Neighbourhood Wardens
Neighbourhood Wardens Scheme Implementation Plan Guidance
Although this guidance refers to previous schemes, it remains good practice for reference purposes.
2. IDENTIFYING COMMUNITY NEEDS AND PROBLEMS
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 Successful schemes are built upon a good understanding of both the local problems that need to be addressed and the root causes of these problems. PAT 18 (Better Information) concluded that the availability of detailed information about an area leads to a more accurate diagnosis of problems; resulting in more effective strategy development, service design and delivery at the local level.
2.1.2 Neighbourhood warden schemes need to reflect the particular features of the local community (such as ethnic background and age range of residents) and geographic area (eg housing types, street layout, etc) that will be covered by the scheme. They need to reflect the needs and aspirations of the local community and be able to respond to the problems and challenges that are specific to that area.
2.1.3 It is therefore important that background (contextual) information about the target area should be collected, as well as information about the key problems to be addressed in the area. This should be informed by consultation with the local community.
2.1.4 Neighbourhood warden schemes should support and complement other existing or planned activity in the area to ensure a joined up approach to tackling problems. Information about other activity in the area is therefore also required.
2.1.5 This information will be needed for the setting of locally relevant objectives and the creation of appropriate strategies for meeting these objectives. It will also be needed for target setting, evaluating the scheme and monitoring the performance of the scheme against the baseline data.
2.1.6 In summary, effective scheme development will require the collection of information on:
-
the target area and local community (including contextual information)
-
local needs and problems
-
Other existing and planned policies, strategies and activity that relate to the target area.
2.1.7 This information should be included in the SIP, as set out in the following sections.
2.2 The Target Area and Local Community
2.2.1 Section 2.1 of the SIP requires scheme managers to describe the target area and then provide basic descriptive information about the area in Section 2.2. Section 2.1 should describe the geographic location of the area, including its relation to ward, police beat or other local boundaries (such as Single Regeneration Budget or New Deal for Communities area boundaries). It should also provide a brief summary of the nature of the area, including a description of the type and quality of housing, land use (eg does the area include local shops, parks, schools, etc) and relevant information about the local community. Please provide a map of the target area.
2.2.2 Scheme managers should record the various different types of tenure (owner-occupied, council-owned, rented from housing association, privately-rented) within the area and indicate what percentage of households all within each of these categories. This should include a list of housing associations that own or manage property within the area.
2.3 Local Needs and Problems
2.3.1 Section 2.3 of the SIP should provide a summary of the main problems within the target area, together with supporting evidence. The supporting information will also act as the baseline of local problems and needs against which the impact of the scheme can be assessed (Section 7). The baseline data therefore needs to include information related to their outcome performance indicators. Examples of appropriate baseline data against which performance can be assessed may include the vehicle crime rate prior to the introduction of the scheme, the level of residents' satisfaction with the area as a place to live, levels of vandalism to property, level of usage of public amenities, information related to environmental problems, or measures of deprivation in the area.
2.3.2 Baseline information about local needs and problems should be gathered under the headings shown in the following table, which reflect the range of possible key functions for neighbourhood wardens identified in PAT 6. The table also provides examples of the sort of information that should be gathered. Scheme managers should add other locally relevant problems as necessary.
|
CATEGORY |
EXAMPLES OF POSSIBLE DATA |
|
Crime (and fear of crime) |
Crime rates |
|
Anti-social behaviour (including disorderly or nuisance behaviour) |
‘youth nuisance’ |
|
Environment |
Noise problems |
|
Housing |
Housing voids |
|
Other community problems |
Insert other local problems identified in the bid, eg drugs, bullying, quality of life etc (if relevant) |
2.3.3 The Crime and Disorder Act (1998) required the establishment of multi-agency Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP) in each local authority area in England and Wales. The partnerships were required to develop a strategy for tackling crime and disorder in their area based upon an audit of local problems. These audits provide detailed information about crime and disorder problems and are therefore a useful source of information. All information should be dated and sourced.
2.3.4 Baseline crime data should include burglary, vehicle crime and violent crime rates (all of which are Best Value performance indicators for the police and local authorities) and any crimes that have been identified as local priorities by the CDRP. Baseline crime data should also include information about criminal damage, because of its environmental impact, and racially aggravated offences. Information about fires and arson (deliberate or otherwise) is available from local fire services.
2.3.5 Police forces also record information about anti-social or nuisance behaviour, disorderly conduct and other incidents that may not be criminal offences but can have an impact on the quality of life of local residents. Categorisation of such incidents varies between police forces and the information is not as rigorously audited as recorded crime data. Discussions with the local police will reveal what categories are used locally. Information about anti-social behaviour is also collated by other agencies such as the local authority, Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABx), registered social landlords, fire service (eg hoax calls), etc.
2.3.6 Information on environmental and housing problems will mainly come from the local authority and any registered social landlords (RSLs) that own or manage housing in the area, although information should be available from other sources, eg CABx. Consultation with the community (discussed further below) should also yield information about environmental and housing matters.
2.3.7 Information should also be collected on other community problems, including drugs, bullying (where relevant), quality of life indicators and other locally identified areas of risk identified in the bid. Further information about deprivation measures is available in a working paper produced to inform the work of Policy Action Team 18 on ‘Better Information’ entitled “measuring deprivation – a review of indices in common use”. This should be recorded in Section 2.3 of the SIP.
2.4 Community Involvement
2.4.1 The support and full involvement of local residents is fundamental to the effective development and implementation of any scheme. Community engagement can also have benefits in terms of increased co-operation with the scheme and other spin-off benefits in terms of increasing self-confidence, improving community cohesion and reducing social exclusion. If schemes are to respond to public concerns, there needs to be genuine community engagement at an early stage of the process.
2.4.2 Schemes should be grounded in the views, needs and expectations of the local community, rather than that of external agencies. Wherever possible, the summary and accompanying baseline data should draw upon the results of consultation with the local community, including hard to reach groups, and include information gathered through formal consultation exercises such as surveys, focus groups and public meetings.
2.4.3 The local community should not be limited to being involved in identifying problems but should also be involved in the solutions to problems. The local community should be involved in all stages, from problem identification, through option appraisal to scheme design, development and implementation. This could also include a management role such as, for example, representation on the Steering Group.
2.4.4 Scheme managers need to consider ways of over-coming the potential barriers that exist to community involvement, for example lack of trust, confidence and motivation of local residents or disability, caring responsibilities, etc (see the report on community self-help from Policy Action Team 9). In particular, there may be a need for training and support for local community members to give them the skills or confidence to be involved in the process (community capacity building).
2.4.5 Scheme managers must consider how they are going to engage with the local community. Objectives and targets may be set for community involvement and a set of community engagement principles may be drawn up (for example, Chapter 4 PAT 9) and included within the scheme’s standard operating procedures or protocols. For example, there should be clarity of relationships, with recognition of obligations of both agencies and the community. Steps taken, or planned, to engage the community in solutions to local problems should be identified in the SIP.
2.4.6 Steps that have been taken to consult with and involve the local community should be described in Section 2.4 of the SIP. It is important that warden schemes are representative of the communities they serve and that the schemes benefit the whole community - including minority groups. Scheme managers should also consider the Social Exclusion Unit report “Minority Ethnic Issues in Social Exclusion and Neighbourhood Renewal”. Given the importance of adopting an inclusive approach, scheme managers are also asked to detail the specific steps that have been taken to consult with hard to reach groups within Section 2.4 of the SIP.
2.5 Other Policies, Strategies and Activity
2.5.1 It is important to identify how local problems are already being addressed by other activity in the area to ensure that the neighbourhood warden scheme complements and supports existing (or planned) activity. This is essential for developing joined up solutions to problems. Particular attention should be paid to the work of the CDRP and regeneration partnerships. This information should be recorded in Section 2.5 of the SIP.
2.6 Data Collection Problems
Any anticipated data problems should be described in Section 2.6 of the SIP. For example, some statistics may not be readily available for schemes whose coverage does not correspond with ward boundaries. Any steps to overcome data collection problems should also be discussed in this section, with a date by which the gaps in data will be filled. Steps may include the drafting of local information sharing protocols. The PAT 18 on ‘Better Information’ may provide guidance on overcoming data collection problems.
Last update: 27/08/03