PART 1 – OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC
ITEM NO.
REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR FOR HOUSING AND PLANNING
TO THE LEAD MEMBERS FOR
PLANNING ON 14th FEBRUARY 2005, and
HOUSING ON 17th FEBRUARY 2005
TITLE: Neighbourhood Information Management Framework (NIMF)
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Lead Member(s) note the work to date on Salford’s Neighbourhood Information Management
Framework, and consider the linkages to other areas of work.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
NIMF was set up to inform the Council and its partners of relative changes in socioeconomic conditions within the City at small area level, and to provide the evidence needed
to support neighbourhood renewal and major urban regeneration initiatives. Since the launch
of the NIMF, it has been acknowledged that the NIMF is also appropriate for informing a
whole range of other regeneration and development activities that the City is involved in. The
NIMF also has major links into the work of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) and will
also inform the preparation and monitoring of the Local Development Framework (LDF) and
Housing Strategy. NIMF has become a proven and accepted way of monitoring socioeconomic changes at a small area level, which can inform both local regeneration projects
and strategic planning.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
(Available for public inspection)
NIMF Information Bulletin; EWS Report (Sept’04); SABRe (2004)
ASSESSMENT OF RISK: N/A
SOURCE OF FUNDING: Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
COMMENTS OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMER AND SUPPORT
SERVICES (or his representative):
1. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
Provided by: Ian Sheard (793 3084)
2. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Provided by: Dave McAllister (793 2482)
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PROPERTY (if applicable): N/A
HUMAN RESOURCES (if applicable): N/A
CONTACT OFFICER: Paul Holme, 793 3661
WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S): All Wards
KEY COUNCIL POLICIES: N/A
DETAILS (Continued Overleaf):
Neighbourhood Information Management Framework (NIMF)
Introduction & background.
Over the last two years Salford has been developing a Neighbourhood Information
Management Framework (NIMF). This bulletin is intended to give an overview of what is
contained within the NIMF and summarise some of the latest analysis for Salford.
The NIMF was developed as part of the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy to help Salford
City Council stay abreast of local socio-economic trends within the city. The rationale behind
the system is that through regular, extensive monitoring in local areas, changes that could
lead to deprivation can be identified within sufficient time to take preventative action. NIMF
has three distinct components.
1. The Early Warning System (EWS)
The EWS monitors seven different indicators relating to ‘household turnover;
household vacancy; housing benefit; house prices; domestic burglary; vehicle crime;
and juvenile nuisance’, on a quarterly basis at postcode unit level.
These indicators are monitored against three triggers, which identify
 Those areas that have the severest deprivation;
 Those areas with the highest rate of decline;
 Those areas that have experienced continuous decline.
Those areas where over half of the indicators are triggered are then identified and
are reported to neighbourhood managers who seek to further evaluate and explain
the causes of the changes detected by the EWS. Any issues arising for a particular
area are then flagged throughout the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for
preventative action to be considered.
The triggers are assessed at two different geographical levels: the first looks at
performance against City-wide averages, and highlights the poorest performing areas
within the city; the second looks at performance against local, ward level, averages,
and therefore highlights those areas that may not be the poorest in the city, but are of
concern at a local level.
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2. The Performance Monitoring System (via SPIN)
The performance monitoring system tracks the City’s progress against the National
Floor targets (as set by ODPM’s Neighbourhood Renewal Unit) on a quarterly basis,
via the authorities Best Value monitoring system (SPIN - Salford Performance
Indicator Network). A quarterly report is then produced and submitted to the Local
Strategic Partnership (LSP).
3. Salford Annual Baseline Review (SABRe)
SABRe is a comprehensive baseline monitoring system that incorporates a number
of indicators, at a number of geographic levels on an annual basis. It:




Presents a comprehensive statistical baseline for the city and its
neighbourhoods, measured against regional and national comparators;
Updates and rolls forward the baseline annually;
Helps to identify where ‘change’ is occurring within the city and examine the
nature and causes of that change within the regional/national context;
Helps to identify the relationships between regeneration activity and change
in social, economic and environmental conditions within the city.
In summary, NIMF was set up to inform the Council and its partners of relative changes in
socio-economic conditions within the City at small area level, and to provide the evidence
needed to support neighbourhood renewal and major urban regeneration initiatives. Since
the launch of the NIMF, it has been acknowledged that the NIMF is also appropriate for
informing a whole range of other regeneration and development activities that the City is
involved in. For example, the EWS part of NIMF has been adopted by the Manchester /
Salford Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder (HMR), as a key monitoring and performance
management tool for the £50M+ regeneration project. The NIMF also has major links into the
work of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) and will also inform the preparation and
monitoring of the Local Development Framework (LDF).
A report on NIMF was publicised in the Local Authorities Research & Intelligence
Association (LARIA) Newsletter in October 2004, which has subsequently raised the profile
of Salford’s NIMF with other Local Authorities. Since the article was published, there have
been a several enquiries from local authorities regarding the NIMF, including Rochdale,
Manchester, Wirral and Enfield Local Authorities.
NIMF has become a proven and accepted way of monitoring socio-economic changes at a
small area level, which can inform both local regeneration projects and strategic planning.
The findings.
Below is a summary of the findings from latest report (October 2004) from the Early Warning
System (EWS). Updates will be published every quarter in the future and results will be fed
through to Neighbourhood Managers and LSP Partners.
City Based Assessment
The plan below illustrates those areas of the city that have been highlighted against the city
level triggers. This plan therefore provides us with Early Warning of those areas that are
currently performing poorly against city averages.
As we may have expected, areas have been highlighted within Central Salford (around
Broughton, Irwell Riverside, Langworthy, Ordsall) and within Little Hulton; where a number of
regeneration programmes are already underway.
However, there is also a significant concentration of areas highlighted within Barton, Eccles
and Winton.
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

The main issues across all the triggered areas relate to higher than average levels of
crime and benefit claimants.
In addition to the issues common to all the highlighted areas, both the
Eccles/Barton/Winton and Langworthy concentrations appears to have additional
issues around higher than average levels of vacancy.
Local Based Assessment
The plan below illustrates those areas of the city that have been highlighted against the ward
level triggers. This plan therefore provides us with more localised Early Warning of those
areas that are currently performing poorly against local averages.
When considering the concentration of areas on this plan it is interesting to note that there
are more areas highlighted in Salford West than within Central Salford. This therefore
demonstrates that although Central Salford may perform poorly relative to the city as a
whole, the patterns of ‘deprivation’ as measured by the EWS are fairly uniform across the
whole area and subsequently there are only two localised areas of greater concern. In
contrast, Salford West (with the exception of Little Hulton & Eccles) generally performs better
than City averages, and therefore the areas highlighted here represent localised pockets of
poorer performance.
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

The main issues across all the triggered areas relate to higher than average levels of
benefit claimants, juvenile nuisance, vehicle crime and vacancy.
Each individual concentration however, has it’s own slightly different issues and the
EWS highlights what these main broad issues are for each area, so that
Neighbourhood Managers can consider why areas are being triggered (see below).

TRIGGERS
Benefits Trigger
Burglary Trigger
House Price Trigger
Juvenile Nuisance Trigger
Turnover Trigger
Vacancy Trigger
Vehicle Crime Trigger
Total Areas Triggered
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WARD BASED TRIGGERED CLUSTERS - PERCENTAGE OF AREAS
Little Hulton
Irlam
Brookhouse Peel Green
Monton
Langworthy Broughton Pendlebury
91%
65%
89%
63%
42%
61%
93%
83%
4%
6%
100%
52%
94%
70%
58%
20%
4%
2%
4%
6%
1%
3%
2%
5%
87%
94%
100%
100%
100%
99%
63%
97%
51%
14%
18%
17%
18%
16%
9%
25%
68%
52%
54%
59%
65%
51%
60%
65%
29%
100%
100%
55%
99%
99%
58%
93%
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