The facts
Location: New Cross Gate, London Borough of
Lewisham
Client: New Cross Gate New Deal for
Communities
Start date: February 2008
Completion date: July 2008
Project Value: £15k
Procurement method: Sub-contracter to Griffin
Research & Consultancy after a direct approach
The project
New Deal for Communities (NDC) is a government funded
programme to deliver regeneration across a wide range of social,
environmental and economic objectives in one of the most deprived
wards in England.
The New Cross Gate-NDC regeneration strategy recognises the need
to focus on the reduction of crime, (and the fear of crime) and the
improvement of the local environment and how it is perceived by
local residents. The NDC have funding available to develop and
implement projects designed to affect an improvement in these areas
however, work is needed to establish how it should be directed and
prioritised.
Capita Symonds and Griffin Research & Consultancy were
commissioned by New Cross Gate NDC to provide:
- an assessment of current and future environmental and design
factors influencing crime, anti-social behaviour and fear of crime
in New Cross Gate;
- an action plan for addressing those factors including measures
to improve the environment and its management; and
- an analysis of transport-influenced and school-travel related
crime and anti-social behaviour and an action plan to alleviate
such generated crime and anti-social behaviour.
We wanted to understand why people felt some areas were less
safe than others and why people chose particular routes through the
area than others? We interviewed a range of local stakeholders
including young offenders, primary school children, local residents
and community wardens to understand their perceptions of crime and
the link it has to the local environment.
We were able to gain an insight into the locational preferences
for crime from the young offenders which revealed important issues
in the local environment that were providing opportunities for
crime and concealment. We used mapping exercises and a workshop to
facilitate stakeholders to think about their local area and what
they think would help to improve it.
We were able to test these locational preferences and the
feedback from the wider stakeholder group on the safety of the area
as a whole through a series of field exercises using a method known
as Crime Opportunity Profiling of Streets (COPS).
COPS is a systematic and detailed study of a street and
interfaces with the street which suffer from crime and the fear of
crime. COPS identifies built and environmental features that
offer actual and opportunities to commit crime or generate fear of
crime. It is based on the principles of Crime Prevention Through
Environmental Design (CPTED).
From the workshops, mapping exercise and COPS, we were able to
demonstrate to stakeholders the importance of the environment to
community safety and crime reduction. Its management, design and
upkeep have far reaching benefits apart from improving aesthetic
appearances.
We were able to recommend design and management measures that
could make areas feel tangibly safer and lead to a better quality
of life for residents. The schools were made more aware of the
safety and crime issues related to journeys their pupils take to
and from school and highlighted a problem with gangs that they are
now seeking to address.