First off: A disclaimer – Barking and Dagenham is not a borough that I know at all. As this is the memoir of the Leader of that borough for 10 years from 2014 to 2024 I come to it with very little background. What is clear from this slim volume is that Darren sought and found innovative ways to push forward regeneration. Building houses at volume that moved away from the “one size fits all” idea of traditional Council led housing programmes. A lot of them involving financial models that I must confess I only just grasped. That’s not to say that the book is full of technical writing. In fact, the simple conversational style made it easy to read. Along with some useful appendixes* and some “Voices from the journey” of people who worked alongside Darren at the time the book manages to pack into its 202 pages a summary of the ethos and approach of a decade of change and renewal.
Of all the London boroughs Barking & Dagenham had at this time both the need and the opportunity for growth. With the departure in 2002 of Ford leaving both a huge hole in the community but also large tracts of land to be repurposed. This in turn led to the rise of the British National Party at a time when communities were changing and diversifying. Throughout the book Darren emphasises the need to put people at the centre of all that is done, Finding out what they really want for their area, building trust and giving local power through partnerships and community action. Again not knowing the area it’s had to comment how successful this has been but that the author has now moved onto a post with Harlow suggests that the model has found favour with another council looking to tackle the housing crisis.
I would have welcomed some insight into the problems and dead ends – Innovation and risk inevitably have both – but on the whole this is an interesting account of what can be achieved if given ten years to research, plan and deliver a programme for change. Certain people coming into important positions might like to take note…
*Appendix B The Social Progress Index and the wheel of inclusive growth (p37) are shown in such tiny print that I needed a magnifying glass to read it. A problem presumably solved in any online formats.
Publisher: Richer Publishing and Media
