Is it time for a community environment standard?
Nick Fletcher, Policy and Public Affairs Officer, CIH
Julie Procter, Chief Officer, Greenspace Scotland
Nick addressed why the CIH believes there is a case to be made for a standard that is about ensuring that the area people live in is of a good quality that is attractive and safe meeting their needs and which is sustainable.
He covered why the time may be right for a community environment standard and what the main drivers for one may be. These included the ongoing investment in house conditions, the SHQS, the views of politicians and housing professionals and the concerns of the people living in communities.
By covering the work done by the CIH in Scotland last year Nick considered what elements a community environment standard may contain. He detailed four elements that had gained support from the CIH in Scotland discussion paper that covered community open spaces / greenspaces, environmental antisocial behaviour, hard and soft landscaping and the built environment.
Finally he considered what the next steps should be. He intends to produce an Action Plan to consider the contents of the standard, consider the issues of funding and look at how a national standard can adapted to meet local needs and be locally implemented.
Following on from Nick, Julie focused on the immediate environment around houses – the greenspace – and why this is a critical priority which, if ignored, could undermine all of the current investment in social housing.
She noted there has been a massive investment in social housing improvements and that we might be creating houses fit for people to live in but are we creating communities where people want to live. Are we creating health promoting environments where strong and safe communities will grow? Communities define themselves and others define them by the condition of their environment. It follows then that for the regeneration of communities to succeed, resources have to be directed at the local environment – the greenspaces – as well as at housing and job creation.
Greenspace impacts across a range of policy priorities – from health and well being, to lifelong learning and inward investment, to regeneration and community safety. Why then, when we look around Scotland, do we see so many wasted spaces that depress both people and place? She said everyone should have access to quality greenspace from their door. Extending the Scottish Housing Quality Standard may be the way we achieve this. But she was concerned that we may be leaping too quickly from problem to solution and may not yet really understand problem.