Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders, set up by Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2001, are designed to give residents a real opportunity to improve local services and make them more responsive to their needs. They test a new approach for neighbourhood renewal.
A new report has found evidence of more joined-up, accessible and responsive services in areas with NMPs.
The report ‘Neighbourhood Management – at the Turning Point?’ states that the 35 pathfinders are a “valuable tool” in regenerating deprived areas and supports the pathfinder neighbourhood management model being rolled-out more widely. But it warns that the approach is in danger of being a missed opportunity unless its value is recognised.
The report by SQW found evidence that the first NMPs to be set-up have now deepened their relationships with many service providers. The strongest involvement is with police, local schools, primary care trusts, local authority housing services and local authority environmental services.
The following improvements in NMP areas are highlighted in the report:
- The greatest change has been from the police - reflecting the importance of community safety as a concern for local communities. Analysis shows that recorded crime has fallen in three quarters of round 1 NMPs.
- The second greatest area of change has been in environmental services. There is evidence that those Pathfinders that have prioritised improving environmental services now have both cleaner neighbourhoods and have helped to change residents’ perceptions of their local area.
- Success of the neighbourhood management approach is demonstrated by the 200 other neighbourhood management initiatives that are now established, usually set up by local authorities or Local Strategic Partnerships.
Neighbourhood management adds value by bringing residents and service providers together to improve and join-up local services, help strengthen the local community and voluntary sector, and by providing an environment in which innovation is encouraged.
The report states:
“The main benefits so far have been to make the deprived pathfinder neighbourhoods safer and cleaner and help shape services that are better joined up, more accessible and more responsive to local needs.
“Neighbourhood management has ‘struck a chord’ with many organisations and people that have come into active contact with it. To many practitioners, residents, councillors and service providers, it has the hallmarks of a more intelligent and sustainable approach to neighbourhood renewal and public service improvement.
“On the basis of the evidence we have gathered and analysed, we suggest that neighbourhood management is indeed a valuable tool that deserves to be developed and adopted more widely.”
Neighbourhood Renewal Minister Phil Woolas said:
“This report shows that neighbourhood management is a key vehicle for regenerating deprived communities. In pathfinder areas residents and service providers are working together to improve services and make them more responsive to local needs.
“NMPs have been particularly effective so far in making neighbourhoods cleaner and safer. Environmental issues and crime are often the key concerns of local people and this report shows that perceptions are starting to improve.
“The NMPs have demonstrated that working at the neighbourhood level is effective. There are already over 230 neighbourhood management initiatives and more are being set up using new money through the neighbourhood element of the Safer and Stronger Communities block of Local Area Agreements.”
Examples of NMP successes:
Community safety
- Knutton Cross Heath Neighbourhood Management Initiative
- Newcastle under Lyme,
The local policing unit in Staffordshire Police increased the local police presence in the area by two officers and two PCSOs – this was partly funded by the NMP and mainstreamed from April 2005. Benefits for the community include increased levels and greater visibility of policing through more foot patrols and more support for victims of crime. Closer links between police and residents mean local priorities are better understood. The level of reported crime has fallen by 17 per cent in the area between 2001/2 to 2004/5 – particular improvements have been made on reducing burglary and criminal damage. This has narrowed the gap between crime rates in the NMP area and the rest of the district.
Health services
- Oldington and Foley Park - Wyre Forest
Tooth decay and general oral health is poor in the NMP area. The NMP worked with the local Wyre Forest primary care trust to introduce new dentistry services and to make residents aware that these new services were available. The NMP identified volunteers to knock on doors (to get over issues of literacy) and record which residents weren’t registered with a dentist. Benefits include an increased take up of dental services in the area, with 753 local residents signed up with the new dental services, representing 15per cent of the population of the NMP.
Community involvement
- Oldington and Foley Park - Wyre Forest
The ‘Carrot Club’ is a regular informal event in the local school’s canteen, timed to coincide with parents and carers collecting their children from school. The club provides the opportunity for the NMP and other service providers who are active in the area to meet with residents in an informal manner.
