There is a danger of putting too strong an interpretation on the report from Sheffield Hallam University about run-down estates which has prompted an indignant reaction from some people involved in the Royds regeneration scheme. When the researchers recommend that some estates are beyond redemption and should be demolished, they appear to be talking largely about areas where traditional industries have dwindled or vanished and communities have drifted apart.

However, the Royds people are right to challenge the suggestion that in other areas deep-rooted social problems could be solved by writing off entire estates and flattening them. As Carol Dickinson, director of the Royds Physical Regeneration Working Party rightly points out, in many cases it is the people and not the properties which have the problems.

Any scheme which tries to lift up an estate, whether through selectively improving property, demolishing certain blocks of flats with a reputation beyond saving (as has happened in Bradford) or redeveloping the area wholesale, will be hard pressed to succeed if it does not at the same time redevelop the morale and motivation of the people who live there.

People in previous generations often lived in very basic conditions in poor-quality housing yet managed to retain a sense of pride in their community because they felt they "belonged". It is that sort of spirit which schemes like Royds are striving to re-engender by getting people involved in the measures being taken to improve their estates both physically and spiritually.

Inspiration as much as demolition is surely the key to boosting the quality of life on the Royds estates and on all similar estates.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.