Small Retailers in Deprived Areas
Best practice Leicester
SRDA Good Practice Summary
Aikman Avenue, Leicester - businesses 'buy in' to tackle
youth nuisance
The Aikman Avenue project aimed to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour around a small parade of shops serving local residents in the area. The project used a combination of CCTV and environmental improvements to increase security in the immediate area surrounding the shops.
Intelligence/ Context of Scheme
The site targeted provided vital services to local residents and was in one of the ten per cent most deprived wards in England and Wales. Situated in a residential area, the parade of shops includes ten retail stores and a dental surgery. These stores serve a range of local residents including those from a nearby housing estate as well as residents living in flats above the shopping parade.
Prior to the scheme, litter, graffiti, vandalism and shop theft were experienced along the shopping parade and were often attributed to groups of young people hanging around. In addition, young people intimidating local residents was a major problem at the back of the flats on top of the shopping parade. As far as the local crime prevention officer was concerned, many of the yards at the back of the shops had become unusable, having degenerated into a spiral of decay.
Interventions
Various interventions were put in place around the shopping parade. A digital CCTV system was installed in the supermarket and this was regularly monitored by the shop's own security guards. The CCTV system consisted of ten cameras inside the shop, and four external cameras on the shopping parade. Of the external cameras, one had been placed at either end of the shopping parade, and the remaining two were positioned back-to-back in the centre of the parade.
The shopping parade was also provided with security lighting, as well as more secure fencing at the back of the shops. The fencing lined the walkways and stairwells that led up to the flats on top of the parade. The intention of this particular intervention was to make the yards at the back of the shops, and the area directly next to the flats, much more secure. Although the supermarket was the only shop on Aikman Avenue to benefit from an individual intervention specific to its shop, the rest of the parade benefited from the external security measures, including the external CCTV cameras.
The interventions used on Aikman Avenue complemented pre-existing initiatives. For example, some of the retail stores already had basic target hardening equipment such as security shutters. There was also already a CCTV camera focusing on the shopping parade from across the other side of the road
Implementation and Involvement
Multi-agency co-operation was essential to the successful implementation of the interventions used on Aikman Avenue. The package of interventions (CCTV, fencing and security lighting) was regarded in very positive terms, and had involved collaboration between various departments within the City Council. Whilst the Small Retailer's scheme was managed and co-ordinated from within the Community Safety Team, the Lighting department had also become involved in relation to the security lighting. Meanwhile, after hearing about the new security measures being installed, the Housing Department decided to repaint the whole shopping parade in a bid to further clean up the area. Therefore, the scheme helped to divert local authority funding to make additional improvements to the site.
An important driving force for the project was the crime prevention officer, who was extremely enthusiastic and very committed to cleaning up the area as much as possible. He seemed to regard the improvements made to the shopping parade as an ongoing process. For example, one future plan for the area was to have a privacy zone installed by the 'hole-in-the-wall' cash machine. The point to note here is that individual personalities can be extremely important in taking forward an agenda and implementing it on the ground.
In year two of the Small Retailers scheme, the Leicester project team decided to ask certain retailers (specifically those operating a branch of a larger business with headquarters elsewhere) for a financial contribution towards the cost of security measures. This worked particularly well on Aikman Avenue, with the supermarket contributing approximately £4,000 towards the cost of the new digital CCTV system.
It was felt that one of the most positive aspects of the SRDA scheme was the flexibility that the project team had to allocate resources. By deciding to ask certain businesses for a financial contribution, the SRDA funding spread much further than it would otherwise have done, and more small retailers around the city benefited from new security measures. The project manager also felt that an additional benefit of this strategy was that businesses then take ownership and have a stake in learning how to use the security equipment.
Outcomes
Anecdotal evidence from retailers and residents suggested that the appearance of the local area had improved in recent times. The improved street lighting meant locals were less reluctant to walk along the parade at night. Amongst those living in the flats above the shopping parade, it was felt that the high fencing along the walkway had reduced the level of youth nuisance and anti-social behaviour.
Evidence from the project team suggested that the scheme had helped to mobilise the community and the local authority. It was felt that an increasing number of people had now begun to take a stake in improving the local environment and were working to ensure the area did not slip back to how it used to be.
|
Key Good Practice
|
Contact Details
For further information on this project, please contact:
Kelvin Bates Project Manager Community Safety Team Regeneration & Culture Department New Walk Centre Welford Place Leicester LE1 7RQ Tel: 0116 252 6005Author: Claire Taylor, Home Office Regional Research Team, Government Office for the East Midlands, June 2004
Last update: 25 November 2004