July 2006
Introduction
Improving housing conditions in Scotland has been the focus of significant activity in recent years. Bringing Scotland’s homes up to an acceptable standard is rightly a priority. The Scottish Executive, Communities Scotland, local authorities, RSLs and other housing groups and organisations have and are working hard to improve the physical standards of housing.
This discussion paper, produced by the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland (CIH) acknowledges that improving Scotland’s housing is a key challenge for the sector. However, it asks whether improving the quality of our housing in itself is sufficient to meet community needs and expectations or do we are also need to consider the environment in which those houses are located?
The purpose of this discussion paper is to assess views on the idea for some form of community environment standard, what it may mean and how it could be implemented.
To enable people to easily feed in their views on this discussion paper and the idea of a community environment standard there is a questionnaire that can be accessed online at[1]:
www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225FZGDVPZH
Please complete the questionnaire by Friday 1 September 2006.
In recent years there has been a focus on improving house conditions in Scotland in both the social rented and the private sectors. Local authority housing providers and RSLs are expected to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) by 2015. The SHQS is also an aspirational target for the private sector and local authority Local Housing Strategies should recognise this in meeting their strategic housing objectives.
Earlier this year the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 received Royal Assent and will be implemented over the next few years. The Act introduces a number of measures to address house condition issues in the private sector[2].
The CIH believes that the focus on legislation and efforts to eradicate poor housing conditions across Scotland has been the right approach. We feel that it is now appropriate to consider how housing sits alongside the wider physical or environmental conditions of communities and neighbourhoods. In doing so we want to ensure that investment in improving housing is not jeopardised by that housing being located in a poor quality environment. The CIH is also keen to ensure that there is a sustainable housing future for Scotland and improving the environment in which people live is one of the means to move toward achieving this goal.
Sustainable communities and regeneration
Living in a decent environment may be said to be as important as living in decent housing. However, the latest available figures[3] from the Scottish Household Survey which asked people across Scotland their views on their neighbourhood reveal that:
· 51% of people said their neighbourhood was very poorly or fairly poorly maintained or run down,
· 58% felt the neighbourhood was unsafe,
· 35% felt that facilities for children to play were poor or very poor.
Further it finds that whilst 63% of outright owners and 55% of those buying their home with the help of a mortgage rate their area as 'very good', only 35% of those renting from a local authority and 33% of those renting from a housing association or co-operative say their area is 'very good'.
These figures suggest that there is a challenge ahead to meet the aspirations of people for a good quality neighbourhood or community environment, particularly in the social rented sector.
A study by Cleaner Safer Communities[4] found that when asked what makes a good place to live people put as much importance to the wider neighbourhood as they do on having a good home. Most cite that a good neighbourhood to live in should have low crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour, and it should have clean streets, good parks and open spaces, activities for teenagers and well-maintained roads and pavements. It found that one of the most important factors affecting the quality of life in any neighbourhood is how well its public spaces are managed and maintained.
Could a community
environment standard that acknowledges these issues and develops them into
indicators to target action and resources become a measure to help ensure sustainable
communities?
The recent Scottish Executive Regeneration Policy Statement[5] states that ‘regeneration is about the sustainable transformation of specific places for the better’. It acknowledges that part of this is a commitment to environmental aspects. This includes an enhanced natural environment, including access to quality greenspace and environmental improvements at the local level. Again could a community environment standard assist with the delivery of these aims in meeting the aspirations and needs of communities?
A standard may help to ensure that the local environment, in which people live, is given appropriate importance in the regeneration policy and planning decision making process that communities want to see; ensuring it sits alongside plans to improve housing, employment and local services.
Do you think the environment in which people live is currently given sufficient priority in regeneration policy and development proposals?
Do you support the general idea of a community environment standard?
Integrated approaches
During the development of the SHQS consideration was given to whether it should incorporate the wider neighbourhood environment. The CIH did not consider this to be the appropriate vehicle as tackling the wider environment requires an integrated approach from a number of agencies and local authority services.
The Scottish Executive Regeneration Policy Statement emphasises that progress, including progress on environmental aspects, requires an integrated approach. It sees partnership working, the alignment of actions and clarity on outcomes to be achieved as critical success factors.
The CIH considers that a community environment standard may assist with helping to deliver these success factors on a local scale and ensure that co-ordinated approaches are taken to improving the environment in which people live.
Those who would be involved in developing and delivering the community environment standard at a local level may include:
· Local authority services -
o Environmental services,
o Leisure and recreation,
o Roads / highways,
o Education and community education,
o Housing services,
· Registered Social Landlords (RSLs),
· Police,
· Local business community,
· Community representatives including -
o Registered Tenants Organisations,
o Residents groups,
o Community Councils,
· Community planning partnership.
Who, if anyone, should be the key partners in developing and implementing a community environment standard?
Funding
There have been some concerns about how funding can best be targeted to where it is most needed and deliver the improvements that communities want to see. Often funding allocations are either based on a bidding process or can appear to be allocated without much regard to need indicators. An example of the latter is access to community ownership funding for regeneration which may not necessarily be based on regeneration needs as access to it is dependant on plans to transfer the local authority housing stock. The Scottish Executive has been moving toward targeting funding based on need indicators; for example the replacement of Social Inclusion Partnership funding with the Community Regeneration Fund. Also Communities Scotland’s proposals for the Strategic Housing Investment Framework[6] consider integrating a number of funding streams to ensure simplicity, greater co-ordination and targeting.
Now may therefore be an appropriate time to consider the merits of a community environment standard that can be used as a mechanism for targeting funding and triggering action where it is most required. Some discussion will be needed on where funding for meeting the standard will come from. Much of it may come from exiting resources but there may also be a need for some specific additional funding.
Should a community environment standard be used as a means of helping to target local and national resources?
How would a community environment standard work?
The community environment standard would be a standard that addresses the environment in which houses are set and therefore where people live. It would be a set of measurable criteria and benchmarks that will help to ensure people are able to live in a safe, secure, and attractive environment. It would be used by local authorities and their partner agencies including community planning partners and tenants / residents organisations to direct resources and actions to ensure that the environment in the community meets acceptable standards. This could be guided by a national community environment standard that can be adapted to meet local criteria that are set in partnership with the community (see below).
The standard can be part of the package of measures that aim to address community sustainability and ensure that the additional investment in improving house conditions through the SHQS, and in future Housing Renewal Areas[7], is not undermined because they are located in a poor quality environment. Poor quality environments can make an area less attractive to live in and therefore contribute to issues of low demand despite the housing quality being good.
As with the SHQS the community environment standard would be a set of measurable criteria against which a community’s environment can be assessed. Local authorities and their partners would be expected to assess each community in their area against the community environment standard. This could be taken forward via community planning partnerships or perhaps a specific working group to deal with assessing and implementing the standard. A failure on any of the elements in the standard would mean that that community does not meet the standard and action to address the issues would need to be taken. A costed action plan would need to be drawn up to ensure that communities that are not meeting the standard will meet it. It may be appropriate for this to be assessed and approved by Communities Scotland who would be able to release any additional funding that is required to bring the community environment up to the required standard.
Measures required to meet the community environment standard should in the most part be funded through existing initiatives. It should be seen partly as a tool for helping to target resources to where they are needed. It may also be expected that some additional funding will be required from the Scottish Executive to help meet the standard (this need could be assessed by Communities Scotland).
A community environment standard would therefore need to be considered alongside and where possible integrated into existing strategies, initiatives and actions. These could include:
· Implementing the Scottish Housing Quality Standard,
· Implementing the Anti-Social Behaviour etc, (Scotland) Act 2004,
· Implementing the powers in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 with regard to poor housing conditions in the private sector,
· Local Authorities powers of well being under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003,
· The Scottish Executive Regeneration Policy Statement and local regeneration strategies,
· Community planning partnerships,
· Tenant participation duties,
· Health & Housing Partnerships,
· Community Health Partnerships,
· Crime Reduction Strategies.
A community environment standard may also present an opportunity for savings to be made. This may be through improved health. Health Protection Scotland (a new organisation established by the Scottish Executive to strengthen and co-ordinate health protection in Scotland) has recently concluded a study of adverse environmental quality indicators suggesting that they may impact negatively on health. A good quality local environment may also help to encourage local business activity helping the local economy. The Neighbourhood Renewal Unit at the Department for Communities and Local Government in England notes that poor environments can hinder development locally and become a drain on public resources in terms of welfare benefits and the additional spending needed for crime prevention, social services, and health care etc.
What elements could be in a community environment standard?
The Welsh Housing Quality Standard[8] includes an element for housing located in attractive and safe environments. It states that a good environment includes:
· Accessible roads and footpaths providing safety for residents, pedestrians and children,
· Practical maintainable, soft and hard landscaping with planting in protected locations,
· Adequate and effective street lighting,
· Adequate and safe play space for young children,
· Adequate, practical and maintainable communal areas,
· Clear dwelling identification and boundaries,
· Practically located and well identified utility services,
· Adequate car parking, practically located and clearly visible to residents.
The environmental elements in the Welsh Housing Quality Standard indicate how a community standard may be able to assist with other policy priorities such as tackling antisocial behaviour and crime. For example street lighting, facilities for children and young people and clear dwelling boundaries can all assist in the drive to reduce antisocial behaviour and crime or the fear of it and at the same time enhance the community’s enjoyment of its area.
A Scottish community environment standard could take these elements as a starting point with a view to developing them into more measurable targets. Some ideas may include:
· Community open spaces -
o Upkeep of and access to community open spaces and usefulness of these spaces,
o Play space for children (m2 per no of children and types of facility),
o Level of derelict / unused open spaces.
· Environmental antisocial behaviour -
o Levels of fly tipping and litter,
o Amount of graffiti,
· Hard and soft landscaping -
o Types of and condition of street furniture,
o Condition of pavements and roads,
o Upkeep of fencing and other boundaries,
· Built environment -
o Number of derelict buildings,
o Number of empty buildings.
Do you think a community environment standard should include a range of indicators against which local communities can be assessed?
The discussion paper outlines a number of issues that could be included in a community environment standard. Which do you think should be included?
Are there other issues that should be included?
Community open spaces
According to Greenspace Scotland[9] 40% of people in urban areas think the quality of their local greenspace has deteriorated in the last five years. Further work by Greenspace suggests that the amenity and desirability of local areas is increased when well-planned and well-managed greenspace is provided[10]. This can help to lift demand for an area and make residents more committed to the area. It also found that well designed and well-managed greenspaces can promote community safety and contribute to measures to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
The design, amount and use of open and greenspace can make a major contribution to improving the environment in which people live. Poor quality or the absence of open or greenspace can impact negatively on communities. It is important that open and green space meets community needs and assists in meeting the play, leisure and outdoor relaxation requirements of communities.
Research commissioned by the Scottish Executive in 2005 recommended that there should be minimum standards of open spaces[11]. It suggested that this could apply to housing developments recommending that for new housing developments of over ten houses 60 square metres of open space per household should be included. It also recommended that strategies to ensure good standards of open space across Scotland should be developed. It may be appropriate for such standards to be an integral part of a community environment standard that also focuses on the use to be made of such open and greenspaces and makes provisions to tackle derelict or underutilised open space that may be detrimental to the community.
This could include improving publicly owned open and greenspace in partnership and addressing privately owned poor quality open space either in partnership or through remedial action such as compulsory purchase.
Do you think open space or greenspace standards should be part of a community environment standard?
If yes what should these standards cover?
Environmental antisocial behaviour
The Scottish Executive, as part of its prioritising of antisocial behaviour, makes clear that environmental antisocial behaviour can give communities the appearance of decline. It also suggests that increasing amounts of environmental antisocial behaviour can make other forms of antisocial behaviour seem more acceptable. The Scottish Execuitve cites environmental antisocial behaviour as including:
· Graffiti,
· Fly-tipping,
· Littering and waste dumping,
· Dog fouling,
· Vandalism,
· Abandoned vehicles,
· Criminal damage.
There are a number of measures in the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 that can be used to address environmental antisocial behaviour. Also the use of environmental wardens and community wardens in specific areas can help tackle environmental antisocial behaviour.
A community environment standard could set out to ensure these measures are used and perhaps set timescales for action such as the removal of graffiti within a specific time limit and the availability of ways for the community to report environmental graffiti in need of being addressed.
It may also be appropriate for a community environment standard to consider the principles of secure by design to evaluate possible vulnerable areas to environmental vandalism and to take action to reduce the risk. This may include better street lighting, more defensible space, CCTV cameras etc.
Do you think environmental antisocial behaviour standards should be part of a community environment standard?
If yes what should these standards cover?
Hard and soft landscaping
The Welsh Housing Quality Standard suggest that in bringing houses up to meet the standard there may also be an opportunity to take additional measures aimed at helping residents develop a greater sense of ownership and community feeling. This can include the provision of new landmarks such as symbolic entrances to groups of housing, street art (including sculptures) or even general hard and soft landscaping such as on street trees, benches etc.
Traffic calming measures and redesigning local roads could also be part of this aimed at making streets more attractive to pedestrians and providing safer children’s play spaces.
Hard landscaping can also include boundary fences or other boundary markers which can help with providing defensible spaces, give communities some ownership of certain areas and act as a disincentive to enter places.
Do you think hard and soft landscaping standards should be part of a community environment standard?
If yes what should these standards cover?
Would it be appropriate to have targets in a community environment standard for the hard and soft landscaping?
Built environment
The quality of the built environment can have an impact on community cohesion. The SHQS will make a significant difference to some aspects of the built environment by ensuring that social rented housing is of a high quality. New measures being introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 allow for poor quality privately owned housing to be tackled. Empty and derelict buildings both housing and commercial can have detrimental impacts on communities becoming the focus of antisocial behaviour or blighting the local environment. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 includes closure orders for properties that are the focus of antisocial behaviour and this can include empty houses, shops etc. Compulsory purchase powers may also provide a tool to deal with derelict buildings. Whilst the 2006 Act will allow for action to be taken over private houses which are affecting the local amenity.
A community environment standard may be able to help ensure that these measures are implemented locally and targeted to address empty and derelict buildings.
Do you think standards for the built environment should be part of a community environment standard?
If yes what should these standards cover?
Making it locally responsive
A Scottish community environment standard could provide the benchmark for a more locally set standard that is responsive to community needs. Such a standard would require the involvement of the community in developing the local standards and in prioritising action, where it is required.
At a local level the standard will need to include an action plan and timetable for implementing or triggers for action. For example this could include response times for removing any new graffiti. It would also include plans to achieve this such as implementing the appropriate part of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 as well as measures to reduce levels of future graffiti such as using murals, deploying Community Wardens and utilising education initiatives.
The plan would also need to include funding indicators to implement the standard where communities are assessed as not meeting it. This would include available funding from within the existing resources of the partners and additional funding required from national regeneration budget streams.
Local community environment standards and their action plans could be assessed by Communities Scotland to ensure they fit with the national benchmark standard and include local engagement. Communities Scotland could also be charged with assessing and approving additional funding needs.
Should there be a national community environment standard that can be adapted to meet local needs and address local community concerns?
How may this work?
Your views and next steps
The CIH is keen to establish whether there is support in Scotland for a community environment standard and to ask people to consider how it may operate. This discussion paper sets out some of the broad principles and ideas for a standard with a view to starting a more detailed debate on the appropriateness of a standard and how one could be implemented. We are also seeking examples of current action to improve local community environments.
Please take the time to complete the online questionnaire or order a paper copy from the CIH (address over).
To help develop this work the CIH is looking for examples of actions or activities by organisations that are addressing the community environmental issues covered in the discussion paper. If your organisation or one you know of is doing so please provide some details about what this is.
Online questionnaire:
www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225FZGDVPZH
Please complete the questionnaire by Friday 25 August 2006.
Your responses may pave the way for more detailed consideration of the scope for a community environment standard by the CIH in Scotland.
The Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland
The Chartered Institute of Housing is the professional body for people in housing and related fields. The Institute has over 19,000 members in the UK and internationally. Our purpose is to maximise the contribution that housing professionals make to the wellbeing of communities. There are over 2,000 members in Scotland working in local authorities, housing associations, housing co-operatives, Communities Scotland, voluntary organisations, the private sector, educational institutions and the Rent Registration Service.
Discussion paper prepared by: Nick Fletcher, Policy and Public Affairs Officer
The Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland
6 Palmerston Place
Edinburgh
EH12 5AA
Tel 0131 225 4544
Fax 0131 225 4566
Email Scotland.policy@cih.org
[1] If you do not have access to a computer or the web a paper copy is available by contacting the CIH
[2] A briefing on the Act is on the CIH website www.cih.org/home_scotland/display.php?db=policies&id=616 or by contacting the CIH
[3] Scottish Household Survey 2003-04 www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/08/03155211/52120
[4] A section within the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
[6] See Communities Scotland consultation paper at www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/otcs_014680.pdf
[7] Housing Renewal Areas are being introduced by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to address areas of poor quality private housing
[9] Greenspace Scotland is a charity that was established in 2003 to promote a step change in the development and management of quality greenspaces in towns and cities. www.greenspacescotland.org.uk
[10] Greenspace, 2004, Making the Links No 4 Greenspace and Housing, Greenspace
[11] Ironside Farrar Ltd, 2005, Minimum Standards for Open Space, Scottish Executive