North West Liveability Foundation (NWLF) Partner Case Study:
Preston City Council in partnership with The Community Gateway Association :
As an early stage partner of the North West Liveability Foundation (NWLF), Preston City Council has joined forces with the Community Gateway Association to target improvement in local environmental quality in the Deepdale area.
The partner programme for the NWLF includes a wide range of Keep Britain Tidy services, including attendance at one partner network meeting per year, the NWLF Annual Conference in Manchester in May 2009 and three partner action learning days throughout the year As part of the NWLF, partners also gain membership to the national Keep Britain Tidy (CSG) Network.
An important part of the NWLF partner programme is the combination of the market research ‘resident perception’ study and the ‘on the ground’ local environmental quality survey. The results of both surveys have been fed back to Preston City Council and the CGA and the issues raised have been used to formulate a targeted action plan to tackle the perceived problems and improve local environmental quality within the area.
Four focus groups were conducted with residents of the area to ascertain how the area’s residents perceived their local environment, to explore issues relating to waste (particularly black bin bags left out for collection), feelings of safety and how football matches affect the area and feelings of safety.
Results
• Residents felt the best things about the area were its location, facilities /amenities and strong sense of community.
• They felt that the worst things about the area were traffic management issues, parking, dog fouling, the negative perception of Deepdale held by people outside the area, litter, black bin bags left out for collection, prostitution and drugs (drugs-related litter, drug use and drug dealing).
• The ‘on the ground’ survey highlighted graffiti, litter, overfull litter bins and dog fouling as problematic within the area.
• On the whole the issues were felt to be the same for match days, but with an increase in litter, and more difficulty parking. Piles of manure from the police horses were also perceived to be a problem on and immediately after match days.
• Residents perceived the cause of black bin bags of waste building up in alleyways to be the council’s refusal to collect side waste. Residents stated that the bin bags attracted rats, and also contributed to the litter problem when they tore.
• The ‘on the ground survey’ did not highlight waste issues or fly-tipping as problematic on the survey, although there were a number of adjacent sites noted as being unsatisfactory for litter.
Moving forward
The action plan based on the findings of both pieces of work concentrates on improving the levels of dog fouling, litter, staining and graffiti within the target area and improving the condition, cleanliness and level of fill of litter bins.
Helen Bamber, Community Gateway Association stated:
“We are excited to be involved in this project and are looking forward to delivering our priorities in partnership with Keep Britain Tidy and improving our Neighbourhoods.”
For further information please contact:
Mark Taylor
Head of Clean Environment
Preston City Council
T: 01772 906219
E: m.a.taylor@preston.gov.uk
[1] The Community Gateway Association (CGA) is a not-for-profit community business, set up to meet the housing needs of people in Preston and the surrounding areas. They are a housing association providing high quality homes for people in need. The CGA is also about creating friendly communities, where people want to live.