www.walthamforest.gov.uk

Neighbourhoods

Divisional Director Public Realm

Keith Hanshaw

June 2014

1

Neighbourhoods - Introduction

• The cleanliness and quality of our streets continues to be the biggest influence that

the Council has on residents’ everyday quality of life.

• In March 2014, 80 per cent of our residents told us that they are satisfied with the

way that the Council is delivering its priority to keep the borough clean.

• Every year our residents tell us that they perceive that the cleanliness of our streets

has improved over the past year.

• Qualitative research tells us:

§ Residents confirm these levels of satisfaction

§ Public realm services are a driver of overall satisfaction with the Council

§ This underpins our wider reputation in the area.

• In the coming four years, economic growth which benefits residents will be the

Council’s key priority. The quality and safety of our streets are fundamental to the

inward investment of businesses and people.

Neighbourhoods – six principles

Our challenge now is to continue to improve services in the public realm, support the growth

agenda and do so whilst contributing to the savings targets demanded by the reduction in

our central government funding. Our answer to this is to adopt a neighbourhood

management model with six key principles:

• That it is member led. The Council’s resources are targeted at local priorities as agreed by the

elected Councillors who represent our community.

• That it provides a high quality service for residents 24/7 365 days a year. Neighbourhood

services continue to be a top priority for our residents and are fundamental to their quality of life

and the growth of the local economy.

• That it deploys our valuable officers flexibly, and increases ownership and accountability for

performance

• That it delivers value for money. Services are being developed to be high performing whist

using the available resources as efficiently as possible.

• That we provide a proactive service. Services are being developed which will spot issues as

they arise, anticipate patterns of concern and reduce the need for residents to contact the

Council.

• That it creates a new way of engaging our communities to take pride in their areas

Neighbourhoods - Future

• Waltham Forest residents expect:

• Core services to be delivered without the need to contact the Council.

• Support when needed to be provided efficiently and provide value for money.

• At present, the management of the street scene is decided by the nature of the service,

with individual monitoring staff for services such as street cleansing, waste, envirocrime,

noise, ASB or grounds maintenance.

• This segmented approach has served us well in improving service delivery and driving

quality from the various contractors who provide our services, however:

• Segmentation of services is not how our residents perceive their neighbourhood. They rightly expect

intelligent service provision which takes a universal view of their streets. A service constructed in the

current manner does not provide a resident friendly, common sense approach to tackling issues.

• This model no longer provides value for money. It duplicates effort and resources, and can dilute

accountability, with issues falling between different monitoring responsibilities.

• We now need to review this approach as it is not sustainable or desirable for the future

model of the Council.

AN OFFICER MONITORING FOR EACH SERVICE FUNCTION

Street

clean

Enviro

crime

Parks &

grounds

maintenance

TreesLeisure

centres ASBNoise

Dog

fouling

Waste Housing

Standards

Neighbourhoods – new model

• The new service will bring together the full range of street services into a neighbourhood

management model.

• The borough will be split into four neighbourhood hubs – North (Chingford), Central

(Walthamstow) South West (Leyton) and South East (Leytonstone) - which will each

cover the Council’s twenty ward areas and be managed by an operations manager.

• Each ward will have a single Neighbourhood Manager who will be personally responsible

for the effective delivery of public realm services in their area. That person will have a

team of generic officers to support that goal of dealing with:

• street cleansing, waste and recycling, trees, grounds maintenance, envirocrime,

highway offences, potholes, dirty front gardens, street trading, dog fouling, spitting,

urinating, ASB, planning enforcement, housing standards, beds in sheds, dog

enforcement and graffiti removal to name a few.

A DEDICATED OFFICER FOR EACH NEIGHBOURHOOD

Mobile IT

PwC

Neighbourhood Management operations - wards

9

Deputy Head of Neighbourhood Management & Manager North

Operations

Manager

Central

Wards

Higham Hill

High Street

Hoe Street

William Morris

Wood Street

Walthamstow

Wood Street

Operations

Manager South

West

Wards

Grove Green

Lea Bridge

Leyton

Markhouse

Bakers Arms

Leyton

Operations

Manager South

East

Wards

Cathall

Cann Hall

Forest

Leytonstone

Leytonstone

South Leytonstone

Wards

Chapel End

Chingford Green

Endlebury

Hatch Lane

Larkswood

Hale End & Highams

Park

Valley

Chingford North

South Chingford

Highams Park

South East

Operations Manager

x 1

Senior specialist

Neighbourhoods

Officer

Waste/Cleansing x 1

Neighbourhoods

Officer x 5 (inc ASB)

Town Centres

Officer x 1

Technical Officer x

0.5

North

Senior specialist

Neighbourhood

Officer – Noise &

Nuisance x 1

Neighbourhood

Ward Officers x 5

(inc ASB)

Town Centre Officer

x 1

Technical Officer x

0.5

Central

Operations Manager

x 1

Senior specialist

Neighbourhoods

Officer ASB x 1

Neighbourhoods

Officer x 5 (inc ASB)

Town Centres

Officer x 2

Technical Officer x

0.5

South West

Operations Manager

x 1

Senior specialist

Neighbourhoods

Officer Envirocrime

x 1

Neighbourhoods

Officer x 5 (inc ASB)

Town Centres

Officer x 1

Technical Officer x

0.5

Deputy Neighbourhood Management

& Manager North

Police

Dog

EnforcementPlanning

EnforcementGraffitiStreet Trading

Team x7

Neighbourhood Management operations - hubs

Neighbourhoods – accountability and intelligence

• Linking street services to the ward level will provide local Councillors with

personalised contact with a named neighbourhood manager.

• The manager will be the link person to the local Councillors

• Will have an in-depth knowledge about the ward and its issues

• Neighbourhood officers will work closely with customer services to understand

the nature and cause of enquiries.

• There will be monthly neighbourhood ward reports to Councillors which will

outline service requests from the public, members’ enquiries and proactive

services in the area, allowing a neighbourhood picture to be built.

• This approach will allow for greater accountability to members and in turn the

local community.

Neighbourhoods – How will it work for Ward Councillors

• Waltham Forest’s street services are essential to our residents quality of

life and 80 percent of our residents think we do a good job of keeping

our streets clean. The quality and safety of our streets are fundamental

to the growth of our local economy.

• Our challenge now is to continue to improve and modernise these

services to meet our residents high expectations whilst providing better

value for money and meeting the demands of the reduction in funding

which we face.

• Our new neighbourhoods service will provide Councillors and residents

with a named neighbourhood manager who will:

§ make sure streets are safe and clean;

§ ensure rubbish is collected efficiently;

§ spot patterns of service need and take preventative action;

§ act against the inconsiderate few who mess up our borough.

§ Tackle low level ASB

• We will ensure that Councillors are involved in the design of services

and kept up to date with the changes.

Neighbourhoods – Message to residents

• We know that that the cleanliness and safety of your streets is vitally important

to your quality of life in Waltham Forest.

• We’re making changes to local services so you now have a neighbourhood

manager who is in charge of all of the local environment services that you rely

on.

• They’re responsible for making sure that your streets are safe and clean, your

rubbish is collected and action is taken against the inconsiderate few who

mess up our borough.

• Our aim is to keep streets safe and clean so that you don’t have to contact us

with problems. When you do have something to report, we’ve made it easier for

you to get in touch through a personal online account.

DEALING WITH LOW LEVEL ASB IN PARTICULAR

• A new team of specialist ASB officers (one for each Neighbourhood)

• Build on the good work around ASBO’s and casework. In the last year full ASBOs have been

won against 8 individuals building on a number of interim ASBOs.

• Expand on the risk-based ASB policy in 2013 allowing it to focus resources on the issues that

really matter and setting out the key principles that should underpin interventions.

• Continue with the good partnership work between the ASB/Community Safety Team, the

Police and the CPS.

• Take a more ‘front line’ approach to enforcement supported by other Council enforcement

officers and the Police – dealing with kids hanging on corners, street drinkers, noisy

neighbours and nuisance behaviour

• Align our response to Councillors and residents needs and requests.