B&D Shaping Neighbourhoods Together a Summary of Our Plans for the Borough's Neighbourhoods
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B&D Shaping Neighbourhoods Together A summary of our plans for the borough’s neighbourhoods Collier Row Road Marks Gate Chadwell Heath and Marks Gate Whalebone Lane North Becontree Heath Chadwell Heath to Rush Green Freshwater Whalebone Road Lane Becontree South Rush Green Green Lane Fiddlers Becontree Heath Cliffords Corner Barking, Valence Heath the Roding Park and more Martins Corner Wantz Road Becontree Long Made in Bridge Dagenham Parsloes Dagenham Faircross Leftley Estate Dagenham East Heathway Barking Harts Dagenham Lane Village Ibscott Whiting Becontree Old Rookery Ave. Keir Hardy Way Dagenham Farm Barking Upney Town Centre The Leys Abbey Castle Green Road The Chequers Barking Ice Gascoigne Rylands House New Castle Green Merrielands Estate Dagenham East, Quarter Scrattons Farm Beam Park and the Village Thames View the Stamping Plant The Roding and beyond Thames Road Barking Barking Riverside Dagenham Dock Riverside Thames River Road and & Riverside Creekmouth Dagenham Dock, Beam Park and the Stamping Plant Places: Aspirational and resilient neighbourhoods The Borough Manifesto set out a vision that by Barking and Dagenham is made up of approximately 2037 Barking and Dagenham will be a place where 40 neighbourhoods and counting. These The Corporate Plan 2020-22 everyone feels safe and is safe. It also set goals that neighbourhoods are well known and well loved. recycling rates will be higher and waste production Each has its own story and identity, often made up will be lower than the East London average. These of memories that stretch back generations. Many goals sit at the heart of our approach to Places: residents love their neighbourhoods, but they are identifies Inclusive Growth Aspirational and resilient neighbourhoods. also aware of their issues, from a legacy of under- investment in key physical and social infrastructure Building on the Borough Manifesto, our goal in (like public transport and community spaces) to the as a key strategic priority for relation to PLACES is: cleanliness of the streets and perceptions of crime. We have a long-term vision for every neighbourhood the Council and its partners. in the Borough and will use every lever at our To lead large-scale, transformative disposal in order to pursue this vision. In practice, “ this includes buying land of strategic significance, regeneration across the borough over undertaking direct development ourselves, and This document summarises our the next two decades – in Barking making full use of our planning powers – alongside Town Centre and the large but poorly working with other landowners, developers, used industrial areas to the south, east investors, and the local community to bring about plans for Places over the next change. At the same time, we are equally committed and north of the borough; with the to addressing the street level issues that our aim of shaping fantastic new places residents care about most. Using all our statutory two years and beyond. with homes, jobs, infrastructure and powers to the maximum, we can confront those who don’t respect other residents or take care of the community spirit that each become local area, tackling scourges like fly tipping, grime distinctive destinations. In the short- crime, and private landlords who don’t look after term, as these plans emerge, our top their properties. But it also means a relentless focus on getting those core basic services which touch priority remains the condition of local everyone’s life right, like emptying the bins, keeping neighbourhoods and the experience the streets clean and improving the public realm. of living there, in particular things like the cleanliness of the streets and In what follows we highlight the action we are taking up to 2022, focused on three key areas of activity: perceptions of safety that can undermine trust and cohesion. In addition, we are • Safe and liveable neighbourhoods focused on ensuring we secure the • Delivering new or improved physical and social infrastructure social and physical infrastructure – from • Shaping aspirational places transport to schools and green spaces – which the local community needs now and into the future. 2 B&D Shaping Neighbourhoods Together: A summary of our plans for Places B&D Shaping Neighbourhoods Together: A summary of our plans for Places 3 Safe and liveable neighbourhoods In particular, over the next couple of years the In particular, over the next couple of years the of CIL money in Barking & Dagenham. A panel of Council and its partners will be focused on: Council and its partners will be focused on: residents, selected at random from the population at large, make decisions about how the money should Public safety. Enforcing the highest standards be spent based on Dragon’s Den style pitches from Rolling out a new Community Safety Enforcement Developing an annual plan identifying the hotspots people and organisations who have ideas. We want the residents of Barking & Dagenham to Team that will work with the police to tackle for “grime crime” and other environmental issues take pride in their neighbourhoods and to care about anti-social behaviour and other visible street (waste, planning enforcement, eyesore gardens, Our aspiration is to deepen this work so that it the places in which they live. And many do. Every issues, providing reassurance in the areas where parking, landlord licensing, fly tipping etc) that is greater than the sum of its part, drawing upon one of our neighbourhoods has a story to be proud public concerns about safety are highest. will be tackled by the joint public realm and additional funding sources (including those of and to celebrate. But we also know that there are enforcement taskforce; using data and intelligence generated through our emerging local giving model) a set of issues that get in the way, issues that have Delivering a programme of enforcement to assess each location for the appropriate robust to allow residents and ward members to come up a significant impact on their everyday experience. operations targeting priority issues that are action (and suitability for CCTV). with improvement plans for their ward that all parties According to recent survey research by the Campaign having a detrimental impact on the safety and can work together to deliver. Company, consistent with findings in our resident’s quality of life for residents (including poor Delivering future phases of the Council’s Cleaner survey stretching back several years, the perception quality housing, noise, food hygiene and other Borough campaign with the goals of changing In particular, over the next couple of years the of crime and safety, including the risk of anti-social environmental issues). resident perceptions and behaviour around waste Council and its partners will be focused on: behaviour, is the top concern among residents. Fear and improving the performance of the Council’s of crime has grown in recent years in part due to the public realm services. London wide spike in gang related activity and knife Agreeing local improvement plans for each ward, crime, but also due to wider issues associated with Civic pride. Maintaining clean, green setting out the priority public realm and local crime and anti-social behaviour. According to the environments neighbourhood-level improvements for that area, Working with resident’s survey, 56% of residents in the Borough Everyday improvements. through a process led by ward Councillors and residents to improve their neighbourhoods feel unsafe when they are outside in their area Alongside the perception of crime and safety, we involving local residents, with delivery against the after dark. We know there are specific areas in the also know that the cleanliness of the public realm plans led by My Place (drawing on funding from the We know that the cleanliness of the public realm, Borough in which these issues are of real concern, (including the quantity of fly tipping and street annual ward member budgets and opportunities and the perception of safety are uppermost in the not least Barking Town Centre. waste) is very high on our residents’ list of concerns. including the new Citizens Alliance Network). We recognise that historic performance issues minds of our residents. But we also know that many residents have ideas for how their neighbourhoods Alongside concerns related to the perception of with the Council’s own refuse and street cleaning could be improved that aren’t only about safety, safety, are a wider set of issues related to public services have contributed to the problem. Huge bins, or street cleanliness. There are lots of small safety and enforcement of basic standard of practice progress has been made in the last year, in part things that can be done to improve the look and and behaviour. These include issues related to due to £18m of investment in new trucks and street feel of our streets, high streets, and public spaces. trading standards, food hygiene, health and safety, cleaning equipment, but there is still much for us We want to give residents every opportunity to play alongside planning prosecutions, and are backed to do to deliver a relentlessly reliable service. At their part by working with us to identify and deliver up by statutory powers that allow us to enforce the same time, many of these issues are driven by everyday, street level improvements that make their the highest possible standards for our residents: poor choices on the part of some businesses (who neighbourhoods better. And not just in those parts firm but fair, consistent and transparent. Our avoid commercial waste agreements), Private Sector of the Borough that will be experiencing significant approach to ensuring public safety is based on tough Landlords (who don’t provide enough waste disposal change. enforcement and zero tolerance of behaviour that for HMO’s) and a minority of residents (who don’t use puts our residents at risk or undermines our efforts bins properly and leave waste on streets).