Environment Directorate
Environmental
Crime Reduction
Strategy
STRATEGY
ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
CONTENTS
1
Foreword
2
Strategic Vision
3
Introduction
4
Environmental Crime
5
Education
6
3 Year Plan
7
Consultation and Participation
8
Review Mechanism
9
Conclusion
/
-
Developing the Action Plan
Enforcement
/
Restoration
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
1.
FOREWORD
Councillor Keith Mann
Lead Member, Environment
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
2.
STRATEGIC VISION
The aim of this strategy is to remove the phrase “environmental crime” from the lips of anyone who
talks about the City of Salford. Environmental crime is such a wide-ranging collection of anti-social
activities, that is requires a diverse series of solutions. The purpose of this strategy is, therefore, to
identify the main elements of environmental crime, and devise actions which will result in their
eradication.
Everyone working within the City of Salford, needs to come together in a spirit of like-mindedness and
partnership, with the desire to work towards practical solutions to combat occurrences of littering,
graffiti, abandoned vehicles, flytipping etc. With this approach of joint-working, then the plethora of
resources available, through organisations such as the Police, Environment Agency, the City Council
etc., can then be concentrated in such a way, that more effective and sustainable actions and
services, can be delivered, resulting in the reduction of incidents of environmental crime.
As the quality of the local environment improves across the City, then people’s perceptions of Salford,
as a cleaner, safer and greener City, will no longer be just perceptions, but a reality, resulting in an
improved sense of well-being for all those who live, work and play, within the City’s boundaries.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
3.
INTRODUCTION
“The streets are safe…., it’s only the people who make them unsafe” –
(Frank Rizzo US Politician)
The issue of people feeling safe in their neighbourhoods has been hotly debated throughout history.
People have argued that good jobs or quality homes are essential, whilst others argue that good
neighbours and community spirit are more important. But what has become increasingly clear, is that
people only want to stay in an area, if it is clean, safe, well-maintained, and aesthetically pleasing to
the eye and senses. When an area begins to deteriorate, very quickly, people move out and less
desirable elements move in, and so begins a downward spiral leading to crime and disorder.
George Kelling, co-author of the broken windows theory, (1982) wrote;
A community’s health is threatened, when residents begin “moving with averted eyes, silent lips and
hurried steps”, and when they say “don’t get involved”. That’s when “the neighbourhood is not their
home, but the place where they live”
Many people feel the only way to address this problem, is to act swiftly in removing or combating the
early signs of an area’s decline. These early signals include:


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

Litter
Graffiti
Dog fouling
Flytipping
Flyposting
Abandoned vehicles
Rowdy behaviour
But it is not enough to simply remove these problems; the solution must also include the involvement
of the local community, for without its support, such “signals” will simply re-occur. Keith Hill, Minister
for Public Space 2004 said,
“We are no longer willing to accept random neighbourhoods, where the local environment
makes it feel unpleasant and unsafe. People want to live in places which have clean streets,
where children can play safely, and where there are good quality green spaces for the whole
community to enjoy”. The link between a poor quality environment and anti-social behaviour, leading eventually to crime,
has been clearly made. As a consequence, such behaviour and the resultant degradation have been
dubbed “environmental crime”, and in response, government and local authorities have begun to take
positive action to address the problem.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
4.
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME DEVELOPING THE ACTION PLAN
The phrase “environmental crime”, has now gained such prominence, that it has been given
legislative recognition in the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003), and the more recent Clean
Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (2005). Put simply, environmental crime describes those acts
which have a negative effect on the quality of the local environment, and can be largely identified as:





Littering
Graffiti
Abandoned vehicles
Dog fouling
Fly-posting
Fly-tipping
The Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (2005) requires Local Authorities to take into
account, when formulating crime and disorder reduction strategies environmental crime and anti
social behaviour.
This places both areas firmly in the main stream agenda of crime and disorder reduction partnerships.
Research suggests that the crimes that affect people’s lives the most are the ones they see on a daily
basis, dog fouling, vandalism, graffiti etc.
In the Local Government Act (2000), local authorities were given the duty to take actions which would
improve the quality of life for their residents, i.e. improve their level of “well-being”.
This duty, basically, gives local authorities the task of improving people’s lives, with regards to their
economic, social and environmental prospects. This means quality homes, good neighbours,
employment prospects but also, cleaner, safer, greener local environments. The recognition of the
importance of balancing these three aspects has finally been acknowledged. The importance of
balancing social, economic and environmental benefits, is the key element in the pursuance of the
“holy grail” of local government priorities, that of sustainable development. So often, emphasis has
been laid upon the social and economic aspects of people’s lives, that the importance of the quality of
the local environment, in which they live, has been overlooked. It is now accepted, that without an
environment which people value, and feel safe in, then there is no sense of belonging, and as such,
people’s desire to live and work in such an area, diminishes.
As a consequence of this growing understanding, efforts are being made to develop strategies and
put into place actions, which will try to significantly improve the quality of the local environment, by
reducing the opportunities and, therefore, incidents of environmental crime. A key milestone in
achieving this aim, is that many local authorities (Salford City Council included), have begun to adopt
the need for cleaner, safer, greener environments into their corporate strategic objectives:
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
PLEDGE 2 – “REDUCING CRIME IN SALFORD”
We will reduce crime and disorder and improve community safety.
This will be achieved by,




Reducing the fear of crime and targeting the crimes causing most concern to the people of
Salford.
Helping victims and witnesses
Tackling offenders
Implementing crime reduction and prevention measures
PLEDGE 7 - “ENHANCING LIFE IN SALFORD”
We will ensure that Salford is a city that’s good to live in with a quality environment and
decent, affordable homes which meet the needs of local people.





Ensuring the cleanliness and maintenance of the city
Giving residents in the city a choice of quality housing to meet their needs
Promoting sustainability through appropriate development, conservation and improvement of
the city’s environment
Providing an accessible and sustainable recycling service
Improving the city’s highways and transportation network
According to Encams, a quality local environment is a key requirement, if sustainable development is
to be achieved.
“Politicians of all persuasions need to
wake up to the fact that feeling good and
safe about the place you live in, is one of
the most vital issues of the day”
(Alan Woods - Encams Chief Executive)
This decision to identify environmental quality as a ‘must-have’ is particularly far-sighted, in a City
where regeneration is so avidly pursued. However, simply writing-in the desire to stamp out
environmental crime in high level strategy documents is not enough in itself. There must be an onthe-ground commitment to deliver the types of actions, which will make a material and visible
difference to reducing the levels of environmental crime. This requirement has also been emphasised
by central government, who have now placed a duty on local authorities to include environmental
crime considerations and actions, within their Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategies. In
considering this requirement, it has become obvious that the City Council cannot reduce incidents of
environmental crime on its own, as there are a number of other agencies working within the City, who
have roles to play, including the Police, The Environment Agency, Network Rail, United Utilities,
Crime Concern, local businesses and the local community itself. All these resources need to be
collectively harnessed, in order to reduce environmental crime.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
Table 1 identifies some of these roles and responsibilities.
ORGANISATION
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO THE
ABATEMENT OF LOW-LEVEL ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
SALFORD CITY
COUNCIL
1.
GREATER
MANCHESTER
POLICE
1.
2.
3.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
4.
ENVIRONMENT
AGENCY
1.
2.
3.
Serving of Fixed Penalty Notices for Littering and Dog
Fouling.
Noise Abatement Notices.
Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.
Combating Counterfeiting.
Neighbourhood Warden Schemes.
Crime and Disorder Unit.
Proposed Enforcement Wardens.
Traffic Wardens.
Operational Services (litter, flytipping, graffiti removal)
Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s).
Removal of Abandoned Vehicles.
Apprehension and arrest of criminals engaged in low
level environmental crime, e.g. flytipping.
Supporting the Local Authority and the Environment
Agency, in reducing levels of environmental crime.
Proactive action against illegal flytipping and other illegal
waste issues.
Preventing and prosecuting individuals and
organisations for pollution incidents.
Working in partnership with local authorities and the
Police, to reduce incidents of low level environmental
crime.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
CO-ORDINATION
Historically, the City Council’s Environment Directorate has taken a lead role in addressing most of
these issues, which are now collectively classed as environmental crime (littering, dog-fouling, graffiti,
abandoned vehicles, fly-tipping etc). Therefore, in recognition of this responsibility, the Directorate
has gathered together a number of those organisations, which impact on reducing environmental
crime, to look at how, jointly, all these organisations can work together more effectively.
The main players in this grouping, Greater Manchester Police and the Environment Agency, have
agreed to share and contribute time and resources to carry out joint initiatives. Also, Directorates
within the City Council have also pledged their support to the idea of joint operations. As such, a post
of Environmental Crime Co-ordinator has been created to develop strategies and initiatives, which will
significantly reduce the incidents of environmental crime, across the City.
Table 2 shows how these agencies will work together.
Greater
Manchester
Police
Salford
City
Council
Environment
Agency
Network
Rail
Environmental Crime
Partnership Forum
United
Utilities
e.g. BT
NPHL/
JVC
Environmental Crime
Co-ordinator
PCSO
Neighbourhood
Wardens
Enforcement
Wardens
(HMRF)
Environmental
Education Officer
(HMRF)
NPHL
Officers
NEIGHBOURHOOD MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME
The City of
Salford
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
5.
EDUCATION, ENFORCEMENT, RESTORATION
DESIGN
In order to address the problem of environmental crime, a multi-disciplinary approach is required.
There is no point simply clearing away the results of the anti-social behaviour, as it will simply
continue. Similarly, there is little point in serving fixed penalty notices against offenders, if they do not
appreciate the consequences of their actions.
People need to understand why dropping litter, flytipping, abandoning an unwanted vehicle, or simply
allowing their dog to foul, is a crime, through being educated about the consequences of such actions.
Therefore, an action plan has been developed, which shows the four approaches of education,
enforcement, restoration, design which will be taken to reduce the incidents of environmental crime.
In considering the four approaches, it should be remembered that these are what are currently
occurring, and that new and additional elements will be introduced over time.
[See following for Action Plan]
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
ACTIONS - EDUCATIONAL
SALFORD PRIDE
Based within the Environment Directorate, Salford Pride is the City Council’s environmental
education unit, which aims to bring about behavioural change, by promoting a greater awareness,
amongst residents and businesses within the City to treat the local environment in a more
sustainable and caring manner. Initiatives include Eco-schools, Salford Special Agents, Plan-It,
community clean up days, Tidy Business Scheme, Cleaner, Safer, Greener Network etc.
ACTIONS - EDUCATIONAL
INFORMATION LEAFLETS / SIGNS / MEDIA
A suite of information leaflets will be available on the different elements of environmental crime,
warning of the penalties for offending. The leaflets will also offer solutions to problems, which may
lead to people committing acts of environmental crime, such as services available for the removal of
large bulk household items, how to dispose of unwanted motor vehicles etc.
Information / Warning signs have been erected around the City, in order to remind people of the
consequences of committing environmental crime.
A targeted and intensive media campaign will be developed using local press, TV and radio to
ensure the message that environmental crime will not be tolerated in the City is heard by all
residents and visitors.
COMMUNITY CLEAN-UP DAYS
Provision is made to supply community groups with the required tools to carry out clean-up days,
including the free collection and disposal of the refuse they collect. These events, not only aim to
improve the local environment, but help local communities take a greater role in looking after their
neighbourhoods.
WEB PAGES
Web pages are available for residents to access, which give information on those services which
help maintain the quality of the local environment such as street cleansing, refuse collection and
recycling services. The pages also highlight educational programmes and self-help initiatives
.[ www.salford.gov.uk/environment ]
OPEN DAYS / PUBLIC EVENTS
Throughout the year, the Environment Directorate holds events which promote those services which
help enhance and improve residents’ state of well-being, services such as Salford Pride,
Environmental Health, Trading Standards, Refuse Collection / Street Cleansing / Recycling, Parks
and Countryside and Grounds Maintenance. These events offer advice and provide general
information, about how people who live and work in the City of Salford, can make it a cleaner, safer,
greener place.
TOGETHER CAMPAIGN
This is a national campaign which aims to prioritise and tackle anti-social
behaviour. The City of Salford has been chosen to be one of the fifty
action areas involved. This involvement demonstrates our commitment to
working with local communities, in order to deal with anti-social
behaviour. It is our aim to tackle anti-social behaviour, as quickly as
possible, by working together with partners, business and residents. In
relation to anti-social behaviour, which leads to environmental crime, a
special unit is to be developed to provide a rapid response to such
incidents.
NATIONAL CONFERENCES
The City of Salford, in partnership with EnCams, DEFRA and Crime Concern, held a national
conference in March 2005, to discuss how best to achieve cleaner, safer, greener local
environments. This brought together, nationally recognised experts, who gave examples of best
practice for local authorities to follow.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
ACTIONS - ENFORCEMENT
ACTIONS - ENFORCEMENT
LITTERING / DOG FOULING
Largely a local authority function, Fixed Penalty Notices are now being used against
offenders. Served by designated local authority officers, within the Environment
Directorate, it is intended to extend this power to other officers within the City Council,
such as New Prospect Housing and Urban Vision officers, who regularly travel around
the City in their daily work. In addition, it is proposed to add this power and responsibility,
to Police Community Support Officers, whose numbers are to be expanded across the
City.
GRAFFITI / FLY-POSTING
Fixed Penalty Notices can now be served on offenders caught in the act of fly-posting or
creating graffiti. In addition, removal notices can now be served on owners of street
furniture, statutory undertakers (e.g. Network Rail, United Utilities) and educational
institutions, whose property is defaced with graffiti or fly-posters More emphasis will be
placed on identifying those who benefit or who are ultimately responsible for fly posting,
and ensure they are held responsible for their actions.
ABANDONED VEHICLES
The Environment Directorate currently has a contract with Greater Manchester Police for
the removal of abandoned vehicles in less than 25 hours. In addition, powers have now
been made available to remove nuisance vehicles (i.e. vehicles which are causing
detriment to the area), and to immediately remove all vehicles which are for sale, but
sited on a public highway, on land to which the public has access (e.g. a grass verge),
and for vehicles for sale on land without the permission of the occupier.
FLY-TIPPING
A national fly-tipping database - “Flycapture” - has been
set up, which records details of all fly-tipping incidents
reported to the Environment Agency, by local authorities
and other agencies.
This database allows a
comprehensive national picture of the true extent of flytipping which helps focus resources, target hot spots and
identify trends. It is proposed, using this data, to carry out
joint operations between Salford City Council, the
Environment Agency, Greater Manchester Police and the
Vehicle and Operations Service Agency, to prevent
incidents of fly-tipping and where possible, seize vehicles,
to prevent further occurrences.
The Cleaner Neighbourhoods and Environment Act
(2005), has increased penalties for fly-tipping to £50,000,
depending on the severity of the incident.
As well as joint operations, it is proposed to use a variety of officers, who currently travel
around the City’s streets, to monitor the occurrence of fly-tipping and report any incidents
they find.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
ACTIONS - RESTORATION
ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME RESPONSE UNIT
ACTIONS - RESTORATION
In light of the importance being placed on combating environmental crime, the
Environment Directorate has pooled several of its existing resources to create an
Environment Crime Task Force, comprising of :




Graffiti removal team
Gum removal / street washing machine
2 HMRF enforcement wardens
Mini-mechanical sweeper
Refuse Collection vehicle
This team will be piloted in the HMRF area, and will be supported by Salford Pride and
the HMRF funded Environmental Education Officer. Its aim is to respond quickly to
reported incidents of environmental crime and clear them, as speedily as possible. The
unit will also support community-led environmental improvement actions, and promote
environmental stewardship within local communities.
GOVERNMENT FUNDED REGENERATION INITIATIVES
External funding sources are now laying greater emphasis on the need to improve the
quality of the local environment, and as such, it is vital that the City Council makes
allowance for such priorities to be included in any corporate regeneration bids. To date,
successful funding bids have been made to acquire additional resources to improve the
quality of the local environment, through the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB), Housing
Management Renewal Fund (HMRF), New Deal for Communities (NDC), Neighbourhood
Renewal Fund and Section 106 Funds (S106). These funding sources have allowed
additional cleaning to be provided, enforcement and education initiatives to be
developed, and improved play and greenspace to be provided.
REFUSE COLLECTION, STREET CLEANSING AND RECYCLING SERVICES
Apart from operational initiatives, which specifically target environmental crime, the City
Council, via the Environment Directorate, provides everyday services, which try to
improve the quality of the local environment. These include :




Street Cleansing
Refuse Collection
Recycling Services
Grounds Maintenance
Provision and maintenance
of parks and green spaces.
These services, and facilities,
are vital in ensuring the City has
a clean, safe and greener
environment.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
ACTIONS - DESIGN
DESIGNING OUT CRIME
.The design of buildings and public open spaces can contribute to both the aesthetic value of the
built environment, and also to the levels and type of crime which affect an area.
A fragile balance sometimes has to be achieved which takes into account the needs of both
remits.
Lessons need to be learnt from past mistakes and new build projects should be developed to
“Secured By Design” standard as a minimum.
Public areas and open spaces should consider the basic principles of crime reduction to reduce
the incidents of environmental crime and anti social behaviour.
A structured programme of Environmental Visual Audits (EVA’s) should be carried out with all
partner agencies represented. These should be tailored to identify poor design, potential or
emerging problems and monitor already known “grot spots”
ACTIONS - DESIGN
CRIME REDUCTION PRINCIPLES
The ten basic principles of crime reduction which need to be considered when designing new
build, or refurbishing areas are,
Target Hardening
Target Removal
Remove the means to commit crime
Reduce the pay off
Access control
Visibility and surveillance
Environmental design
Rule setting
Increase the chance of being caught
Deflecting offenders
The chances of crime being committed are considerably reduced if the above principles are
applied.
ARCHITECTURAL LIAISON AND DESIGN PROFESSIONALS
Before decisions are taken in terms of building, which could prove costly in terms of crime being
generated, the following should be involved in the consultation process,
Architectural liaison officers -. Trained in crime reduction, plan reading and able to advise builders
and architects in designing out crime.
Planning officers. – To ensure that designing out crime is included in their planning decisions
Regeneration officers – To enable them to provide sustainable development which will continue to
serve its purpose in the long term, and not join the list of good intentioned projects which have
been blighted through a lack of foresight. .
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
6.
3 YEAR PLAN - 2005 - 2008
YEAR ONE - 2005 / 2006

Establish the post of Environmental Crime Co-ordinator

Develop multi-agency working group, to combat environmental crime issues, i.e.
Partnership Business Group

Develop campaigns to promote the message of reducing environmental crime

Implement Environmental Crime Task Force Unit, to provide rapid response to
incidents

Undertake joint actions on fly-tipping in conjunction with environment agency

Train Police Community Support Officers in area of enforcing environmental crime
and anti social behaviour legislation. Link with planners and designers to promote
designing out crime

Secure on-going funding for the post of Environmental Crime Co-ordinator, liveability
wardens and enforcement officer.

Recruit liveability wardens and enforcement officer to implement legislation

Submit bid for capital funding for environmental crime initiatives in HMRF area

Produce annual report, including national and locally agreed targets and indicators
YEAR TWO - 2006 / 2007

Hold environmental crime conference to exchange national examples of best practice
partner with ENCAMS

Major publicity campaigns on graffiti, flyposting - tie in to ENCAMS publicity. Continue
links with schools through environmental education officers.

Submit bids to external funding sources, to allow citywide environmental crime
initiatives and expansion of warden and ranger services.

Continue anti-flytipping initiatives

Establish business forum on environmental crime and establish links with Salford
University
YEAR THREE - 2007 / 2008

Continue on going training of PCSO’s and wardens in current and emerging
legislation

Major publicity campaigns to re-enforce partnerships commitment to eradicating
environmental crime, and showing success to date.

Assess effectiveness of campaigns and actions, measured against preset targets and
outputs.






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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
7.
CONSULTATION AND PARTICIPATION
The aim of reducing environmental crime will depend very much on the involvement of the City’s
residents and businesses, often the main victims of such incidents.
Consequently, communication channels will need to be opened and developed, in order to gather
intelligence from these sources, which will allow the creation of suitable reduction strategies. Links
through Neighbourhood Management, Community Committees and local resident’s groups, will
therefore, be vital. The business community, likewise, will also need to be engaged, and again, links
through the Crime and Disorder Partnership, as well as the local Chamber of Commerce, will also
need to be created.
Much of this work will fall upon the Environmental Crime Co-ordinator, who will be charged with
identifying and creating such opportunities. However, the Co-ordinator will be able to use those links
already established by other partners.
It is, therefore, plainly apparent that there will be an ongoing need to gather and pass on that
information, which will help to reduce the incidents of environmental crime, across the City, and the
newly created post of Environmental Crime Co-ordinator will need to be extremely active in this area.
8.
REVIEW MECHANISM
As stated in the strategic vision statement, the main aim of this strategy is to reduce the incidents of
environmental crime, both in the visible sense and also through a process of behavioural change,
brought about by a better understanding of the consequences of actions, which can be construed as
environmental crime.
In order to establish whether actions outlined within this strategy are being effective, there will be a
need to create monitoring and reporting methods, which will, both numerically and based on public
opinions, be able to show whether improvements have been made. Immediate measures spring to
mind, such as the use of key best value initiatives, such as BVPI 199, but also, there will be a need to
establish local targets, which will have a greater relevance to those partners involved in the
environmental crime reduction strategy, as well as having meaning to the City’s residents and
businesses.
The identification of local indicators will have to be achieved through consultation with all partners,
and through arenas such as Community Committees and resident’s groups, if they are to have any
real value.
Therefore, it is proposed that targets will be developed and reported on, in the 2005 / 2006 report,
with meaningful data being produced by 2006 / 2007.
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ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE
9.
CONCLUSION
The need to tackle environmental crime is one of the most pressing issues facing both local
authorities and local communities. It is now more than apparent that for communities to be sustainable
and for people to have a sense of well being, then quality local environments must be part of their
everyday experience.
It is abundantly clear to everyone that no–one wants to live or stay in an area that suffers from
environmental blight. A poor urban environment signifies that an area has given up hope, its people
no longer care and signifies that a community is dying.
It is this challenge which we must now tackle head-on, by addressing, and as far as possible,
eradicating those negative indicators and signals which cause environmental degradation.
It is hoped that this strategy and the actions (both current and proposed), contained within it, will act
as the catalyst for bringing about this change.
But it should be remembered that tackling environmental crime is merely one strand in a complex web
of inter-relating mutuality which together need to change the way we live our daily lives, by reducing
our impact on the planet and its resources so that sustainable development becomes more than a
phrase, but a whole new way of life for this and future generations. For as Niall Fitzgerald, UK CE of
Unilever so succinctly pointed out,
“ Sustainability is here to stay or we may not be”
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