A shift away from multiple occupancy could transform the social fabric of universities and coastal towns and must be carefully managed, policymakers were warned today.
The Royal Geographical Society conference taking place in London this week heard findings from the first comprehensive study of homes of multiple occupation (HMOs) in England.
Research presented yesterday by Darren Smith of Loughborough University, found that while the number of HMOs in university towns is on the decline, they are taking a stranglehold on coastal towns.
But Dr Smith, the academic who popularlised the term ‘studentification’, told New Start that the popularity of upmarket purpose built accommodation was decanting students from traditionally popular neighbourhoods and risked polarising the property market.
He added that lower admission levels and the increasing numbers of students studying closer to home might also have an effect on the local property market. But he warned against making assumptions, adding that an increase in foreign students and local ones who decide to move out of the family home may cancel out these changes.
Dr Smith said policy changes might also have a dramatic impact on coastal towns, which according to his research are home to a disproportionate number of HMOs.
An analysis of data obtained from the DCLG reveals that 38 of England’s seaside towns are host to almost one in eight of HMOs outside London. Of these, 20 are in the top 30 ranking for housing benefit recipients nationally, with the highest proportions in Blackpool, Hastings, Torbay and Thanet.
But Dr Smith said places like Morcambe and Hastings were starting to tackle the dominance of HMOs in the housing market by encouraging their conversion into family homes.
The coalition government announced on 17 June it was abandoning Labour’s plans to require planning permission for homes to be converted into HMOs, but for the local authorities to be allowed to place their own restrictions on conversions. These new arrangements are due to come into effect from 1 October.
And with plans for lower levels of housing benefit for claimants, Dr Smith said some HMO landlords may choose to convert their properties into single dwellings.
He added that coastal towns must learn from cities like Birmingham and Leeds where areas dominated by HMO were abandoned by students.
'If coastal towns are going to be gentrified then people are going to be displaced,' he said. 'On the other hand, the changes to housing benefit could equally send them into further decline.'
]]>Northern Ireland's legacy of conflict and sectarian divisions has masked growing social problems, according to a think tank.
A report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) says the hallmarks of conflict remain an important factor in social breakdown in Northern Ireland, but adds the province faces a set of social problems 'entirely in common' with the rest of the UK.
In the sequel to its Breakthrough Britain report, the CSJ says 12 years on from the formation of the Northern Ireland Assembly it is time to look beyond the Troubles and address the province's 'crippling levels of social breakdown'.
The five drivers of poverty identified in Breakthrough Britain – welfare dependency, family breakdown, educational failure, drug and alcohol addiction, and debt ¬– have been exacerbated in Northern Ireland by sectarian strife, the report says.
It says the legacy of the Troubles has profoundly affected not only its governance, but its communities and individuals.
‘Many of those most profoundly affected by social breakdown have known severe disadvantage and heightened community conflict. As a result, there exists in Northern Ireland a fragility which can be seen in the high levels of interrelated worklessness, alcoholism and depression.’
The report says it has been estimated that around a quarter more people suffer from mental health disorders than they do in England and Scotland.
It adds that some parts of Northern Ireland suffer far worse levels of family breakdown than the national picture and that two-thirds of people have no or low qualifications.
But while this social breakdown may be more pronounced, the report says the fundamental need to tackle the underlying drivers of poverty and interrupt cycles of intergenerational social exclusion remains the same.
The study also finds many instances of outstanding work by volunteers and communities in Northern Ireland from which the rest of the UK can learn, and which place it in a better position to tackle some of the most difficult issues.
The report says the political system in Northern Ireland, primarily concerned with the necessity of delivering political stability, must begin to provide answers to the severe social problems outlined here – with the aim of reversing decades of social breakdown.
Gavin Poole, CSJ executive director, said 'Although social breakdown may be more pronounced in a society marred by a legacy of social division and conflict, the urgent need to tackle the causes of poverty remains the same.'
Quintin Oliver, adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in Northern Ireland, welcomed the report and said unless the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder realted to the Troubles is dealt with, the cycle of deprivation would continue.
He added: 'We have made significant tracks in the peace process and we should address those social issues that are not on the whole any different across these islands.'
]]>Two national organisations are consulting their members on a potential merger, which would bring together their expertise in community enterprise and social justice.
Bassac and the Development Trusts Association’s (DTA) merger proposals have won the backing of their trustees, with a formal decision depending on the approval of members. An extraordinary general meeting of each organisation will be held on 10 November.
The two organisations have already developed a strong partnership with each other over many years.
They have carried out joint policy activities, delivered programmes together such as Communitybuilders and the Safer Homes Fund, and were both founding members of the Community Alliance, alongside Community Matters.
Both organisations have loyal and growing memberships and the merger is intended to help serve an expanding community sector.
Steve Wyler, director of the DTA, described the consultation as an 'exciting development'. He said a merger would increase the influence of the two organisations and their ability to champion economic resilience and social justice for communities.
'Both organisations are in good shape – neither of us needs to do this,' he said. 'But we believe a merger could create something even stronger; a new organisation building on our combined track records to create a powerful force, not only to support community organisations nationwide but also to shape national and local policy.'
Ben Hughes, Bassac chief executive, said a new organisation would combine the skills and areas of expertise of its two individual parts. 'There’s a lot of scope for the new organisation to draw on Bassac’s history of pioneering social change and to be a real inspiration to the rest of the sector. Both Bassac and DTA share a belief in the power of local action and participation and have common values.'
Bassac is the national umbrella body for community organisations that offer a wide range of services to their communities, while the DTA helps people to set up development trusts.
Several organisations are already members of both networks, including Action Acton and Cambridge House in London, Birmingham Settlement in the West Midlands and North Doncaster Development Trust in South Yorkshire.
]]>Plans to redevelop London’s Greenwich Market have been unanimously opposed for a second time after councillors deemed them ‘completely out of keeping with the architecture of the town centre and not fitting for a World Heritage Site’.
The original application by site owners Greenwich Hospital Estates involved new shops, offices and a 104-bedroom hotel alongside a redeveloped market.
But the proposals for the market, which dates back to the 1800s, were unanimously rejected by the planning board in August last year amid fears the ‘scale and bulk represented an over-development of the site’ and would have an ‘unbalanced and dominant relationship with the existing urban fabric of the area’.
Greenwich Hospital appealed and in June this year submitted modifications including retaining and re-covering the market roof and changes to pavement surfacing and cladding the new hotel.
At a meeting last night councillors agreed that, while the alterations would mitigate some of the reasons for opposition, the revised scheme would still ‘result in substantial harm to the character and appearance of the West Greenwich Conservation Area, to the settings of a number of Grade II listed buildings … and to the significance of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site’.
Council leader Chris Roberts said: ‘The minor changes that the developers have proposed do not alter the council’s view that the scheme is completely out of keeping with the architecture of the town centre and not fitting for a World Heritage Site.’
Greenwich Hospital director Martin Sands said the developers were ‘very disappointed’, but would continue to work closely with local stakeholders and will meet professional advisers ‘to assess the next step’.
‘Despite this setback, we remain committed to Greenwich Market and will continue to support our stallholders and shops in the market through our Shop Greenwich campaign and in other ways,’ he said.
The planning appeal and the revised application will be considered at a planning inquiry overseen by an independent planning inspector starting on 7 September. Once the inquiry has concluded, the inspector will make recommendations to communities secretary Eric Pickles who will decide the appeal.
]]>An urban farm in Gateshead, a Croydon cemetery and an orchard in West Sussex are among the winners of an award celebrating innovation in green spaces.
The ten winners of special awards for innovation were announced today by the consortium running the Green Flag Award and Green Pennant Award.
The winners of these two awards recognising the best green spaces in the country are eligible to enter the Special Awards for Innovation, which highlights sites that are inspirational for their commitment to continuous improvement.
Among the winning schemes are a local park in Bromley offering accredited horticultural training to people with learning disabilities, a scheme in Hull providing free mobility scooters and adapted bikes to improve accessibility to a park and a community group in West Sussex that reintroduced a local variety of apple into their orchard.
The winners are:
Bill Quay Community Farm, Gateshead
Gateshead Council & Bill Quay Community Farm Association
Bromley Palace Park, London
Thyme Out Project
Croydon Cemetery, London
Croydon Council & The Shaw Trust
East Park, Hull
Hull Council
Manor Green Park, West Sussex
Manor Green Park Group
Moorlands Allotment Association, West Bromwich
Moorlands Allotment Association
Tarvin Community Woodland, Chester
Tarvin Community Woodland Trust
The Outwoods, Loughborough
Charnwood Council
Warley Woods, Smethwick
Warley Woods Community Trust
Yarrow Valley Country Park, Chorley
Chorley Council
The Green Flag Award Scheme is managed by a consortium, comprising Keep Britain Tidy, BTCV and GreenSpace.
]]>The British Urban Regeneration Association’s anticipated replacement must have a strong focus on local people and communities, continue a knowledge sharing function and embrace new technology, according to leading figures.
Following an announcement that the association was being wound up, a Bura spokesperson confirmed that ‘a new, fit for purpose vehicle’ is likely to be launched in September.
Regeneration figures say any new incarnation must be inclusive of smaller, local projects, continue to showcase best practice and adapt to new technology.
Richard McKeever, communications manager with Community Links and a former Bura awards judge, said he hoped the successor body would ensure ‘knowledge and experience built up by practitioners over many years can be shared between stakeholders’.
Mr McKeever said: ‘Whilst it is clear we are now operating in a very different political and economic climate, I believe there is an increasingly significant job to be done in connecting key players across the sectors - local government, community organisations and developers - to collaborate in ensuring effective regeneration makes a positive difference to the communities at the heart of physical redevelopment.’
Of Bura’s awards, he said: ‘It would be disappointing if this initiative, celebrating the vital role that local people have in resolving local issues, were to be lost.’
Groundwork UK suggested a replacement body should ‘broaden out the notion of regeneration from improving the physical urban landscape to looking at what towns and cities can do to encourage wellbeing amongst local people’.
Head of policy and communications Fiona Taylor said: ‘It's long been Groundwork's view that regeneration is about people as well as places - and the key to sustainable regeneration is connecting people with their existing or new surroundings. We would argue that quality green space in urban areas is as important as new or restored buildings for doing precisely this.
‘There is a perception around that most of the urgently needed physical regeneration has largely been done in recent years. Groundwork would argue that this is not so - and that, in fact, when you look beyond the shiny new town centres or out of town shopping malls and get to some of the streets where we work, nothing could be further from the truth.
‘Therefore a new Bura would still have plenty of space to fill in terms of keeping regeneration on the agenda in the widest possible sense.’
Imelda Havers, managing director of Bluefish Regeneration, argued the sector required ‘a clear voice and influencing role as never before’.
‘We need a new organisation which can be set up quickly to rise to these challenges,’ she said, ‘and it must be much more inclusive and representative of the breadth of the sector than the old style Bura.
‘This means taking up the cause of local communities across the UK, whether urban, rural or coastal, and working globally, using new generation technology to network and share best practice.’
Empty Shops Network founder Dan Thompson said the demise of ‘big boys’ such as Bura highlighted ‘a big split in the way the UK is being regenerated - old and big versus new and nimble’.
‘I'm sure there's important stuff in what they do,’ he said, ‘but at £750 a year I can't imagine many small, grassroots groups who are actually delivering regeneration can afford to join.’
Big organisations such as Bura’s successor needed to support ‘real grassroots regeneration not with money but with practical support’.
‘Social media has reduced the time to get projects started by making it quick and easy to access expert information, advice, support,’ he added. ‘I think the big establishment organisations need to find ways to be flexible and adaptable in this climate - otherwise, like Bura, they'll get left behind.’
]]>Visit England has chosen the landmark Dream sculpture in St Helens to launch its new national Place of Interest Quality Assurance Scheme (PIQAS).
The sculpture, created by international artist Jaume Plensa and which appeared in Channel 4’s Big Art TV series last year, is the first attraction in the northwest to gain the new Visit England accreditation.
Barrie Grunewald, cabinet member for culture, communications and town centre at St Helens Council said: ‘This reinforces Dream’s significance as a forward-looking symbol of the positive transformation of St Helens and the wider region, while highlighting the recognition the sculpture is gaining nationally and internationally for its artistic, technical, regeneration and tourism merits.’
PIQAS has been developed by Visit England to enhance quality and spread best practice within the tourism sector and will offer a consumer-focused quality assessment to identify strengths and highlight development areas for attractions and places of interest.
Ex-miners from the former Sutton Manor Colliery where Dream is sited were involved in the commissioning and development of the artwork, which was unveiled in May last year.
The 20ft white marble sculpture won the 2009 Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture and, more recently, a Civic Trust prize in March.
]]>The British Urban Regeneration Association’s ‘invaluable’ role as a champion of best practice must be salvaged, according to leading figures.
A social enterprise or mutual model could also help to strengthen Bura’s ‘fit for purpose’ replacement which is expected to be launched next month.
The association informed members today that it was starting voluntary liquidation proceedings, after its board agreed the time was right to ‘draw a line under Bura’.
In an email to members, chair Jackie Sadek said ‘a more radical approach’ was necessary, explaining: ‘In the last few months, we’ve undertaken a thorough review of the organisation and it is clear to us that the current model is no longer workable.’
Nigel Draper, head of neighbourhoods at Valleys to Coast Housing, admitted to being ‘shocked and yet not surprised’ at the news.
‘In the last 100 days or so we’ve seen the disappearance of many organisations that we’ve known and loved over the years,’ he said. ‘One of Bura’s key roles was its Community Inspired Regeneration Awards. Bura was one of the few organisations that looked at regeneration in terms of community and people – not just buildings, waterside developments and shopping centres.
‘They managed to look at things from a physical view, and did that very professionally, but never forgot that regeneration is about people and community.’
Renaisi’s head of policy and communications Donna Lightbown agreed: ‘The Bura business model may be bust but it is now more important than ever to have a coherent voice to fight the regeneration sector’s corner.
‘The work that Bura did in highlighting and spreading good practice and promoting the sector’s achievements was invaluable.’
In her email, Ms Sadek hinted at a replacement for Bura, revealing that ‘leading industry figures’ were working to develop a commercially viable model.
A Bura spokesperson later confirmed that while the ‘existing structure has not been doing it justice’, it would be ‘safe to assume that there is going to be a new, fit for purpose vehicle that’s likely to emerge in September’.
Responding to a potential Bura replacement, Mr Draper said: ‘The government seems to be looking to these sorts of organisations to create their own new organisations to follow on.
‘It’s an opportunity, as much as it saddens me to see the demise of Bura, to look at perhaps a social enterprise or a mutual model and with a degree more independence it might therefore be more sustainable in itself.’
Renaisi’s Ms Lightbown added: ‘We hope that what emerges next will continue in this vein but also recognise that regeneration isn’t just about development.
‘The social and community benefits that smaller agencies have delivered at the neighbourhood level are just as vital and should resonate even more strongly given where we are with the Big Society.’
]]>Educational achievement and open spaces have improved in east Manchester, while crime and unemployment levels have been reduced, according to the final evaluation of the area’s new deal for communities (NDC) programme.
The independent report, published today, says the NDC ‘achieved almost everything it set out to do’ and concludes the area has improved substantially since 1999.
Research undertaken by economic development and regeneration consultancy Ekosgen shows the programme’s efforts helped develop community spirit, ownership and involvement, leading to the NDC being recognised nationally as an example of good practice in community-led regeneration.
Commissioned by urban regeneration company New East Manchester (NEM) – which merged with the area’s NDC in 2007 – the evaluation consulted 150 residents and 25 stakeholders including Greater Manchester Police, North Manchester Primary Care Trust and Eastlands Homes.
Key findings included:
A small number of areas for improvement were highlighted including making residents healthier and ensuring ‘depth and quality’ of services despite the end of NDC funding.
Ekosgen also noted ‘the area is still fragile and regeneration has slowed down due to the recession’.
Manchester Council leader Jim Battle credited the NDC with making ‘an essential and lasting contribution to improving the east Manchester area’.
‘The combined effect of the changes means we have reversed a downward spiral and made the area more sustainable, bringing enormous benefits to local people now and in the future,’ he said.
‘We recognise there is still a great deal that needs to be done but the work undertaken over the past decade has given us solid foundations which we must now build on.’
A succession strategy is now being taken forward.
The government’s £2bn NDC programme was launched in 1998 with the aim of reducing the gap between 39 of the UK’s most deprived neighbourhoods and the rest of the country.
Earlier this year, the Institute of Economic Development warned the incoming government against abandoning investment in vulnerable neighbourhoods like NDCs to avoid undermining progress made over the last decade.
]]>Environmental organisations have written to the government expressing concern over proposed changes to national planning policy.
In the letter to planning minister Greg Clark, representatives from organisations including the Environmental Industries Commission and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, express concern over any withdrawal of planning policy statement 23 (PPS23).
The environmental specialists say PPS23, which covers planning and pollution control, has played a ‘critically important and positive role’ in the regeneration of brownfield sites.
The letter strongly recommends retaining key elements of PPS23 in any new guidance, to avoiding risking ‘a return to the unplanned (and potentially unsafe) redevelopment of brownfield sites that took place up until the relatively recent past’.
The government plans to reform national planning policy with a consolidated national planning framework, covering all forms of development and setting out ‘national economic, environmental and social priorities’.
But the letter’s signatories argue that PPS23 has provided ‘clarity’ and ‘a welcome model approach’.
Other recommendations include:
A market redevelopment project in London that could have stalled as a result of government funding cuts has secured a £13m boost.
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) funding will enable work on the £180m Rathbone Market project, in the Canning Town and Custom House area, to begin.
The cash for the scheme – which will provide 650 new homes, a revitalised market and retail and community facilities - had previously been at risk following funding cuts.
But the project is now expected to start this autumn, with Newham Council working with development partner English Cities Fund to take the scheme forward.
Conor McAuley, executive member for regeneration and strategic planning, said: ‘The regeneration of this area is one of the greatest priorities for Newham Council.
‘We have been working very hard with our partners and developers to secure the future of the project. The plans will radically transform the area into a thriving place of choice for existing and new residents and businesses.’
Jonathan Martin, HCA head of area for east London, added: ‘The HCA has worked closely with Newham Council to ensure that this important housing project can get back on track and the council’s wider housing objectives can be met. I’m sure local people will welcome the addition of new community facilities to their area.’
Contractors will begin enabling works in the next few weeks, with a target of completing the first new homes in 2012.
]]>A ‘non-graduate talent pool’ would benefit business, the economy and at-risk young people including Neets (not in employment, education or training), according to new research.
Think tank Demos is calling for a reward scheme for employers to help get disadvantaged young people into work placements normally dominated by the middle classes.
Access all areas says a ‘pay-back’ scheme should be offered to businesses that offer quality internships to Neets, young offenders and care leavers, if the intern secures stable employment within a year of completing their placement.
Demos suggests rewarding employers with between £1,000 and £5,000 for every successful intern who moves from welfare into work would help mitigate the £120,000 each Neet costs the state annually.
The report, published by the Foyer Federation, also recommends reviewing Job Seeker’s Allowance to ensure the system does not disincentivise young people, and introducing a nationwide internship network allowing companies to share experiences of working with disadvantaged young people.
Demos director and report co-author Julia Margo said: ‘Internships are about who you know and what you know – you need contacts and qualifications. But they should be seen primarily as a way to learn.
‘Getting at-risk young people into internships will go a long way to giving them the opportunities and aspirations open to middle class graduates – we should think of them as a “non-graduate talent pool”.’
Foyer Federation chief executive Jane Slowey added: ‘Targeted investment in talent-building approaches can reap significant returns and benefits by helping young people and their services and communities, to unlock unused potential.’