GREAT YARMOUTH STREET SCENE ASSESSMENT TEAM

Michael BrackenburyLeon de Beer

• Mike is a pensioner who works part time for Community Connections as Street Scene Coordinator and facilitator of community based environmental projects in Great Yarmouth.

• Leon is a Community Development Worker with Community Connections.

WORKSHOP AIMS

• To describe the development of the Street Scene Team since its beginning

• To give an account of the day to day working and statutory service that the Team delivers

• To outline the benefits of the Team to the local community

• To encourage delegates to develop Street Scene teams in their own communities

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• The Background• National and Local Context• Social Impact• Community Engagement• Training and Certification• Delivering BV199 Assessments• The Neighbourhood Model• The Street Scene Team and the Community• The Response Team• The Benefits and Added Value• Funding and Sustainability

THE BACKGROUND• Street Scene

Assessment Before Us

• Community Connections

• Starting up and Start-up Funding

• The Pilot Project

National and Local Context

National Context

• Gershon Report

• DEFRA Report

Local Context

• Audit Commission Inspection

• Environmental Rangers

Where we are

--Great Yarmouth

Social Impact• Involvement, Engagement and Empowerment• Volunteers• Youth • Community Partners• Training and Accreditation• Work Experience and Placements• Targeted Wards and Lower Output Areas• Great Yarmouth as Empowerment Champion

Quotations from the Street Scene Team

Alan Ellison“Rubbish annoys me and I see Street Scene Team as way of cleaning it up, especially around bottle banks.”Robin Smith“Street Scene improves people’s lives, it works, it does what it says on the tin.”Alan Yaxley“Why did we get involved? Because we care about the community we live in.”

Quotations from the Street Scene TeamGail Yaxley

“Yes we like to think we have made a difference, but this is only the beginning.”

Tim Alford

“I think it is good at what it does and it helps keep the streets tidy.”

Colin Novelle

“Why do we get involved? Because we can make a difference. We have; as volunteers.”

Derek Barber

I’m really proud of what we do and I think it makes a difference.”

Quotations from the Street Scene Team

Natalie Cooper "When people volunteer to improve their community, it encourages others to do the same.  Street Scene is a rock, when thrown into a pond, the ripples, through experiences, knowledge and new connections spreads through the community, making it a better place to live in for everyone".

Community Engagement• Community Development Workers• CLIPS (Community Information)• Community Partnerships• Faith Groups • Tenant Participation/ Residents Associations • Employment Schemes• Local Schools• Inter agency collaboration• Neighbourhood Management• Hosting partner agencies• Local residents

Training and Certification

• Community Action Research• EnCams ‘How to Grade for BV199’ • Decent Homes and the Housing Health &

Safety Rating System• Child Protection Training• Community Connections Training

Programmes• Other courses of further education and

vocational training

Delivering BV199 Assessments

Method• Standards• Target Wards• Choosing Transects• Roles and Responsibilities

Practice• Working in Pairs• Maps, Briefing, Recording• Reporting • Action on Failing Transects

The Local Authority’s View of Street Scene Team

 

* Communities have the capacity. • * One third of Great Yarmouth's BV199 return was derived from transects

undertaken by residents formally trained by EnCams in BV199 methodology during 2006/7.

 • * Mainstreamed staff and resources are secured which exist primarily to

respond promptly to community derived transects which are graded b/c and below.

 • * Not just engagement but empowerment • * Everyone is talking the same language • * Borough Council plans for commissioning BV199 transects on a 

mainstreamed basis are already well underway.

The Neighbourhood Model

• Expert Residents

• Knowledge of Patch

• Local Issues

• Walkabouts

• Local Information

The Street Scene Team in the Community

• Being Seen

• Regular Visits

• Hotspots

• Volunteering for related projects

The Response Team• Great Yarmouth Borough Services DERT

Team

• The Environmental Rangers

• The Unpaid Work Teams

• Mural Artists

The Benefits and Added Value

• Community Empowerment

• Developing Local Expertise

• Raised Public Awareness

• Social Inclusion

• The Added Value Box

• Improvement in Measured Street Scene Quality

Funding and Sustainability• The Project has been funded :• For its first two years by the Neighbourhood Renewal

Fund through the Great Yarmouth Local Strategic Partnership.

• Sustainability for the future will depend upon:• The level of funding available from the Borough Council

and Great Yarmouth Borough Services• Earnings as a Social Enterprise from:• 1. Commercial Sponsorship • 2. Residential Training to community groups starting

their own Street Scene Teams

GREAT YARMOUTH STREET SCENE ASSESSMENT TEAM

Questions and Answers and Open Discussion

Future Opportunities• Earnings as a Social Enterprise from

Commercial Sponsorship

• Earnings as a Social Enterprise from

Residential Training to community groups starting their own Street Scene Teams

GREAT YARMOUTH STREET SCENE ASSESSMENT TEAM

The Street Scene Team

On The Street Video