Housing Monthly Diary Archive

Home & Estate Security

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May 1998
New Scheme Cuts Estate Crime

Home HA reported on the first year of its joint project with Northumbria Police, aimed at reducing crime levels on its Northbourne Street estate in Newcastle, which included the Association sponsoring two police officers to work specifically on the estate.

Figures released showed that, during the 12 months, reported crime on the 310-home estate fell from 847 to 119 incidents, being a drop of 86%. Much of this was achieved through close liaison between the two police officers and housing managers, aimed at reducing truancy and introducing zero-tolerance initiatives against vandalism and graffiti.

Prospective new tenants were required to agree to police checks, which resulted in about 60 out of 170 applicants being rejected because they had a record of crime, anti-social behaviour or rent arrears.

Whilst the pilot introduced promising results, the Association recognised the depth of the problems on the estate and was still considering selective demolition.

October 1998
News in Brief

• Home Secretary Jack Straw unveiled a £50 million anti-burglary strategy, that would see innovative programmes of estate-based CCTV surveillance, street lighting upgrading and rapid repair services. The three-year strategy would affect some 2 million homes in 500 areas of England and Wales with high recorded burglary rates. Further guidance was to be issued shortly, including details on making funding applications.

• Secondary legislation was passed as part of the Crime and Disorder Act, requiring local authorities to invite the involvement of local registered social landlords in audits and strategies aimed at reducing crime and disorder.

May 1999
News in Brief

• Manchester MDC introduced a pilot scheme to protect its void properties. Net curtains and intruder alarms are being used to give the impression that empty dwellings are occupied. The approach provides an alternative to the more traditional steel shutters, which have a bad appearance and attract vandalism.

• The son of a former tenant of Leicester DC received a 6-month jail sentence for breaching an injunction banning him from an estate. The Council had had problems in the past in proving the breach of injunctions, due to a loophole in the Housing Act 1996 - which requires a case to be heard within 24 hours of such a breach.

• Pilot schemes involving close co-operation with Merseyside Police and Fire Brigade have seen crime, vandalism and arson in a number of tower blocks on Knowsley Council's estates dramatically reduced.

• Bridgend Council's pilot scheme - that has introduced automatic alarms and rapid-response security patrols - has almost eliminated vandalism to its homes on its Tyderwen estate. The cost of the scheme at £28,000 proved good value for money, with vandalism costing the Council an average of £1,500 per dwelling.

May 1999
Recent Publications

• Hackney's Crime & Disorder Reduction Strategy 1999/2002, details programmes to be undertaken over the next 3 years to tackle crime and disorder in Hackney, based on findings of a Crime and Disorder Audit. Further details - Tel: 0181 356 3164.

• The National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association published Crime and Disorder: A Joint Briefing, which details local partnership arrangements to fight crime. Further details - Tel: 0171 843 2253 (quote MS.SH.1999. BR.9).

Note:

The edition of Housing Today published on the 6th May 1999 included in its Update series - Tackling Crime. This summarises the main parts of the briefing from the National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association.

August 1999
News in Brief

A £4 million Home Office programme to tackle crime hotspots included funding for council and housing association estates:

• A partnership of Medway Council, the Medway Housing Society and local police received a grant of £450,000 to tackle the area's theft problems and its market for stolen goods.

• Humberside Police and Hull Council were awarded £377,000 from the programme, to fund a mobile police station, to combat the anti-social behaviour and low-level crime prevalent in Bransholme - one of Europe's largest estates. A key objective of the project is to encourage better take-up of homes on the estate, which has about 1,000 empty dwellings.

• Local authorities and police forces were invited to co-ordinate bids to the Scottish Executive’s £3 million Make Our Communities Safer programme. Part of the money will be available in April 2000 and it will be targeted at CCTV schemes. The rest of the money is for other local crime-prevention projects. The successful bids were due to be announced in the New Year.

October 1999
News in Brief

• The Audit Commission launched a new website application on community safety. The site is designed to help councils, police forces and other agencies to share best practice in fighting crime and the fear of crime at a local level. A key objective of the site is to provide partnerships with case studies and examples which:
  
  
  • Respond to the requirements of the Crime and Disorder Act;
    
    
  • Demonstrate effective solutions to prevalent problems; and
    
    
  • Highlight potential good practice.
    
    

  The Community Safety Website can be accessed at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/comsafe.

• Details were released of a planned pilot neighbourhood warden patrol by eight housing associations based in West London, following concepts outlined in the Social Exclusion Unit's report earlier in 1999. The scheme covers 3,000 homes and is led by Paddington Churches HA, with £70,000 funding from the Single Regeneration Budget. The initiative involves uniformed wardens, who will be reporting on tenant welfare issues, suspected criminal activity and environmental problems.

  Two local authorities were also considering similar pilot schemes:

  • Brent LBC was introducing patrols on its Stonebridge Estate and in its Harlesden area.
    
    
  • Wandsworth LBC had plans to introduce patrols in its Clapham Junction area.
    
    
• Speaking at the Welsh launch of new standards for Secured by Design, the national scheme aimed at designing out crime on new housing developments, First Secretary Alun Michael called for the early involvement of police architectural liaison officers in the design process - as being crucial to the creation of safer estates. He pointed to collaboration between Welsh police forces, housing associations, the National Assembly and Tai Cymru as resulting in 14,000 houses and flats incorporating standards of design and specification which were effective in reducing crime.

  Under the scheme, every house is fitted with windows and doors resistant to attack, secure locking, improved lighting and effective boundary fencing. Estates are designed to clearly differentiate between public and private space. Research by the Building Research Establishment has shown that the scheme has reduced estate crime and improves the quality of life for tenants.

November 1999
News in Brief

• The Government announced the first £4 million tranche of funding to provide improved security, primarily through closed circuit TV, to 13 residential areas. The finance was for council housing estates in Boston, Bristol, Cannock Chase, Dudley, Greenwich, Kensington and Chelsea, Lincoln, Forest of Dean, Rochdale and Selby.
  
  
• A new report from NACRO questioned the effectiveness of CCTV security in deprived neighbourhoods - in particular to its effect on reducing crime or fear of crime. The report is based on the study of community safety projects in Burley-Hyde Park, Leeds and Benwell in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Its findings suggest that CCTV is often unreliable in identifying crime, which continues to take place but out of camera range. In comparison, it finds programmes for support for racial harassment victims and anti-crime partnerships more effective than many CCTV schemes.

  Community Safety, Community Solutions, £14, NACRO, Tel: 0171 582 6500.

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