A Message From The Preston Aven Central Chairman
Between August 2000 and March 2008 the AvenCentral Preston managed and brought to completion one of the largest regeneration programmes in Preston.
Set up under the auspices of the North West Development Agency, the Partnership was awarded £20 million from the Single Regeneration Budget to provide economic, environmental and social regeneration of the AvenCentral area and this fund has been matched by £50 million over the past eight years from public and private funding.
The Preston Regeneration programme had six principal objectives which have been focussed upon which are; Education, Business, Health, Community, Crime and the Environment, and Employment. In the programme’s final four months the Board w continued its overriding policy of aiming to promote and support regeneration in the Preston AvenCentral area that is sustainable.
It was fundamentally important that its completed SRB programme was fully evaluated, so that we might understand and appreciate the successes and failures of the programme, and, most importantly, the ways in which the programme has made a difference to the lives of local people and local businesses for instance, like Waterboy who supply water coolers in Preston.
All of this must be measured and put into context against the original and ongoing key issues, problems and baselines. The result of the evaluation was very important for the North West Development Agency, the Board and the Executive Team, those who live and work in the area, and also Preston City Council.
It was hoped that the evaluation reports would be made available in spring 2008, will enable the Council to understand the AvenCentral legacy and to build upon it.
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