METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE
Holloway Police Station
Geraldine Knipe
LBI Planning Department
www.met.police.uk
RE: Relocation of Ashmount School to Crouch Hill Recreation Centre
Dear Geraldine,
I would like to take this opportunity to make the following comments before the February 25th dead line. I have tried to keep my comments brief for clarity purposes.
Through policing Islington for the last 27 years I am familiar with the above location. I was invited to the site on 11th July and 6th August 2008 by invitation of Kate Cornwall-Jones who led a walk around the site together with number from the planning department. Several months later I attended a meeting at Ashmount School held for parents and the local community. On both occasions I made comments regarding the unsuitability of the location for a school. My main concerns were for the lack of visibility and surveillance afforded to the school as a whole. My comments below are based from `Safer Places' home office guidance and `Secured by Design for schools'; web site is www.securedbydesign.com.
Designing a safe and secure school environment with a near to zero carbon footprint is a worthy task particularly in an Inner London Borough. This proposed woodland site may provide a healthy learning environment for children, however the main issue surely must be to create a safe and secure learning environment.
The main thrust of this report concerns the unsuitability of this location for a school rather than design issues. Designing a safe and secure school must be the priority and second the ability to do this with a near to zero carbon footprint. To achieve a low or zero carbon footprint should not overtake the primary object. Major issues such as the lack of natural visibility and surveillance around the school building are matters, which need to be addressed in an imaginative manner.
Secured by Design is the UK Police flagship initiative supporting the principles of `designing out crime', by use of effective crime prevention and security standards for a range of application including schools. It supports one of the Governments key planning objectives, the creation of secure, quality places where people wish to live and work.
As a matter of course I recommend that new schools implement Secured By Design principles to create a safer learning environment for children now and for future generations. Every school is different and requires site-specific advice due to the different environmental features of the location. Safety and security are essential for any school environment.
Where safety and security are compromised then all too readily a few people can cause disruption to the work of the school, threatening the physical and mental well being of pupils and staff and cause damage to property. The cost of such criminal activity cannot be accurately determined. There are many thousands of incidents a year in our schools, fortunately not as serious as the shooting incident at Dunblane or the machete attack at St Lukes infants School, but they are disruptive, they do cause damage and they do cause fear.
Much of crime committed in schools is opportunistic and will be committed not only by outsiders, but also sadly by pupils, parents and staff. The trend overall indicates that crime is being reduced but certain types of crime particularly arson are increasing.
Natural surveillance in and around schools is one of the key factors to achieve a safe and secure school. Natural surveillance is normally achieved by residents whose houses overlooking a school, or by pedestrians or road users passing by the school. Unfortunately this location does not provide sufficient opportunities for passive observation to occur, throughout the day and evening.
Crime Pattern Analysis.
I have obtained a crime pattern analysis for Crouch Hill Community Park and Parkland Walk for September 2006 - August 2008. Due to this being over a 24 month span, the offence levels are to be considered as low.
During this 2 year period there were 15 offences committed in Crouch Hill Community Park area. The incidents occurred in the Recreation Centre, Nursery, Bowlers green and the Youth Club. The most frequent offences were criminal damage, followed by robbery and thefts from vehicles.
Over the same period there were 17 offences committed along Parkland Walk. The most common offences there were of Robbery, which there were 6 offences. The next most common was for possession of cannabis for which there were 5 offences. During December 2007, January 2008, February 2008 and June 2008 there was more than one offence each month. Peak days were Tuesday and Saturday, with a general peak time of 1200 - 1400 hours.
British Crime Survey statistic suggests that less than half of crime is reported to police. Taken this into account the overall picture from the crime pattern analysis suggests that crime levels in this location is significant.
Comments.
Finsbury Park historically is a hotspot for crime. Parkland Walk links Finsbury Park to Haringey passing close to the proposed location. According to the CPA drug users and robbers particularly use this area. From experience I know that syringes that are left behind by drug users can be pick up by children and used as a toy, or used as a weapon to stab other children. Offenders that have used this location for several years may wish to continue to do so since the location will continued to have a lack of surveillance opportunities.
The Ashmount School site is remote and isolated. It is not overlooked and there will be little opportunity for natural surveillance.
Trees in the woodland will provide physical features that may compromise the security of the school perimeter.
Entrances to school sites should be reduced to the minimum practicable and preferably should direct vehicles and pedestrians through one main entrance. In this proposed development there are several routes leading to the school. Mostly they are narrow paths with poor lighting and, some have pinch points, where conflict may occur such as bullying. Curved pathways and dense foliage obstruct line of sight along the pathways.
Parkland Walk connects Finsbury Park in the south to Haringey in the north along a disused railway line. Plans indicate that it will remain unlit. Several connecting paths link into this main route.
This is a public right of way, which gives legitimacy for people to be there at any time of the day or night, including potential offenders. The network of pathways mentioned above provides numerous escape routes for potential offenders.
Crime in this location is currently significant and may increase during construction and after completion, impacting on police resources.
According to the British Crime Survey, schools often suffer from damage caused by fire, the greater proportion of these incidents are considered suspicious or deliberate. Building materials need to be considered with this potentially.
There is current evidence that anti-social behaviour, littering, fly tipping, graffiti, vandalism occurs in the area and has done for many years. It is a point worthy of a mention, that those responsible for the above crimes may associate themselves with the location, regarding it as their space, resulting in the same crimes reoccurring.
Imaginative application of security measures may be require to eliminate this reoccurrence.
Boundary treatment.
Generally a robust, vandal resistant boundary fence would be recommended, with anti climb toppings to make climbing difficult, to deter less motivated offenders. However, the woodland environment with it's lack of surveillance will allow offenders more time to apply significant force to any type of boundary fence, and subsequently to the building shell, windows and doors. When the trees are in full leaf and the ground shrubs are growing the lack of visibility and surveillance will increase.
Trees should not be so close to the boundary fence so as to create a climbing frame. Branches should be pruned up to a minimum height of 2.2, thereby maintaining a clear field of vision around the site. Mature trees must not mask lighting columns nor become climbing aids.
Lighting
A successful lighting scheme requires good but not oppressive levels of light, which is evenly distributed, allowing clear colour rendition and avoiding light spillage. Well-positioned lighting deters and reveals potential intruders and reduces the fear of crime.
Lighting used to illuminate the way to school should be fit for purpose. School children and public using the network of paths in the evenings and in winter will feel safer if they were able to see their way ahead clearly.
Parkland Walk is a public right of way, which creates another concern. Certain types of offenders with an unwelcome interest in children may frequent the site. The woodland environment may create opportunities for potential offenders to view children whilst not being observed themselves. A woodland environment gives potential offenders ready made explanation for carrying a camera and or binoculars.
Poor or inadequate lighting that creates shadows or uneven light may make places that are appealing to youths as gathering or loitering places, leading to possible anti social behaviour. Therefore where necessary lighting should be vandal resistant and positioned out of reach of offenders. Regular maintenance of lighting may be required.
Tree canopies obstruct natural light filtering to ground and may obstruct luminaries. The variance in lighting levels may cause people to feel unsafe because of their inability to see others clearly.
Vandal resistant perimeter lighting, operated by photoelectric cells, should illuminate all elevations and recesses of the building.
The type of lighting should support natural surveillance and the operation of CCTV and shall not be obstructed.
Pedestrian Access.
School entrances should be reduced to the minimum. This site has several routes to and around the school, many of which are narrow with poor sight lines. Without the ability to see the way ahead clearly, together with pinch points will tend to increase the feeling of fear.
A the start and end of school parents and children are likely to congregate around the entrances and along the pathways, further restricting the free movement of other users, which may lead to confrontation and bullying.
The public right of way around the school grounds, may compromise school security. If criminal incidents occur the surrounding network of footpaths will provide suitable escape routes.
Landscaping must not prevent or obstruct natural surveillance from occurring between the perimeter and the building shell. A clear field of vision around the grounds must be maintained, or reduce the effectiveness of any CCTV system.
Site lines around the school should be kept as simple as possible as complex shapes create hiding places, which will further reduce both natural surveillance and the effectiveness of CCTV systems.
Building Shell Security
Features that aid climbing particularly to low flat roofs must be avoided.
Offenders also use Windows and doors. These should therefore be robust and fit for purpose. BS 7950 for windows and all ground floor and vulnerable windows should use minimum 6.8 laminate glazing. External school doors to be Loss Protection Service (LPS) 1175 standard rating (SR) 2 or 3. All glazing to doors to be minimum 7.5 mm thick and laminate.
Emergency escape doors and frames should be fit for purpose and be to the latest European standards; Panic Exits BS EN 1125: 1997 and Emergency Exits BS EN 179: 1998.
Internal Layout
Recognising the multi use of the school buildings after school hours, various parts of the school should be controlled to avoid the risk of unauthorised access to vulnerable areas. Location of toilets for example in relation to an activity area such as a sports hall will be crucial.
High value items to be kept in secured areas and preferably above ground level. And access to obvious risk areas such as kitchens laboratories, computer centres and management offices restricted through lockable doors.
Internal layouts should generally to be simple to avoid hidden areas and pinch points in circulation areas.
A secure bike store is required which must be overlooked and kept under surveillance. If children and staff are to be encouraged to use bicycles a secure place to keep bikes should be provided. Bike theft in Islington is higher than the national average.
Crouch Hill Community Park and Parkland Walk have many attributes as a woodland retreat and a place to relax. Such places are rare in an inner city location. Local people currently enjoy the peace and tranquillity that the site provides. It also includes pedestrian and cycle links to and from Finsbury Park and a habitat for wild life including bats. Building a school so close to this habitat without having any adverse effect on it is a great challenge and will be difficult to achieve.
Parrs Wood in Greater Manchester is a successful school built on parkland. Some of the key factors were the imaginative application of Secured by Design principles, with an accessible school site and secure building. This site benefited from sharing the cost of security such as CCTV and security staff with other buildings such as a leisure centre also built on site. Another key factor was that Natural Surveillence was possible throughout the day and evening because the site was Parkland not Woodland.
The proposed site is significantly different to that above in that there is very little Natural Surveillance particularly after school and community hours. If planning permission is granted I believe that this may have potential impact on police resources in the future and create community safety issues.
Planning Policy Statement 1 para 1,
Poor planning can result in a legacy for current and future generations of run down town centres, unsafe and dilapidated housing, crime and disorder and loss of our finest countryside to development.
The present generation of operational police colleagues are dealing with the effects of bad design and planning now. Although current crime statistics for this area is relatively low, as seen in the crime pattern analysis, I believe that the current planning proposals to relocate Ashmount School to a woodland area will create a legacy, which the above policy seeks to prevent.
Planning Policy Statement 1 para 3.
Sustainable development is the core principle underpinning planning. At the heart of sustainable development is the simple idea of ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for future generations.
Planning Policy Statement 1 para 4.
In relation to the 4 aims of sustainable development, these should be pursued in an integrated way through sustainable, innovative and productive economy that delivers high levels of employment and a just society that promotes social inclusion, sustainable communities and personal well being, in way that protect and enhance the physical environment and optimise resources and energy use.
`Integration' can be interpreted as including the overarching policy such as Section 17 Crime and Disorder Act. A just society is one where victims are not created by bad design or the repetition of crime prone design features, which have been proved to facilitate offending in the past. Sustainability is not just about energy use.
Sustainable communities are ones, which do not suffer high levels of crime. Personal well being includes freedom from victimisation. Protecting and enhancing the physical environment includes reducing blight from litter, binge drinking, criminal damage and other general offending.
Planning Policy Statement 1 para 12.
Pre-application discussions are critically important and benefit both developers and local planning authorities in ensuring a better mutual understanding of objectives and constraints that exist. In the course of such discussions proposals can be adapted to ensure that they better reflect community aspirations and those applications are complete and address all the relevant issues.
Any application, which is submitted without adequate pre-application discussion, must be deemed not to be ensuring mutual understanding of objectives such as `Safer Places' and constraints such as existing levels of crime.
I am unable to support this proposal
