6 January 2014
Improving streets and back lanes in
Heaton Terraces, Ouseburn Ward,
Newcastle, NE6.
A brief summary of findings and
recommendations
A Community Street Audit of Heaton Terraces, Ouseburn
Ward, Newcastle.
Living Streets is the national charity that stands
up for pedestrians. With our supporters we work
to create safe, attractive and enjoyable streets,
where people want to walk.
Contents
Context
Improving streets and back lanes
Background
Engagement
Community Street Audit
Brief findings & recommendations from the audit
Existing on-street planters
Refuse and recycling bins left out
Shop fronts and rears
Green spaces
Speed restrictions on Falmouth Road
Facilities: litter bins & dog fouling signage
Back lanes: children playing / greening up
Front garden schemes
Conclusions and next steps
Action plan: short term / medium term
Next steps
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Context
Improving streets and back lanes
Background
The Heaton Terraces comprises a number of terraced streets bounded by Heaton
Park, City Stadium and the Metro Line:
The area comprises many streets of, predominantly, social rented housing mainly
occupied by students, with a couple of streets being more of a mix of student
occupation and long-term residents. The majority of refuse and recycling bins are left in
the back lanes on a continuous basis which means that Neighbourhood Services has
to provide a daily sweep of the streets to remove loose waste in bags at the side of
bins, deal with any spillage caused by tipped over bins, and the removal of fly tipping.
Besides being costly to the Council, this behaviour attracts fly tipping and anti-social
behaviour and is not conducive to a pleasant living experience.
Ouseburn Ward Committee were looking to foster greater ‘social responsibility’ within
the area. To that end, they commissioned Living Streets to provide engagement with
the tenants and residents in the area, utilising their skills, knowledge and experience to
develop ideas as to how their streets can be improved through minimal investment
from the committee but mainly through positive action from the tenants and residents
themselves.
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Engagement
Living Streets project coordinators began community engagement work in the area on
November 19th & 20th 2013. Door-to-door and street surveys were carried out which
asked residents what they liked about living in the Heaton Terraces area, what they
valued the most, and what was currently working well, as well as more aspirational
questions about what they would like to see in their community in the future and how
they might become involved in any future improvement activities. As a consequence of
this engagement, there now seems to be a core of around 20-30 residents that are
prepared to help and take action on some of the issues raised.
The majority of people liked living in the area, with some of the common reasons being:
Close to shops and amenities
Quiet
Regular buses to Jesmond
It has a community feel
Close to University
Can walk to work
Cheap and quiet
Close to several parks and play areas
Walking distance to quayside
Lots of shops
Proximity to city
Good high street and independent cafes
Friendly neighbours
Not as much crime
Some of the things that residents would like to change:
Stricter consequences for not taking bins in
Communal bins
Lack of parking
More places to socialise
Less potholes
Make it safer for children to play
Too much litter in back lanes
Landlords dumping rubbish/furniture
What residents would like to see in the future:
More children playing in back lanes
Collection schedules on lamp posts
More community projects in summer
More dog bins/dog warden
More use of City Stadium
Improved appearance of area
Community-driven activities
Communal bins
CCTV in back lanes
More up-to-date shops
Social events in back lanes
Collections every week
More for the kids
Planters for back lanes
An evening meeting was held with some interested residents on the 19th November
where some initial improvement ideas were discussed and a date for a Community
Street Audit was set.
The Community Street Audit
Community Street Audits are a way to evaluate the quality of streets and spaces from
the viewpoint of the people who use them, rather than those who manage them. We
involve small groups of local residents, traders, councillors and officers to assess a
route on foot, following which a report is produced with recommendations. It is a
facilitated approach where people are asked to discuss their experiences (based on
the walkabout, but more importantly on everyday knowledge of the area), and notes
are taken by the facilitators. People are also asked to find solutions for issues raised,
and focus on positive elements, as well as the negative.
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Living Streets’ Chief Executive, Tony Armstrong commented “Living Streets’
Community Street Audits are a great way to gauge how a space is currently
used and to identify improvements which will create a safe, attractive and
enjoyable environment from the perspective of local people.”
A Community Street Audit of the Heaton Terraces area took place on a cold, bright
morning on Sunday Dec 1st 2013. (In the week prior to the audit taking place 1,500
properties in the area were leafleted with information about the project and details of
the audit itself.)
The audit started from Ouseburn Community Centre, Mowbray St, Heaton (NE6 5PA)
at 10.30am where, after a short briefing, the group headed out onto the streets for
approximately an hour. Audit facilitators were on hand to take notes and photographs
ensuring that all comments made and opinions expressed were faithfully documented.
On returning to the community centre, a debrief session was held where issues and
concerns were discussed and some practical ideas and solutions were drawn together.
The audit group.
During the Community Street Audit, and the ensuing debrief, the following points were
raised and discussed:
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Refuse and recycling bins left out in back lanes
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Provision of larger, communal bins
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Maintenance, access and seating in green spaces
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Existing on-street planters
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Traffic calming measures
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Front garden schemes
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Bin schedules
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Signage by, and for, children
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Facilities such as litter bins and dog bins
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New planters for ‘greening up’ back lanes
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Brief findings and recommendations from the
audit
Below is a list of key issues which came from the audit together with ideas, suggestions
and possible solutions that came from the residents themselves. It will be for others to
determine priorities, but Living Streets and local residents are able to suggest areas
where it thinks that investment and resident-led action will make the biggest difference.
Existing on-street planters
Many of the existing on-street planters are overgrown and look generally unkempt. The
prickly bushes catch litter which quickly becomes an eyesore and leads to deliberate
additional littering.
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People are generally in favour of keeping these planters and would like to see more
annual plants in them, but they all need tidying and cutting back. One of the audit
attendees who is involved with SCAN (the volunteering service for the student
union) has intimated that she might be able to get together a group of students to
help carry out this work on a voluntary basis. *This lady has, since the audit, sought
the appropriate permissions from the council, and equipment has already been
ordered.
Refuse and recycling bins left out
One of the biggest issues is that of refuse and recycling bins being left out in the back
lanes continuously. This causes many problems in terms of littering, fly tipping,
damage, vandalism, assisting criminal activity and stopping children playing. The cause
of this seems to be a mix of: tenants and residents not knowing which bin is due to be
collected – so leaving them all out constantly; ignorance of the problems this practice
causes, and apathy/lack of civic pride and ownership.
Many refuse and recycling bins left out continuously
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There was overwhelming support for a trial scheme (similar to those in other areas)
where larger communal bins replace individual bins. It was accepted that this may
not work for every street in the area but were keen to try it on Cardigan Terrace and
Warwick Street with a view to rolling this scheme out to most of the rest of the
estate if seen to be a success. Communal bins could be painted or sprayed so as
to improve the aesthetic value, and the school or local youth groups could be
involved in the design and implementation of this. Communal garden waste bins
would also be part of this scheme with blue bins especially for glass.
For those streets not part of this scheme:
Bin emptying schedules for each street to be fixed to lamp posts in the back lanes.
All bins should be numbered and any ‘orphaned’ bins should be ‘culled’ (taken out
of circulation).
Collection schedules could also be put on stickers to be stuck on bins. Collection
information needs to be timely: October is a good month to let new students know
about schedules.
Magnetic schedules (or at least a paper schedule with a free small magnet) can be
stuck to fridges and boilers as a permanent reminder to tenants and residents
Incentive schemes could be re-introduced for people taking their bins in
NB: Residents to monitor the above solutions if implemented, and will act as
street champions to ensure collection information is getting through to
residents.
Students should also be kept aware of collection schedules by student
union/university through social media forums and campaigns etc.
Raise awareness of community furniture schemes with landlords and tenants so
that unwanted furniture can be collected and re-used rather than being left in front
gardens or back lanes.
A leaflet is being prepared by the council, to go out to all Heaton Terraces
households, that will have useful contact numbers on it. A short piece about this
project and the resident-led solutions and activities, will be included on this flyer.
Shop fronts and rears
It was noticeable on the audit that the shop fronts along Heaton Park Road look very
bare, featureless and uninviting. Cars tend to park on the shop frontages despite
bollards in evidence. It was also noted that the food shops, in particular, struggle to
manage with small bins and often (sometimes raw) food waste either overflows these
bins or is bagged up and left beside the bins.
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Encourage shop owners to green up the shop frontages with small planters
Delineate a pedestrian walkway along the front of the shops for pedestrian safety (if
cars cannot be stopped from driving and parking along here)
NB: It might be that the above issues fall under the remit of Sustrans’ recent
DIY Streets project that will look to improve certain key routes. The project
coordinator for this project was present at the community meeting held on
Jan 13th, and was able to introduce himself to the resident group and explain
the remit of the project.
Encourage shop owners – particularly food shops and fast food outlets – to bettermanage, or increase their waste/refuse bin capacity.
Green spaces
There are a small number of green spaces situated between Mowbray St and Hotspur
St. These areas are, at the moment, serving no function other than as a cut-through
route, and the audit group felt that more could be made of these spaces – in particular
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with the cutting back of overgrown vegetation, litter picking, and the addition of a few
benches. Dropped kerbs also need installing to improve the access to these areas.
The audit group entering one of the green spaces
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No dropped kerb access
Cut back the vegetation and litter-pick in these areas. There are local residents
prepared to do this - given the right equipment – in a similar vein to the ‘Adopt a
Plot’ scheme where residents obtain permission to help look after a small open
space. Students could also help out with this – having an obligation to engage with
their communities. Residents felt that ‘clearing’ events could be organised at least
twice per year (May and October?) with accompanying leaflets or newsletter
informing residents of when and where the work was taking place, and may be
done in conjunction with a barbecue or some other celebratory social event.
Install a couple of benches in each green space. NB: benches can cause unwanted
congregation: however, the majority of the group did not feel that this would be a
problem in this area. The benches can be trialled and be easily withdrawn if seen to
cause a problem with noise, littering etc.
Improve access for everyone by installing dropped kerbs at entrances – the council
will look at options for this.
Paint some children’s games such as hopscotch on the flagstones in these areas.
An old hopscotch grid exists in one of these spaces, but it is old and faded.
Perhaps the community could be involved in this (children design or come up with
ideas, and local residents with that particular skill help deliver the work). Could
Groundwork provide volunteers through the Future Jobs Fund or NEETs schemes?
(There is no need for play equipment here as the area is well served by parks and
playgrounds.)
A call for volunteers should also be made via the school through school newsletters
etc.
Council to share volunteering policy to encourage people to sign up to help
Speed restrictions on Falmouth Road
Concerns were aired during the audit about the speed of traffic along Falmouth Road.
Apparently traffic has increased along this road due to other routes being closed (or
slowed by lights), and neighbouring streets having speed bumps/cushions installed,
leading to this road being used as a cut-through. Tenancy is more mixed in this area
having many long-term residents with young families who are quite rightly anxious
about increased traffic flow and speeds.
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Carry out a traffic survey on Falmouth Road to ascertain scale of problem and
legitimacy of concerns.
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Residents claim that only 3 speed bumps/cushions would be required along this
length to slow traffic down significantly.
Facilities: litter bins and dog fouling signage
It was noted by residents that there has been many instances of dog fouling –
particularly near to the school entrances. There are also very few litter bins throughout
the estate in general.
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Consider the installation of signage to help mitigate instances of dog fouling
(posters designed by children?) – particularly around the school area and the small
green spaces.
Carry out a litter bin audit on the estate. If warranted, consider installing new bins
especially at the sites identified above, or moving existing bins if not used
frequently.
Back lanes:
Children playing
Children playing in the back lanes is an issue that was raised several times during the
resident engagement surveys, and during the audit itself. Parents want to be able to
encourage their young children to play together in the back lanes – promoting a sense
of community, ownership and inclusiveness – but feel that this is being made difficult
and risky with cars using the back lanes, walkways being incessantly blocked by bins
and rubbish bags, and broken glass strewn over the paths and roads.
Glass strewn across back lanes
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Bins and bags making play difficult for children
Paint children’s games on the back lane roads – such as hopscotch, ball dribble,
snakes and ladders, adventure trail etc. – to encourage and aid play.
Involve the local school in making signs to be displayed in the back lanes (on lamp
posts?) such as: ‘slow down’, ‘we play here’, ‘don’t drop litter’, ‘no fly-tipping’ etc.
The head teacher at the school (Hotspur Primary School) has already stressed an
interest in being involved in the project.
Communal bins would help with this as streets would be less cluttered and are
easier to clean and maintain.
Greening up
The audit group also went to look at the (fairly) new wooden planters on Cardigan
Terrace that were awarded through a local greening up project. These planters raised
the aesthetic value of the street considerably, and therefore the group were keen to do
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something similar for other streets on the estate. There are some residents who might
be prepared to meet informally as a volunteer group, but they would need help and
assistance from the council and/or other local organisations if they are to constitute so
that funding for planters can be applied for.
Planters raising the aesthetic value of the street
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Willing residents need to liaise with Chair of Cardigan Tce/Stannington Ave ‘back
lane greening project’ to see how the funding was achieved – council to put in
touch
Council will assist residents/volunteer group with constitution process and will
source help with funding applications.
Front garden schemes
Although many front gardens within the estate are very well maintained, there are
those which are not – either being vastly overgrown or having accumulations of rubbish
(or both!). Only a small number of such gardens can bring down the whole aesthetic
value of a street. This important issue was recognised by the audit participants, some
of whom have already expressed an interest and willingness to try and improve the
situation.
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Again, the young lady involved with SCAN (student union volunteering) said that it
might be possible to enlist student volunteers in tidying people’s front gardens.
Another resident suggested involving older students from the primary school, or a
local scouts group to help with this work, and would, herself, be prepared to
volunteer to try and make this happen.
This could lead to something like a ‘gardens in bloom’ type contest – similar to
those in the Gateshead area.
Council to circulate information flyer with furniture recycling schemes’ info for
landlords
Liaison will be needed between potential volunteers and the council to ensure that a
front garden strategy, permissions and any issues relating to equipment and resources
are sorted out
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Conclusions and next steps
Living Streets would like to thank the many committed and enthusiastic residents of
Heaton Terraces whose opinions and comments have helped shape this report, and
whose ideas and suggestions have informed the proposed solutions contained herein.
Within the scope of this audit and brief report, many issues came up which will have to
be prioritised. Living Streets hopes that focusing on the experience of people who use
the area will help guide how any funding is spent. Developing buy-in between partners
with a vested interest in this area is crucial to ensure that budgets are pooled and
responsibility and ownership shared. Residents are, of course, key in this process.
There are a number of motivated individuals in this area who want to improve the
situation for the benefit of all residents. This interest and enthusiasm must be nurtured
and enabled so that the community benefits, not just in the short term, but in its longterm aspirations too.
Action Plan:
Short term (quick wins) 0-3mths
- Communal bins be trialled on selected streets as soon as possible (Cardigan
Terrace & Warwick Street) – if seen to be an improvement, roll out across
estate where applicable
- If communal bins scheme cannot be achieved on certain streets, improve
collection scheduling information, including: schedules posted in back lanes,
stickers on bins, magnetic schedules for residents, and ‘orphan bin’ culling.
Residents will help disseminate collection information and monitor success
- Council to distribute flyer of useful contacts to all households on estate
- Develop a timetable of organised community activity facilitated by SCAN.
Residents/volunteers will help improve the public green spaces by cutting back
vegetation and litter picking – first ‘Community Action Day’ to be held in May.
Council will look to install benches and improve access. Community will be
involved in providing floor activities for children.
- Council to carry out a litter bin audit and re-position if required.
- Link in with council’s Enviroschools project to involve children in the process get schoolchildren involved in producing posters to raise awareness of dog
fouling issue around school entrance
- Look for funding opportunities for back lane planters and community ‘greening
up’ projects. Council to assist community group with constituting and funding
application processes. Consider partnering up with ‘Your Backyard’
organisation to further explore external funding opportunities
- Share the council’s volunteering policy to encourage people to sign up to help
Medium term 3-12mths
- Resident group will lead on improving back lanes as play spaces/social spaces
including floor games, signage, and organise events and activities such as
street parties etc. This should aim to be estate-wide in the long term, not just on
one or two streets. Involve local school, youth groups, scouts groups etc.
- Improve aesthetic look of street by rejuvenating on-street planters and tidying
front gardens – SCAN will take responsibility for some of this work alongside
resident volunteers to achieve this. Seek advice from council about lowmaintenance, attractive plants for street planters
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Council to consider speed restrictions/traffic calming devices along Falmouth
Road
Improve aesthetic value of shop forecourts along Heaton Park Road with
planting, parking restrictions. Linking in with Sustran’s DIY Streets project
should help with this.
Next steps
This is an overview of a brief piece of work by Living Streets in the Heaton Terraces
area, and we are happy to present some key points from this report back at a
stakeholder/Ward member meeting if this supports the process.
Contact and report author:
Jim Shaw,
Project Coordinator (Streets)
Living Streets
c/o 4th Floor, Universal House, 88-94 Wentworth Street.
London E1 7SA
email: jim.shaw@livingstreets.org.uk
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