. The discussion was to be about the launch of a new RBS service. It is now possible to make a charitable donation at the same time as a cash withdrawal from their ATM machines. I was to speak in favour.