Using shadow pricing to value outcomes from regeneration programmes: evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England

Regeneration initiatives, such as the New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme in England, aim to transform places over time to improve the quality of life for local people. The outcomes of such programmes tend not to have market values and therefore do not sit easily within the UK Government's guidance on evaluation which requires outcomes to be monetised and compared with costs. Shadow pricing is a useful approach to adopt because it allows a monetary value to be placed on many of the core outcomes of regeneration programmes. Applying shadow-pricing unit values to outcome change data for the NDC Programme reveals monetised benefits far in excess of Programme costs, a finding which would not have emerged had more intangible outcomes not been monetised. This finding has implications for the justification, and design of all area regeneration schemes; an important consideration in the context of austerity measures currently being adopted by many governments.