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The paper will report the results of research carried out for the Environment Agency in England and Wales in 2005. The purpose of the research was to examine the social, economic, health and educational benefits of a number of Environment Agency projects in the areas of fisheries, flood risk management and river restoration in both England and Wales. The data was collected from stakeholders, project users and project managers. Various methods were used to measure the benefits of environmental projects, depending on the type of benefit and type of project. Local economic benefits were examined by looking at local property prices, volume of trade and new jobs created. Social impact can be examine through attitude surveys of project users and stakeholders interviews. Health benefits can be encapsulated by looking at the amount of exercice undertaken by users; educational benefits can range from improvement in pupils'performance in key stage exams, their increased awareness of the environemnt and changes in attitude to environmental issues. In this research, the case study approach has allowed us to observe closely three different types of environmental projects developed by the Environment Agency (fisheries, flood risk management and river restoration) in three different settings across the UK (urban in London, rural in Wales and semi-urban in Yorkshire). The projects all aimed at benefiting communities affected by socio-economic issues, including rurtal isolation, post-industrial decline or urban stress. The research demonstrated that environment improvement has had positive and measurable impact on local communities's well being and quality of life. We will report how the research was carried out, describe the 5 case studies examined and report on the research results to argue that environment improvement benefits regeneration in various ways and should be an important element of any regeneration programmes and projects.

Stream: Environmental Sustainability

Paper: The Social, Health and Educational Benefits of Environmental Projects

I am interested in multi-level governance and the role of different actors in sustainability policies. Recently, I have coordinated a EU project on participation, Leadership and Urban Sustainability and have coordinated the drafting of a successful bid for a comparative research on governance for sustainability which examines the way sytems of governance use different types of knowledge to develop environmental policies at sub-national level. The project brings together 12 European partners. I have aslo develop private sector participation on that project.In the past, I have done consultancy work for a number of agencies, including recently the Environment Agency and Planning Aid Wales. I am editor of the European Urban Research Association's newsletter and a member of EURA's Executive Board.I am a trustee of a local Citizens Advice Bureau and also a District Councillor in Stroud, Gloucestershire. I am bilingual French-English.