Memorandum submitted by Groundwork
We welcome the opportunity to submit a response
to this inquiry on sustainable housing. As a leading environmental
regeneration charity, Groundwork delivers projects which contribute
to creating sustainable homes and neighbourhoods. We want to use
this submission to contribute some of our thinking, developed
from practical experience of housing projects, and in particular
to share with the Committee a case study which demonstrates how
sustainable housing can be achieved.
GROUNDWORK
Groundwork is a federation of 50 locally owned
Groundwork Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, between
them working with over 100 local authorities to deliver "joined-up"
solutions to the challenges faced by our most deprived communities.
Groundwork has 24 years' experience of engaging and involving
communities in practical projects to improve quality of life and
promote sustainable development.
Each Groundwork Trust is a partnership between
the public, private and voluntary sectors, with its own board
of trustees. The work of the Trusts is supported by the national
and regional offices of Groundwork UK and Groundwork Wales. Groundwork
works closely with the Government and devolved assemblies, local
authorities, RDAs and businesses. Groundwork also receives support
from the European Union, the National Lottery, private sponsors
and charitable foundations.
Groundwork's projects are organised into local,
regional or national programmes embracing six themes: communities,
land, employment, education, youth and business. Groundwork recognises
that people, places and prosperity are inextricably linked and
therefore aims to design projects that bring benefits for all
three at once. We believe this integrated approach is vital if
we are to bring about sustainable development.
GROUNDWORK AND
HOUSING
1. Groundwork has long recognised and called
for housing policy to be seen in the context of neighbourhoods
and the environment. The ODPM's sustainable communities plan has
been an important step forward in recognising this and we are
working with the Government to help deliver the Plan. Much of
Groundwork's activity has relevance to housing policy and practice,
and the core of our activity is about working in neighbourhoods
to make them better places to live.
1.1 We work in some of the most deprived
areas of the UK, often housing estates, to engage and empower
local communities to help them make their area better. This includes
creating facilities, creating high quality green spaces, and helping
to improve the housing stock. We have been active in the low demand
areas and have been working with Pathfinder organisations to contribute
to their housing market renewal programmes. In those areas we
seek to assist the process through our community consultation
work; seeking to engage communities in the process. We also work
to make those areas better places to live—to regenerate
the land around the houses to help create a sustainable neighbourhood.
1.2 Groundwork also works in the south east
and is involved in helping to deliver the ODPM's "Greening
the Gateway" plan. The growth areas present a number of challenges
not least ensuring that we are not only creating housing but also
creating places where people want to live. The Greening the Gateway
strategy seeks to ensure that sustainability and the environment
are part of the strategy for the growth areas. The provision of
green space and the quality of the built environment are central
to this.
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
2. In the UK we face relative scarcity of
land, and there is social and political pressure to provide more
housing. The need to build more homes in areas where demand for
land is high, obviously creates environmental issues and these
are currently the subject of debate between pressure groups, developers
and public bodies. However there are also environmental issues
for areas where there is low demand. Here there may be a surplus
of housing which is often in need of refurbishment to bring it
up to decent living standards and is generally a long way from
what could be considered "sustainable". It is vital
that those taking forward national and regional housing strategies,
in growth areas and low demand areas, embrace sustainable development
principles if we are to create truly "sustainable communities".
2.1 Current Government policy on housing
has placed a lot of emphasis on new-build. However, while there
is a need for new homes, the bigger challenge for creating sustainable
housing is dealing with the existing housing stock. Much of the
UK's housing stock is old and often in need of repair. The Government
is working to improve the quality of homes through their decent
home standard programme which includes measures to make the homes
more sustainable, such as introducing double glazing, replacing
old boilers etc. However more work could be done to encourage
sustainable homes, particularly those under housing association
and local authority ownership. More support, advice and finance
needs to be available to improve the environmental quality of
homes.
2.2 Groundwork has worked with housing associations
and local authorities to help create sustainable homes, both helping
to get empty homes back into use and to refurbish existing stock.
The following case study demonstrates that with the appropriate
use of resources this can be done alongside creating employment
training programmes and can help improve skill levels in the community
and create local employment—helping to create a truly sustainable
community.[21]
CASE STUDY
Groundwork Creswell has created "the Greenhouse
initiative" which is supported by the Energy Saving Trust's
innovation programme, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, the Learning
and Skills Council and the European Social Fund. The project brings
empty properties back into use and at the same time makes them
sustainable buildings. This not only restores vacant property
but also ensures that the houses use a wide range of energy saving
devices and renewable energy measures, reducing fuel costs and
cutting carbon emissions. The project is delivered by Groundwork
Creswell's trading arm—Crestra Ltd, working in partnership
with housing associations in the coalfield areas of Nottinghamshire,
Derbyshire and South Yorkshire. The improvements, which include
insulation, solar hot water and a rain harvesting system, far
exceed current building regulations. They also tackle fuel poverty
by lowering heating bills.
The initiative not only ensures more sustainable
homes, it also provides work for local people. The work to redesign
and rebuild properties is carried out by the long-term unemployed,
providing them with the skills and experience to re-enter the
workplace.
2.3 Creating homes which minimise the impact
on the environment requires education, training and knowledge
throughout the construction industry about sustainable development
and about new technologies which can help to minimise the impact
of homes on the environment. Groundwork is pioneering the delivery
of a sustainable development qualification which could provide
a model for helping to improve skills and knowledge both in housing
associations, local authorities and in the construction sector.
The NCFE Foundation Certificate in Sustainable Development is
the first foundation level qualification of its kind, and was
developed in conjunction with Groundwork, the Environment Agency
and the Black Environment Network. This is an ideal qualification
for raising people's awareness of sustainable development and
enables people to demonstrate this awareness through their actions
at home and in the workplace. Groundwork has successfully delivered
training to Housing Association staff and residents' groups in
the North West of England, and aims to roll out training in order
to meet national demand.
Functional Green Infrastructure
3.1 The Government's housing policy, both in
the growth areas and the low demand areas, recognises the need
to integrate green spaces into the planning of communities. To
create sustainable housing and neighbourhoods, we also need to
ensure that the management of these spaces is integral to these
plans and that the land in between and around houses is used in
a sustainable way which benefits the community.
3.2 The pressure on land and the demand for
housing, particularly in the growth areas, means that there is
a danger that green spaces in and around urban areas are squeezed
out. The demand for housing means that green space is often lost
in favour of higher density housing, with gardens often replaced
by car parking. A recent publication by the Countryside Agency
and Groundwork offered a "vision" for managing land
in and around urban areas, including those areas where there is
a high demand for housing. "The Countryside in and Around
Towns" sets our how we can make the best use of our green
spaces in and around urban areas to help make them sustainable
and relieve the pressure of urban development.
3.3 One way of easing environmental pressures
created by more housing is to create higher density urban areas
with sufficient "green lungs"—easily accessible
green open space. CABE Space's publication "The Value of
Public Space" demonstrates the range of outcomes—environmental,
social, and economic—that can be achieved by ensuring that
high-quality and accessible green space forms an integral part
of urban design. We would also like government to adopt English
Nature's Urban Greenspace Standards which recommend that there
should be an accessible natural greenspace less than 300 metres
(5 minutes' walk) from every home.
3.4 The EAC is right to question whether government
is doing enough to secure the timely provision of infrastructure
such as transport links, schools and hospitals. But in addition
to this, government also needs to ensure that sufficient planning
and provision has been made for functional green infrastructure
a linked network of well-managed and varied green spaces on a
scale which can provide environmental protection and ecological
continuity as well as enhancing the quality of life of residents.
3.5 Green infrastructure is essential for air
quality, water resource management, physical shelter and waste
management and equal consideration should be given to it alongside
other infrastructure requirements. The government has done exactly
this with the "Greening the Gateway" plan for the Thames
Gateway area, but it should also be a focus for all regeneration/development
areas, particularly the Housing Market Renewal areas where accessible
green space has a central role to play in securing successful
and sustainable economic and social regeneration. The following
case study demonstrates how management of natural resources has
helped to enhance a key housing growth area; protecting a natural
habitat and resource, and ultimately helping to ensure housing
development is sustainable.
CASE STUDY:
MANAGING THE
MARSHES, GROUNDWORK
KENT THAMES-SIDE
The Managing the Marshes project aims to secure the
long-term future of Dartford, Crayford and Erith Marshes. The
project started in 1997 when it was recognised that the natural
and historic heritage of the Marshes was in danger of being lost
following years of neglect. This was at a time when the imminent
start of the Thames Gateway project underlined the need for high-quality,
multi- functional open space in the area.
The diverse ditch networks and riverbanks in the
Marshes provide important habitats that support many rare and
protected species. Without appropriate water level management,
many of these habitats and species would be lost.
Recent development in the area has isolated the Marshes
from surrounding green spaces, which has diminished the ability
of the area to recover following a serious flood incident. With
the predicted rise in sea level in the Thames estuary, heavier
winter rainfalls and the accelerating pace of development in the
area, the Marshes provide an ever more vital role in flood risk
management. Hundreds of homes and many local and multi-national
businesses would be threatened by inappropriate water management.
Following extensive consultation, a partnership was
established which included landowners, local residential communities,
local authorities, English Nature, the Environment Agency, Wildlife
Trusts and RSPB and Groundwork Trusts.
As a result, Environment Agency Water Level Management
Plans have been adopted to address these issues. The Marshes are
now recognised as a key biodiversity and community resource for
the Thames Gateway. A suite of integrated management plans has
been produced and the project features in wider initiatives including
the Thames Gateway Green Grid concept and north Kent Regional
Park proposals. Managing the Marshes has been allocated up to
£1.6 million from the Sustainable Communities Fund and partners
are working to secure the first part of Dartford Marshes into
public ownership.
The demand for housing will inevitably create
environmental pressures and challenges for policy makers in finding
the appropriate balance between the need to create new homes and
protecting the environment. There is a danger that with the political
pressure to create more housing, the need to look at making new
and existing housing more sustainable, and ways to help reduce
the impact of house-building on the environment, will be side-lined.
More attention also needs to be focused on how we integrate and
manage green space around housing and how we maximise the use
of land in and around developments. Our projects demonstrate that
there are new and innovative ways that this can be done which
supports sustainability and helps to create places where people
want to live.
November 2005
21 "The Countryside In and Around Towns"-Countryside
Agency and Groundwork (8: A Place for Sustainable Living). Back
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