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Although both the wards of Cliftonville West and Margate Central have issues relating to anti social behaviour, it would not be feasible to declare the whole area as part of the designation due to staff resource implications.
The focus for this designation is, in the main, focused on the part of the ward of Cliftonville West due to the higher proportion of residential accommodation and the link between anti social behaviour and rented accommodation. If the designation is successful it may be that further designations are considered in the future.
Anti social behaviour is a concern within the ward and forms the main reason for this proposal.
The area suffers from a number of fires both deliberate and accidental each year. The Fire Service attended 215 deliberate fires in 2009/2010 across Thanet and this is one of the highest levels in Kent. However, the ward of Cliftonville West has the highest number of call outs for deliberate dwelling fires experiencing 13 last year. As a result of these fires 2 people suffered serious injuries and 9 had to be rescued from their homes.
Thanet’s average incident rate for fire is 4.3 fires per 1,000 population. The rate in Cliftonville West is double that rate at 10.2 fires per 1,000 population and is the highest rate across all the wards in Thanet.
Crime is also a significant problem in Cliftonville West and Margate Central. These two wards have some of the worst crime rates in Kent with a combined crime rate of 247.3 per 1000 population; the average for Kent is 71.3 per 1000 population .
Cliftonville West had 386 reported violent crimes compared to the ward average of 133 in Thanet. This is almost three times the average.
Burglary linked to local problematic drug users, accounts for 153 crimes a year in Cliftonville West alone against a Thanet ward average of 33.
Within the two wards (Cliftonville West and Margate Central), the Youth Offending Service has 87 customers annually. This represents 17% of the Thanet total. Cliftonville West is the worst ward for youth offending in Kent accounting for 15% of youth crime in Thanet.
Approximately 15% of KCC’s children’s social work cases in Thanet are found in these two wards. This includes a disproportionate number requiring statutory intervention.
745 of Incapacity Benefit claims were for mental health and behavioural disorders from a total of 1390 in the area (53.7%).
Approximately 34% of all GP referrals in Thanet to secondary mental health services emanate from these two wards.
From July 01 2009 - July 01 2010 a total of 188 fixed penalty notices were issued for littering and dog fouling across the district. 14% of those notices were served within Cliftonville West.
As indicated by some of the statistics shown above the area of Cliftonville West suffers from a significant problem of anti social behaviour. The map below indicates the levels of service requests received by Thanet DC in 2009/10 relating to antisocial behaviour and privately rented properties. It also plots known empty properties.
Click on image to enlarge
The map shows that across the area there are a number of properties that are linked to anti social behaviour. This only shows the level of activity by Thanet DC and does not show the calls and activity relating to crime and disorder and therefore the map should be read in conjunction with the general statistics already provided.
In order to qualify for a selective licensing scheme there must be evidence of a link between the housing and a significant and persistent problem of anti social behaviour. The data and map clearly show that this is the case, however there is data missing on exactly how many properties are privately rented. As information becomes available this map will be updated.
Based on the available data that has been mapped, there are clear hotspot areas. The ‘hotspots’ will form the basis of a prioritisation for the enforcement programme but it is considered appropriate to designate this whole area to ensure a comprehensive approach is taken to deal with the issues.
By designating the whole area detailed in the map above the risk of problems migrating to other wards is reduced. The nature of the housing stock in this area is so unique that it is unlikely that other wards will be affected in the same way. So far, of those authorities that already have a selective licensing scheme, there appears to be no evidence that the problems migrate to other areas. The aim of the scheme is to tackle the route cause of the anti social behaviour rather than moving it from property to property. Evaluation of the scheme will form an important part of this project and this will include an impact assessment on surrounding areas.
One of the main distinguishing features of this area and arguably at the heart of the problem is the over-supply of mainly substandard private rented accommodation. In October 2009, the Housing Regeneration Team at Thanet District Council began a pro-active programme of inspection called ‘Your Home, Your Health’. This programme involved the systematic inspection of all properties in the area, one street at a time. This programme is currently on going and has provided valuable data on the properties in the area. So far the data collected has identified that in some streets more than 80% of the properties are privately rented. The average for privately rented property in Thanet is 28.5% which is still very high compared to a national average of 13%. This is a symptom of the current housing market and the high levels of people on means tested benefits that are unable to access the housing market. Despite the house prices having recently reduced and the value of property in Cliftonville West being particularly low, the area is more attractive to investment landlords with a demand for low rent accommodation rather than owner occupiers.
45% of properties are in single-occupation and this is largely due to the number of small flats and HMOs. 58% of properties are flats compared to the Kent average of 16% and 30 properties in the area already have a mandatory HMO licence. The level of home ownership has reduced significantly with some streets only showing around 10% of properties being owner occupied and this figure appears to be falling. This type of accommodation has an impact on the diversity of the community with less family accommodation available which in turn leads to over occupation and overcrowding.
In addition to the high levels of rented accommodation and low levels of owner occupied properties there are high levels of empty properties. Up to 20% of units are empty in some streets and in some cases whole buildings that have been converted into a number of flats are empty and boarded up.
Figures provided by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) show that between 58-and 85% of properties within Cliftonville West have at least one category one hazard as assessed under the Housing Health and Safety Rating system. This is an indicator of substandard accommodation that does not meet the decent homes standard. Following a stock condition survey for the whole of Thanet in 2008, it is likely that properties will contain disrepair issues that will lead to a risk of exposure to the cold through inadequate heating and insulation, and an increased risk of fire, falls, and crime. This is further supported by the data mentioned in 4.1 which details the level of crime and incidents of fire.
The population in the area is particularly transient with a 34% annual ‘churn’. Work through the ‘Your Home, Your Health’ project has highlighted that more than 80% of residents in the survey area are not originally from Thanet. Around 21% are from elsewhere in Kent, 43% are from elsewhere in the UK and 19% are from outside of the UK.
The transient nature of the residents makes it extremely difficult to understand the needs of the residents in the area and to make a lasting impact by tailoring services to meet those needs.
The average life expectancy in Margate Central is 72.7 years (2004 -2008 pooled data) - 17 years shorter than the best in Kent. Life expectancy at birth for males in Cliftonville West is 69.2 years, almost 18½ years below the best county average. Key killers for this population are circulatory disease (highest mortality rates in Thanet) and all cancers.
The area also has high levels of people in receipt of benefits. 39% of people are in receipt of at least one benefit which is the worst in Kent. 9.4% are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and 18.5% receive Incapacity Benefit this is the second worst in Kent the first being Margate Central.
Given the data collected, it is considered appropriate that a selective licensing designation should be considered. However, it is important to ensure that this scheme compliments existing projects and activity.
In 2005 Cliftonville west was declared as a renewal area. Additional resource was directed to the area in the form of a small team dedicated to responding to issues in the area and administering small grants to improve the frontage of the properties. The work of this team has identified the need for a much larger more integrated approach which has led to the development of the Margate Task Force. The area also benefited from investment from the Safer, Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF) which helped deliver projects for the community.
These have all had a positive impact on the area but have not directly tackled the internal conditions of the properties or dealt with continued anti social behaviour issues. Although the Council has always responded to complaints relating to housing condition and anti social behaviour this only deals with a small proportion of the problems leaving the remaining area largely un-regulated.
In 2007 the Council also led on a multi agency enforcement approach called ‘Operation Cleansweep’. Again this is a continuing programme of activity and is a highly successful model for enforcement. There have been a number of successes through the scheme and this approach will continue to have an important role in the enforcement and delivery of selective licensing.
In 2009 the Council introduced a proactive property inspection programme called ‘Your Home Your Health’. There are two main aims to this approach. The first is as a multi agency referral form to assist residents in accessing a number of services that they may not normally be aware of. These services range from finding a dentist or a doctor, quitting smoking and healthy living advice, to benefit advice and debt management, to accessing community groups and befriending services. The second aim is to collect information about the properties, the tenure, and the population. So far this has provided some useful information to allow us to direct services appropriately. ‘Your Home, Your Health’ runs in partnership with the NHS and services across Kent County Council and Thanet DC and has successfully linked a number of residents to services that have improved their health safety and welfare.
It is intended that selective licensing will support the activity that is currently being undertaken but also bridge the gap that has been identified by dealing with the problems associated with rented accommodation and anti social behaviour.
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E-mail:
housing.conditions @thanet.gov.uk
Tel: 01843 577437
Further information for private landlords here