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Project Case Studies

High Path Estate Community Garden

Project Team/Partners

• Groundwork Merton
• London Borough of Merton Housing Department
• Safer Neighbourhoods Abbey Ward Team
• High Path Tenants and Residents Association (HPTRA)s

Summary

High Path estate in South Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton has the most dense housing in the borough. Groundwork Merton has been working with the London Borough of Merton's Housing services for 9 years on projects to create a safer and more pleasant environment on the estate for local residents to live. The open space area outside Eleanor House on the estate was highlighted in an estate audit carried out by the Police, which showed this area to have a higher perception of anti-social behaviour than other parts of the estate. Recurring incidents of nuisance behaviour, including unsightly graffiti and frequent vandalism, led to a particularly high level of fear of crime on the estate and concerns regarding young people gathering in the area. The ward was selected as one of three in Merton to pilot the Public Reassurance (PR) programme, steered by Merton Safer Neighbourhoods and the Metropolitan Police. Addressing Objective 2 in the Merton Crime and Disorder Strategy, PR aims to increase the sense of community safety by a number of innovative methods that address real and perceived community need. The High Path Tenants' and Residents' Association (HPTRA) worked with the local PR Neighbourhood Officer, Groundwork and the Housing Office and identified the communal space in front of Eleanor House as the main area on the estate which negated the perception of community safety:

• A Visual Audit between residents and the PR project confirmed the area as a significant 'blight' in the local landscape, creating a feeling of neglect.
• Young people using the area also created a sense of unease, and their own needs needed to be identified and addressed in a positive way.
• Particular issues included an 'overspill' of graffiti from an adjacent 'pit' area, existing drying areas and communal seating areas were in a poor and unsightly condition and needed rationalising. There was a need to regenerate the site and increase the sense of community ownership, involving all those were using, or wanted to use, it.

Description

The project set out to achieve the following objectives:

• Increased involvement of the local community, across all groups within the community and specifically focusing on inclusion of young people.
• Increased public use and ownership of a community garden area, to provide a focus for resident and community activities.
• A change in public perceptions of crime and safety in the area. The results of the Safer Neighbourhoods Perception Audit indicated areas of most concern included litter, traffic and parking, graffiti, poor street lighting, vandalism and youth groups and the project aimed to touch on all of these areas.

Following consultation with local people, the project Steering Group of local residents went through their priorities from the results which were:

• Lighting: to make the area feel safer and to make the area more cheerful and welcoming the group wanted decorative rather than security lighting.
• Seating: was important to the new garden and the group discussed options and ideas for different kinds of seating.
• Surfacing: there was strong feeling from the group that the design should include areas of grass. However, young people reported that they didn't want to lose all areas of hard surfacing. A compromise was therefore sought to ensure young people didn't feel they were losing a space that they felt was theirs and alternative 'hard' surfacing for multiple use was explored. Younger children at the consultation events wanted to see a stage area for dancing etc.
• Clothes drying area: further direct consultation was carried out and the decision was made to take down all the old drying lines and provide a new drying area in a smaller space.
• Enclosure: The existing concrete walls surrounding the sitting area should be removed and replaced with railing or a hedge around the garden area to help to keep out dogs and to stop trampling of the grass.
• The feel of the site: was to be taken into consideration when the designs were being prepared it was agreed it should be "a green, peaceful, sitting area" and should feel like a garden.
• Maintenance: was an issue throughout the estate.


Due to the nature of the funding the garden area was completed in two phases. The first phase included taking down the walls in the enclosed seating area and replacing with hedge planting. New seating was included, both traditional timber seating and a low reconstituted stone bench which also functions as part of the permeable enclosure to this space. As well as a grass area this first phase included a curved 'stage' area in set paving and an area between 'hard' and 'soft' 'grass paving' using the same sett paving to provide a green looking surface that still functioned as a hard surface. The boundary was formed mostly by hedge planting of evergreen Ilex crenata and a small area of green, copper and purple beech. This area was completed in October 2004.

The second phase was intended to be more of a 'garden' in character, mainly lawn with a border of hedging as for phase 1 and some herbaceous ground cover and shrub planting. Residents also requested trees for shade and fruit trees for the garden and these were included. As part of the 'permeable', 'see through' boundary discussed with the steering group, phase 2 also included laser cut metalwork panels based on designs produced at a workshop with residents. Next to the garden a smaller, new drying area was included with bespoke drying poles designed so that residents could put up and take down clothes lines as they were needed. The second phase was completed in April 2005.

Anecdotally, there has been a decrease in vandalism such as graffiti, litter etc. in the open space since the project was completed. Dialogue with local tenants has also shown a strong sense of ownership of the communal areas and residents have been seen weeding and watering the garden - witnessed during a recent Groundwork site visit.

A third phase to improve the graffiti and skate 'pit' area next to the new garden was identified but requires considerable funding to carry out as well as further work with young people on the estate to engage them in improvements. These improvements have now been included in the Abbey Ward Neighbourhood Plan for 2007 - 2010 This has been developed as a part of Merton's overall Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy with the aim of "bridging the gap" between the affluent and more disadvantaged areas in the borough, so that within 10-20 years "no one should be disadvantaged by where they live."

Process

A community steering group was set up to guide the project and was formed as a sub-group of the Tenants and Residents Association. There was a small amount of funding in place for the project but further funding was needed. The project steering group helped to apply for funding to various funding sources and successful bids were made to Living Spaces, Gate It, Barclays Sitesavers, London Borough of Merton, A & J Bull Landfill Tax Credits, The Norlands Foundation, Safer Neighbourhoods and Merton Partnership Against Crime.

The steering group also chose baseline indicators to assess social capital and perceptions of safety as part of the evaluation process. It is envisaged that this will be followed up after successful completion of stage 3 of the project.

Consultation focused around 'Community Mapping' methods. Two open sessions were held in October 2003 where local people were invited to pin ideas cards on to a scale model of the garden, made by the Steering Group. People were then able to agree or disagree with these ideas by putting pins of different colours on the cards.

Following the consultation sessions, the priorities were discussed with the Steering Group. Key elements were agreed for a sketch design proposal that residents were again consulted on. The Steering Group was also directly involved in overall design decisions and in detailed design for lighting, ornate metalwork panels and bespoke clothes drying poles for the garden areas.

A workshop was held to gather design ideas for the metalwork panels forming the boundary to the second phase garden and was well attended by young people from the estate. Their ideas and designs were translated into the final panel designs.

The completion of phase 1 was followed by a launch attended by the Mayor of Merton. Local people were also involved in a planting day for phase 1 of the project. The final celebratory launch on completion of phase 2 was planned and hosted by the steering group and also attended by the Mayor of Merton.

Evaluation

The basis for the evaluation methodology that was agreed for the project is 'Prove It', developed by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in partnership with Groundwork UK and Barclays PLC provides a method for measuring the effect of community regeneration projects on the quality of life of local people involving people in the process and ensuring the evaluation process and ensuring the evaluation process contributes to the delivery of the project.

Comments from local residents, collated in December 2006, include: "It used to be this horrible drying area, now the kids are having picnics on the grass in the summer. Little tea parties, as if they were in the park. It's great to see", Vincent Grech, local resident and member of the HPTRA

"An old neighbour of mine who moved a few years ago - she'd had enough, because of the state of the place - came by last week. She couldn't believe it. Said she would never have moved if she had known. That she wished she lived here now.", Alex Newman, local resident and member of the HPTRA.

Whilst residents show a strong sense of ownership and a sense of pride of the improved areas, there are also some concerns relating to existing facilities and maintenance. Tenants of all age groups have expressed a wish to demolish the current graffiti and skate 'pit' area next to the new garden, in favour of a more attractive and user-friendly resource for young people. There are also concerns relating to the maintenance of the planted areas in the garden.

A year's maintenance contract by the landscape contractor was included for both phases of the garden to help ensure the establishment of grass and plants. However the evergreen hedging in particular has struggled to establish and the removal of temporary fencing to protect the planting and the small size of hedging plants, normally recommended for quicker establishment, in this case struggled to grow. We hope to be able to continue working with residents to find the small amount of funding to re-plant the hedge areas with larger 'instant hedge' planting or provide another form of barrier for the boundaries of phase 1 in particular.

A recent survey carried out by the Abbey Ward Neighbourhood Renewal team highlighted maintenance of open spaces as well as other maintenance issues on the estate as a problem. A review and improvements in maintenance on the estate has been prioritised in the Neighbourhood Plan.

Resources

www.groundwork-merton.org.uk/