West

Barton Hill was chosen because it was deemed to be one of the most deprived areas in Britain.

Its residents suffered from poor health, high unemployment and low educational achievements.

The area was dogged by poverty and crime. 

A new organisation was formed called 'Community at Heart' – its role would be to spend the money on regeneration over a 10 year period.

The idea was that local people would be the driving force – the changes would be "resident led".

The government called it a new deal for communities. 

A brighter future?

Now, the 10 years are nearly up and the success of the project is being judged.

The area certainly looks much brighter and people say they feel safer.

But for some residents there's also a feeling that opportunities have been missed and much more could have been achieved.

So, where has the money been spent? 

* £6 million has gone on health, with more than half of that on the Wellspring Healthy Living Centre; offering doctors, dentists and community facilities.

* £8.5 million has been spent on safety and security.

* £2.8 million has been directed towards arts and sports projects.  

* £4.7 million has been spent on housing.

* £4.3 million has been invested in education.

* £5 million has been allocated for management and administration.   

Litany of mistakes 

Local resident Phil Morris once sat on Community at Heart’s board but he quickly became disillusioned.

He claims some of the money has been wasted, "It's been squandered by a load of professionals who are going off to find another gravy train".

Green living - Barton Hill.

He says there’s been a litany of expensive mistakes. 

Dominic Murphy has lived in Barton Hill for more than 20 years and chairs the Community at Heart board.

He admits not everything went as well as it should have done, "Some of it was down to bad planning, or actually no planning really, and just us wanting to career ahead and get things done. You get the job done and then you sort of regret it at your leisure".

But Dominic also points to Community at Heart’s successes – the new Barton Hill school is something he’s extremely proud of.

He says the high quality buildings send a message to children that what they're doing is important and that their education really matters for the future. 

Success or failure?

The desperate need for better schools was one reason people were leaving Barton Hill – another was the high level of crime.

Tackling this has been a huge task but new security fencing around the tower blocks has definitely helped, along with a new CCTV system. 

As the funding comes to an end, how will the experiment be judged: a great success or an expensive failure?

If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed it’s that local opinion remains divided.