Portobello and Belle Vue Housing Impact Study

A team comprising Paul Hickman (Project Director), Tony Gore, Rionach Casey, Deborah Platts-Fowler and Ed Ferrari (University of Sheffield), have completed the first year of their four year evaluation of a housing regeneration programme in the Portobello and Belle Vue area of Wakefield, which is being funded by Wakefield and District Housing Association. The team have used a range of quantitative and qualitative research techniques to establish the baseline position in the area. Three of these techniques have may be described as being “alternative.”

For example, some residents in the study area have completed written diaries about their residential experiences. Diarists also took photographs of places, people and “things” of interest to them using disposable cameras and provided short written commentaries about why they took them. In addition, local residents produced two short films about life in the study area, working closely with a community film production company: Littlestar.

The key findings to emerge from the first year of the study are outlined in the first Annual Review Report produced by the study team. The report’s executive summary can be downloaded from the CRESR website at: http://www.shu.ac.uk/research/cresr/ For more information about the project please contact Paul Hickman on p.g.hickman@shu.ac.uk or 0114 225 4522.