South West

Should public money be spent on regenerating a group of important historic buildings to grow the regional economy?

This is the question being asked of the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) as we approach one of the most severe economic slow-downs in recent history.

The Royal William Yard in Plymouth, begun in 1826, was built as the Royal Navy's Victualling Yard on the Stonehouse peninsula in Plymouth.

It is one of the largest and grandest old 'architectural giants' in the city, set in a prime location on the River Tamar.

New life

In the 1990's the Ministry of Defence (MoD) started to discuss alternatives for the Yard as their use for it ran down.

Regeneration boost or lack of impact?

Nothing much happened until 1999 when the Government handed responsibility for it to the South West Regional Development Agency.

They in turn brought in developers Urban Splash to help turn the site into luxury flats and offices.

As part of the deal, millions of pounds of public money were spent on preserving the historic buildings and sorting out infrastructure including roads and pavements.

So far the RDA has spent more than £36 million of tax payers' money on the scheme.

High level of investment

Over the past four years nearly 12% of all the cash it has invested in Devon has gone on this project.

"We wanted to show that Plymouth could have as high quality regeneration as London or Bristol or any other international regeneration area…" says Ian Thompson, Area Director of the South West RDA.

The Agency and the developers say that without public money the regeneration costs of this project would have been prohibitive.

Tamar Science Park - the way forward?

Some business leaders disagree.

Tim Jones of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce says the developers have successfully completed other challenging projects around the country with far less public funding.

He feels the money could be better spent on projects like the Tamar Science Park which has attracted new and innovative businesses and brought new technologies and skills to the area.

The RDA has invested about £9 million on the project in the last seven years.

Professor Peter Gripaios of Plymouth Business School feels that neither social nor economic regeneration, both part of the RDA's original remit, can be said to have come from this luxury development.

Spreading the benefits?

One local landlord does not believe that affluence within the yard has spread beyond its walls.

He reckons that he has met only one couple actually living in the Yard and that the construction workers are largely from outside Plymouth so he hasn't seen it creating local jobs.

Ian Thompson argues that had the RDA created affordable housing, it would have had to put in even more public money.

The Royal William Yard - who benefits?

He also argues that the project was never about job creation.

The Agency maintains, however, that the restoration of one building alone has created or safeguarded 250 jobs.

It believes that its future plans for the creation of an hotel, a restaurant, shops and office accommodation will create a further 500 employment opportunities.

This figure has been met with disbelief in some quarters.

So will the RDA's redevelopment of the Yard, already in its 10th year, regenerate the surrounding area as originally planned?

It may be too early to tell the full impact of the development - but all eyes will be on the regeneration scheme as it moves into its second decade...