York needs a city-wide improvement strategy and long-term effort to back it up if deprived areas are to get a brighter future.

The recommendation is part of an in-depth study by the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation into the work of the York Regeneration Partnership (YRP) which sprang from the closure of the ABB Carriageworks with the loss of 750 jobs in May 1995.

Armed with £3m of Single Regeneration Budget cash, plus a further £27m from partner organisations, the YRP renamed the 48-acre site Holgate Park and redeveloped it into a business park, which has already created 1,000 new jobs. New housing and public open space were also included.

The YRP also aimed to revitalise the economy of the five wards adjoining the site.

By the end of the YRP's timescale in March this year, the partnership's other significant achievements included:

* The development of a highly successful one-stop Employment and Training Advice Centre.

* The establishment of an Employment and Training Advisory Group, which started work tackling barriers to employment such as childcare, adult literacy and lack of motivation among young people.

* The creation of a robust community forum for the five wards and its executive arm, the Community Advisory Group.

The original partners in YRP were: City of York Council, North Yorkshire Training and Enterprise Council, Home Housing Association, English Partnerships and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The sixth partner, the Community Advisory Group, came to the table later.

The study is the culmination of three years work by Rose Gilroy and Mark Bevan of Newcastle University.

In addressing the question of a regeneration strategy for York, the report says: "Many partner agencies had commented that York lacked an overall regeneration strategy and that this made it difficult both to make long-term plans for regenerating the city's deprived neighbourhoods and to sustain neighbourhood renewal activities once regeneration funding had ended."

A presentation was made to key elected members and officers of City of York Council in January this year on the achievements of YRP and the need for a permanent regeneration partnership in York, allied to a city-wide regeneration strategy.

The report concludes: "It appeared that York accepted in principle the benefits of a long-term regeneration partnership although, in a rapidly changing local and national policy environment, the practical results of this are not yet apparent."