Neil Fraser
17th May 2002
My friend Alan Tallentire, the chief executive of the London-based Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) which operates out of London, invited me to chair the ATCM Scotland Conference "Investing in our Town and City Centres" which was held in the historic Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh.
The next day I had to speak at a 'Neighbourhood Renewal Unit' Conference entitled "Wardens and Liveability - the International Experience."
Both conferences focused largely on the establishment of Improvement Districts. England has evidently taken the decision to promulgate national enabling legislation and Scotland, now with its own parliament, appears to be following close behind.
Because of their historic approach to urban management, the likelihood is that their CIDs will be jointly financed by public and private sectors and probably managed by the local authority in partnership with business.
The London conference proved to be extremely interesting. It stems from the establishment of the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) by the government in December 1997. The Unit is located in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister through which it reports to Tony Blair - thus emphasising the importance with which the initiative is viewed.
'Social exclusion' is a British shorthand for what can happen when people or an area suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown.
In the past, UK governments have developed policies that have tried to deal with each of the problems of social exclusion individually. But there has been little success in tackling the complicated linkages between them, or preventing them from arising in the first place.
The SEU seeks to do so by producing "joined-up solutions to joined-up problems". Subsequently the 'Neighbourhood Renewal Unit' (NRU) was established as an outcome of "The National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal".
In a foreword to the National Strategy, Tony Blair writes: "When we came into office, we inherited a country where hundreds of neighbourhoods were scarred by unemployment, educational failure and crime. They had become progressively more cut off from the prosperity and opportunities that most of us take for granted. Communities were breaking down. Public services were failing. People had started to lose hope.
"That is why I asked the Social Exclusion Unit to work on developing a new and integrated approach to reverse this decline. My vision is of a nation where no-one is seriously disadvantaged by where they live, where power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of many not the few. This Action Plan is a crucial step in creating one nation, not separated by class, race or where people live."
The NRU oversees the implementation of the National Strategy and is the umbrella body for a number of regeneration initiatives including the Neighbourhood and Street Warden's Programme. The programme invited a number of CID practitioners to provide input on our local experiences plus a number of persons involved in various aspects of policing.
Barbara Roche, the Minister of State for Social Exclusion, delivered the welcome address while the keynote address was presented by Sally Keeble, the Under Secretary of State for Regeneration. Both ministers stressed the high priority the government places on this initiative.
Apart from the American, Australian and South African input, Professor George Kelling (co-author of "Broken Windows") gave an overview of the failure and subsequent resurgence in American policing. The Deputy Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Force, Ian Blair, spoke about the role of wardens in relation to the Metropolitan Police.
So what's it all about? Listening to Barbara Roche describing the local problems, it sounded as if she was talking about South Africa and not England. She described the
Neighbourhood Renewal Programme as a 'massive sustained initiative' over the
next 20 years to 'narrow the gap between the most deprived
neighbourhoods and the best ones'.
She talked about areas where there was widespread unemployment, sub-standard education, poor housing and significant health problems. She confessed that the poorest communities receive the lowest services and that decent minimum standards, 'floor targets' for service delivery had to be set and that these were being measured and monitored.
She equated 'floor targets' with minimum wage levels - 'the creation of a benchmark below which service provision would be unacceptable'. The programme was designed to be driven by the communities themselves.
Building on this introduction, Sally Keeble said there would be 200 registered warden schemes in place by the end of this year. These schemes would employ 1 100 wardens and
would cost 43.5-million pounds a year. The funding is provided to NGOs who bid for the funds but they have to be supported by local government or local agencies on a 1 to 1 basis. The
programme would focus on 'taking back public space' so that communities can experience a sense of ownership of public spaces - "regeneration isn't done to local people, it is done with local people; it will show that the public authorities do care and that they are prepared to tackle social and economic issues that create deprivation".
Ian Blair spelt out how crime was skyrocketing in London. He said 999 emergency calls have increased from one million to two-and-a-half million in the London area! There has been a 'massive rise' in street robberies and 'car-jacking'. He asserted that there are clear links between these crimes and gangs, drugs and murder.
He and Kelling agreed and emphasised that there is a proven linkage between quality of life issues, disorder and serious crime. If you do not deal with the minor quality of life issues, the probability is that the perpetrator will end up engaging in violent crimes. "The jerk who mugs someone today will commit serious crime tomorrow".
The dichotomisation (his word not mine!) of police attention that concentrates the best police personnel on serious crimes and leaves minor misdemeanours to less experienced police is short-sighted and entirely wrong.
So, what are wardens? There are evidently two types, Neighbourhood and Street. The former is a uniformed, semi-official presence in a residential area whose aim is to improve the quality of life; promote community safety, assist with environmental improvements and housing management and contribute to community development. They have the support of local residents and key agencies such as the police.
Street wardens on the other hand, are highly visible uniformed patrols in town and village centres, public areas and neighbourhoods who focus more on caring for the physical
appearance of an area. They tackle environmental problems such as litter, graffiti and dog fouling as well as promoting community safety. They also help to deter anti-social behaviour; reduce the fear of crime and foster social inclusion.
In many ways they are very similar to our CID security officers/City Ambassadors. They are not government employees but are employed by the NGOs who are funded through the grants.
Do they have any specific powers? The jury is still out on that one - some police feel that they should have limited powers to optimise effectiveness, while many others, including most wardens themselves, do not want to have any police powers.
They feel that they will be perceived as police which will not be helpful in dealing with their particular social issues, they want to be seen more as an extension of the community.
Do they provide a lead for us? I think it is a model well worth examining in detail because our problems are identical but far more widespread. Whether our communities would accept this approach is questionable and the bottom line is sustainable funding.
The Australian report was on community 'night patrols', an approach evidently fairly widespread in Aboriginal communities that may have lessons for us.
On the last day of the conference we met to discuss the possibility of establishing an international 'Warden network'. I will keep you informed of developments on this front.
