The Single Regeneration Budget was launched in 1994 as the SRB Challenge Fund, with the first schemes going live in 1995. It was created from the merger of 20 separate programmes from 5 Government Departments, and had the holistic aim to improve the quality of life for those living and working in the most disadvantaged areas; and to reduce the gap between disadvantaged and other areas, and between different groups. This legacy programme has now been discontinued.

The programme's five strategic objectives are:

• To enhance the employment prospects, education and skills of local people.
• To address social exclusion and improve opportunities for the disadvantaged.
• To promote sustainable regeneration, improving and protecting the environment and infrastructure, including housing.
• To support and promote growth in local economies.
• To reduce crime and drug abuse and improve community safety.

Funding was made available to local partnerships, through a competitive bidding process, to provide support for regeneration initiatives that tackled locally identified priority needs. The maximum period of funding approved was 7 years. There have been 6 bidding rounds and total expenditure for the programme within the region is likely to be around £664 million. 74 area-based and thematic schemes have been awarded funding. Of the total, £171 million (26%) is contributed by SRB; £339 million (51%) is expected to be contributed by the public sector, and £154 million (23%) from the private sector.

Two key elements of the SRB are Partnership and Community Involvement with a robust partnership of public, private, voluntary and community sectors, and with financial governance via an accountable body. The programme is an important instrument in the drive to tackle social exclusion and promote equality of opportunity with the activities it supports intended to make a real and sustainable impact. It encourages local people, public and voluntary organisations, businesses and others to come together as partners in a joint approach to meet a community's needs. It funds schemes which work with other programmes and initiatives, build on good practice and represent value for money.

The outputs from the programme in the South West have been impressive:

• 12,717 jobs created
• 8,469 jobs safeguarded
• 70,033 people trained obtaining qualifications
• 5,553 new business start-ups
• 4,752 new businesses supported
• 15,243 dwellings completed
• 578 hectares of land improved/reclaimed for open space
• 4,805 hectares of land improved/reclaimed/serviced for development.

A small number of projects have been allowed to continue to receive SWRDA support beyond the end of the SRB Programme in March 2007. These are:

• Shelley Manor project (Boscombe SRB scheme)
• Chinese Women's Resource Centre project (Gloucester Challenging Attitudes SRB scheme)
• Managed Workspace project (Torbay SRB scheme)
• East End Village project (Plymouth SRB schemes)
• Bath Communities Partnership scheme (the only full 'scheme' going forward as an 'SRB survivor')

The South West RDA is keen to ensure that the successes of the SRB are not forgotten, and that lessons learned are incorporated into future projects, programmes and initiatives. Click here to view all South West RDA SRB Schemes (Adobe Acrobat Reader Document - 148.95kb). The Agency is also the repository for all SRB Scheme Evaluations.