Memorandum by Mr Michael Clare (AH 03)
I am a retired Police Officer of 30 years service
and am currently employed as a civilian employee by Thames Valley
Police as a Crime Prevention Design Adviser. The particular parts
of the enquiry that I am interested in are:
1. The extent to which home purchase tackles
social and economic inequalities and reduces poverty.
2. Other factors influencing the affordability
of housing for sale including construction methods and fiscal
measures.
I would like to make the following submission:
Sustainability is a key factor especially the
need for residents to feel safe and secure in their home environment.
This aids social cohesiveness by reducing the fear of crime. At
the present time building regulations do not cover the security
of dwellings. However its safety and security can be achieved
by the implementation of the Home Office and Chief of Police Officers
(ACPO) Secured By design Award.
1. Often on reports submitted to Planning
Departments regarding various applications, I am also making mention
of access control to blocks of flats, and securing the rear garden
etc, etc. These items I mention because they affect the security
of a dwelling and thus make it more sustainable, and reduce the
fear of crime for residents and users. However the planning departments
do not see these as planning issues and the hope is the developer
will be a responsible citizen and include them in the build of
the development should it succeed in gaining planning permission.
However unfortunately not all developers are responsible citizens
and look to save money by building to the cheapest specification,
(ie the cheapest windows, doors and locks, etc).
The Council have control over the trees on a
site, the bricks and roofing tiles that are used, the road layout,
etc, but appear to have no control over what standard of windows
and doors will be fitted, or they appear to not wish to have.
I have even seen plans where developers list the colour of the
windows and guttering but no mention about security.
2. PPS 1 which was published in February
2005, says about "Delivering Sustainable Development":
(a) para 27 (ii)—Promote urban
and rural regeneration to improve the well being of communities,
improve facilities, promote high quality and safe development
and create new opportunities for people living in those communities.
. .
(b) para 27 (iii)—Promote communities
which are inclusive, healthy, safe and crime free. . .
(c) para 36—create safe and accessible
environments where crime and disorder of fear of crime does not
undermine quality of life or community cohesion. . .
(d) para 34—Good design should
contribute positively to making places better for people. Design
which is inappropriate in its context, or which fails to take
the opportunities available for improving the character and quality
of an area and the way it functions, should not be accepted.
(e) para 37—In planning for the
achievement of high quality and inclusive design, planning authorities
should have regard to good practice set out in:
By Design—Urban design in the planning
system: towards better practice;
By Design—better places to live;
Safer Places—The Planning System and
Crime Prevention; . . .
3. Quoting from page 34 of "Safer
Places—The Planning System and Crime Prevention",
"The `Secured By Design' initiative offers in-depth advice
on physical protection as part of a broad approach to designing
out crime. It also sets out technical standards for building security
. . . it forms an essential part of the crime prevention toolkit".
3.1 Part of my role as a Crime Prevention
Design Advisor for Thames Valley Police is to deal with applications
for the "Secured By Design" award which is to advise
the applicant on development layout, what is required as regards
the build quality, (all with a view to designing out the potential
for crime to occur) and visit the premises just prior to completion
and inspect for issue of the certificate. This award is applied
for by Housing Associations and Councils for all new and refurbished
social housing. The award is supported by the Mortgage Corporation
that lends money to Housing Associations to build new & refurbish
existing dwellings by requiring them to try and achieve the award.
For information the "Secured By Design" award is run
nationally by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO).
3.2 My colleagues and I would like to see
private housing apply for the award but unfortunately this is
a rarity and unfortunately there is now a disparity between private
and social housing as regards the build quality, with private
housing invariably built to a lesser standard. This is a social
inequality and is contrary to the inclusive planning policies
of the new planning policy statements and good practise guidance
in documents such as "By Design Urban design in the planning
system" which require that affordable and open market dwellings
should not be distinguishable from each other and it is the policy
of Thames Valley Police not to discriminate against any section
of the community on the basis of their housing type. Yesterday
I went to see a developer about the Secured By Design Award for
the Social Housing on a new site, but they did not wish it for
the rest of the development. Experience and having inspected other
sites previously, tells me that the standard of windows and doors
will be to a lesser standard to that in the Social Housing.
3.3 On page 49 of the document "Safer
Places—The Planning System and Crime Prevention",
under Planning application stage it says, "All planning applications
should demonstrate how crime prevention measures have been considered."
Although it is a rarity for an applicant to consider crime prevention
measures.
4. From the above it is clear that ODPM
sees crime as an issue to be addressed at the planning stage.
In fact section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires
all local authorities to exercise their functions with due regard
to their likely effect on crime and disorder, and do all they
reasonably can to prevent crime and disorder. Whereas Planning
Inspectors when conducting planning appeals were not bound by
this section which caused problems in the past, it is my understanding
that they have been told it now applies to them as well.
5. The document "Safer Places—The
Planning System and Crime Prevention" which was published
in March 2004, is not solely about crime prevention. It is about
making places that are safer, but also better in a number of ways.
This means it is concerned with the promotion of safe, sustainable
and attractive environments that meet the full set of planning
objectives.
6. In the "Draft South East Plan Part
1: Core Regional Policies—July 2005", says: "2.8
Design Quality—The importance of high quality design is
emphasised in national planning policy (PPS 1), which encourages
local authorities to establish clear design policies and principles.
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
plays a key role in raising design standards by raising awareness,
disseminating good practice and developing professional skills
in relation to design. The Assembly is working closely with them.
Further sources of guidance and good practice are listed in Box
BE1 overleaf." I reproduce this box below:
As can be seen the documents: Safer Places-The
Planning System and Crime Prevention; & By Design-Better
Places to live; are mentioned, besides being mentioned in
PPS.1
7. What I would like to see is a requirement
for the build quality of dwellings to be to the Secured By Design
award standard. Thus the build quality would be the same throughout,
with no particular part of the community being prejudiced against.
Also because windows, doors etc are to be to the relevant British
Standard as specified in the award scheme, the building is more
durable. This is why Housing Associations require the built quality
of their new homes to be to the Secured By Design (SBD) standard.
7.1 To achieve the Secured By Design Award
the build quality has to be to the specification detailed, although
there is room for negotiation for site layout. Thus I do not believe
there would be any conflict between Planning Departments and Urban
Design, but there would be an improvement in the quality of the
built form which is something we all should be trying to achieve.
Crime and its effects do affect the sustainability of an area.
Also by getting this part right, reduces the opportunity for the
would be thief to commit crime, which also has an effect on Policing
of an area and allows more time for crime that is committed, to
be investigated by the Police. Also the profile of an area would
be raised and an increased desire for the public to want to live
in that part.
7.2 Because Business Crime is high within
the Thames Valley Police Area I would like to see a similar requirement
for new and refurbished factory and office developments. Again
developers normally only want to build a basic shed type warehouse
with offices attached to the cheapest specification and leave
the matter of security to the firm that lease the premises. Invariably
these firms have to compete with very low profit margins and do
not have the money to retrospectively fit windows to the relevant
British Standard with laminated glass fitted to all ground floor
windows and those easily accessible above or below ground floor
level or windows designated as emergency egress routes, etc. If
however the build quality of the premises were built initially
or refurbished to the Secured By Design award standard, this would
make the premises more resistant to crime and make the premises
more desirable for firms to take up leases, which in turn may
well improve the employment situation in a given area.
The Secured By Design Award is about making dwellings
and business premises secure in ways that are not obvious. No
one wants to see the fortress mentality which appears in some
high crime areas, which only generates an even greater fear of
crime.
8. The above approach has been successfully
achieved in various local authority areas around the Country,
and I have attached a couple of the quarterly Secured By Design
Newsletters which give a couple of them. I have also attached
in pdf format the application form for residential and commercial
premises which gives a quick checklist guide, although the web
site for Secured By Design which is: www.securedbydesign.com gives
fuller details about the various design guides. The application
check list also details the site layout, as well as the built
form, but I am only concerned in promoting to you the built form.
9. For information the following is the
actual wording used by Manchester City Council when attaching
a SBD Condition to planning permission—
"The Development hereby approved shall incorporate
measures to minimise the risk of crime and to meet the specific
security needs of the application site and the development. Any
security measures to be implemented in compliance with this condition
shall seek to achieve the `Secured by Design' accreditation awarded
by the Greater Manchester Police. Written confirmation of those
measures are to be provided to the City Council, as the local
planning authority. Reason—In pursuance of the Council's
duty under section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to consider
crime and disorder implications in exercising its planning functions;
to promote the well being of the area in pursuance of the Council's
powers under section 2 of the Local Government Act 2000, and to
reflect the guidance contained in PPS1 `Delivering Sustainable
Development'".
If Planning Departments were to condition that
the physical protection as part of a broad approach to designing
out crime was to Secured By Design standards, this would not be
too prescriptive. As British Standards change due to EU directives
and also change due to advances in technology the standard could
be kept up to date by the Secured By Design scheme.
I believe the above is important regarding the
sustainability of any area and for a better living environment
for all residents and workers. With the pressure on house building
at present and for the foreseeable future there will be a substantial
increase in workload for the Police and thus the above will help
make an area more sustainable.
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