Projects

Community Development Projects (CDPs)

From 1970-1978, the British government funded 12 Community Development Projects (CDP) in some of the most impoverished neighbourhoods in England, Scotland and Wales.

The CDPs were given resources to hire researchers and community workers to work alongside community residents. The goal was ameliorating deleterious local conditions.

The projects began in a spirit of great optimism. Although they were expected to be short-lived, by 1978 all 12 projects had been shut down, some amidst a great deal of acrimony.

In a few cases a successor project continued. However, it was scaled back and with a more modest brief. The programme as a national anti-poverty initiative ended.

In the tumultuous political climate of 1970s Britain, many of the CDP teams ended up developing radical critiques of the government’s policies on poverty. This included criticisms of the CDP itself.

In addition, in working with residents of communities to secure vital resources, the CDP workers created additional controversy by engaging in direct confrontations with their local councils.

Each of the 12 projects included both an action team (appointed by the local authority) and a research team (appointed by a local polytechnic or university). The extent to which these functions overlapped one another varied from project to project, depending on the local personnel.

Over the course of the CDP’s lifespan, the local teams with support from the CDP Information and Intelligence Unit (IIU) produced reports that analysed the causes and consequences of poverty.

These reports document the process of de-industrialisation and the changing policy initiatives that once constituted Britain’s comprehensive welfare state.

There were three categories of reports.

1. National Inter-Project Reports

These were largely issued by the CDP Information and Intelligence Unit (IIU) based in London and produced in the name of all or most of the local projects.

The unit was closed down some time before the last project closed (Benwell, 1978). Benwell CDP and its successor project, the West End Resource Centre, took on responsibility for producing, selling and reprinting these from 1976 onwards.

2. Local Project Reports

Each local project produced a number of formal, published reports.

In some cases, this comprised of a few mimeographed reports during the life of the project and one large consolidated final report at the close of the project.

In other cases, this comprised of a collection of complementary, well-produced and illustrated reports, each focussing on key aspects of the local social and political economy.

3. Community Development Project Political Economy Collective

After the IIU closed and most projects had also been closed, the CDPPEC (a collective of ex-workers) continued to publish a series of reports in the same format as the national CDP reports.

Some of these had been in the pipeline when projects closed. Other reports took up the themes addressed earlier or themes on which the IIU had not been able to publish.

These reports were produced up to 1981.

Clearly, there has been something of a revival of interest in the CDP experience in recent years. Many of the issues raised by the CDP have not only had continuing salience, but are likely to come to the foreground again during the current period of ‘austerity’ and economic restructuring.

The 12 local Community Development Projects

The first four projects were establishing in the following communities and were launched in 1970:

• Liverpool
• Glamorgan (Upper Afan, Wales)
• Southwark (South London)
• Coventry

The next four projects were established in 1971-72:

• Benwell (Newcastle)
• Newham (East London)
• Batley (West Yorkshire)
• Cleator Moor (Cumbria)

Shortly after, the final four projects were initiated:

• Paisley (Scotland)
• Birmingham
• North Shields (North Tyneside)
• Oldham (Lancashire)

By 1978, all of the projects had been phased out.

Many of the reports shared here have been digitised at the Center for Digital Scholarship at Indiana University by Susan Hyatt. They are in the online collection ‘The War on Poverty in Britain: Documents from the Community Development Projects’.

View the collection online.

Hard copies of most of the original CDP reports are still available.

Contact: stjamesbenwell@gmail.com

---

A selection of national reports and local project reports produced by CDP Newcastle and North Tyneside:

• Benwell Community Project: Making Of A Ruling Class (1979) No.6 (PDF, 29.7MB)
• National CDP Inter-Project Editorial Team: Gilding The Ghetto (1979) (PDF, 14.7MB)
• National CDP Inter-Project Editorial Team: Limits Of The Law (1977) (PDF, 15.4MB)
• National CDP: Cost Of Industrial Change (1981) (PDF, 26.6MB)
• North Shields: Living With Industrial Change (1978) Vol 2 (PDF, 26.4MB)

---

Imagine community projects

Details of community projects that have taken place in Benwell and North Shields.

Benwell:

• Never felt so good: a felting art project, by St James’ Centre for Heritage and Culture
• Growing old in West Newcastle: events and activities for older people on the theme of local history, by Search
• Remembering Benwell: developing new ways to reach communities, by West Newcastle Picture History Collection
• Hopes and fears: a film making project with young people, by the Patchwork Project
• Time traveller: an intergenerational project, by Pendower Good Neighbour Project
• Playing with change and ideas: creating a mobile interactive toy, by Riverside Community Health Project
• Filming change: creating a film of the historic graveyard, by St James’ Heritage and Environment Group
• West End stories: creating digital stories, by Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums

More information about the Benwell Imagine North East community projects can be found in the Benwell booklet (PDF, 7.23MB).

North Shields:

• Imagining community at Cedarwood: a family and community history project, by Cedarwood Trust
• Bridging the history: a community-led oral history project, by Meadow Well Connected
• A journey through time: a graffiti art project, by Phoenix Detached Youth Project
• Remembering the past, resourcing the future: providing practical support and training to projects

More information about North Shields Imagine North East community projects can be found in the North Shields booklet (PDF, 12.4MB).