The Green Team shortlisted for Scottish Charity of the Year Award

The Green Team is a finalist for the Scottish Charity of the Year Award, the only environmental charity to make the shortlist in this category. Run annually by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), the Scottish Charity Awards celebrate the best of Scotland’s voluntary sector.

For 25 years the Green Team has been using fun outdoor activities and practical conservation tasks to support young people to connect with nature, others and themselves.

The last year has been one of huge change: improved governance structures and strategy, a new website and brand, and the sourcing and diversification of much-needed income. While all this change was going on, invaluable opportunities were provided for over 1,100 young people in Edinburgh and the Lothians to use nature for education, respite, social development, learning new skills and to take positive action for the environment.

While a judging panel will determine the winner of the Charity of the Year award, members of the public can have their say by voting for their favourite overall entry in the People’s Choice Award.

The Green Team is encouraging those in the Edinburgh and Lothians area, and those who are passionate about the environment and youth work, to vote for them for the People’s Choice Award – by visiting https://scvo.org.uk/scottish-charity-awards/finalists-2020/charity-of-the-year/the-green-team – before 5pm on Friday 4 September 2020.

Penny Radway, Chief Executive of The Green Team, said: “We are delighted and thrilled that in the year that the Green Team celebrates 25 years of connecting with young people through environmental action, we are finalists for the Scottish Charity of the Year Award.”

The full list of finalists can be found on the SCA website.

Due to the impact of coronavirus, this year the Awards will run a little differently. Winners will be announced on 25 September (rescheduled from June) and will now take place online so that all finalists and attendees who wish to attend are still able to join the celebrations in a safe way, regardless of lockdown phase or shielding status.

Anna Fowlie, Chief Executive of SCVO, said: “Much of the work celebrated this year predates the pandemic. All aspects of our lives have been disrupted in 2020. Our communities and the charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises they rely on have been under enormous pressure.

“Scotland’s voluntary sector has never been more needed and will be essential to Scotland’s recovery. At SCVO we know that fantastic work is going on all the time and we are delighted to celebrate these achievements and successes through the Scottish Charity Awards.

“This year’s shortlist of 45 finalists showcases just how diverse our voluntary sector is, and highlights, the fantastic work that has been going on across the country since the last Awards until March this year. The Awards are a great way of celebrating and recognising the people and organisations who make our voluntary sector a crucial part of every part of life in Scotland.

“Our finalists are fantastic, and I would encourage everyone to support their favourite by voting in the People’s Choice Award.”

Granton Waterfront among Council projects nominated for design awards

The city’s plan to regenerate Granton Waterfront has been shortlisted for the Scottish Design Awards 2020.

Selected as a finalist for the best Architecture Masterplan award, the Council’s development plan with Collective Architects sets out to boost affordable housing, transform streets to promote active travel and respond to the climate emergency in Granton. The award nomination recognises the project’s ‘fresh approach to creating a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable coastal quarter’ in Edinburgh.

Three further regeneration projects by the Council and city partners have also been shortlisted for the Scottish Design Awards 2020.

A housing development in Greendykes featuring modern, energy efficient Council homes has been nominated for the best new affordable housing award, while the restoration of the Edinburgh Printmakers and landscaping for the Calton Hill City Observatory renewal – both part funded by the Council – are also up for awards.

The winners are expected to be announced by the Scottish Design Awards at a virtual ceremony on 10 September.

Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Our City is growing and adapting and the new homes and communities being built are meeting the demands of our rising population and meeting our environmental responsibilities.

“We have one of the largest house-building programmes of any local authority and we’re making good progress towards our target of building new affordable and social homes. These homes are not only low carbon but are prioritising the wellbeing of current and future residents by ensuring sustainable communities and delivering high quality design.

“The £1.3bn transformational plans we have for Granton and our sustainable new homes in Greendykes are perfect examples of how we’re working to achieve this.

“Granton is one of the country’s leading sustainable developments and offers us the opportunity to work with the local community to create a new and eco-friendly waterfront neighbourhood, and it’s fantastic to see these projects nominated for national architecture awards.”

Depute Leader Cammy Day said: Our regeneration of Granton will deliver thousands of fantastic and much-needed new homes, creating countless new jobs and apprenticeships in the process.

“I’m looking forward to seeing us transform the area into the destination waterfront it has always deserved to be. We’ve also made a commitment to become a net-zero carbon city by 2030 and projects like this will help us deliver on that goal.

“We face big decisions about how we continue to regenerate parts of our City going forward, and recognition like this from the Scottish Design Awards – for how the Council is leading the way in sustainable, desirable new home design and supporting the restoration of incredible historic spaces – is very welcome.

“Now that construction can get back underway, we’re also seeing a number of other high profile sites take shape which will further reinvigorate derelict and underused parts of Edinburgh. We’re committed to building on this and our Choices for City Plan 2030 sets out a number of bold options for how our Capital can continue to flourish if we make certain planning, design and redevelopment decisions.”

Nominated for best Masterplan Design: Granton

The Granton Waterfront Development Framework offers a new approach to creating a vibrant, healthy and sustainable coastal quarter in Edinburgh.

Led by Collective Architects, the framework sets out an ambitious place-based, inclusive approach to regeneration which positively responds to the climate emergency.

It offers Edinburgh and the wider region the opportunity to make a step-change in how it develops in a sustainable, resilient and responsible way. Approximately 3,000 new homes of mixed size, typology and tenure feature in the plans alongside pedestrian-centred streets which promote active travel.

Nominated for best Affordable Housing Design: Greendykes

Anderson Bell Christie was appointed to deliver 75 new energy efficient homes for social and mid-market rent in Greendykes.

The result is a ‘Lifetime Neighbourhood’, appropriate for all generations and accessibilities with a community growing space, a communal heating system and building design with natural light, mental wellbeing and dementia friendly elements in mind. The site sits next to a new play park, providing excellent outdoor space for the family homes which are adjacent.

Nominated for best Building Re-use: Edinburgh Printmakers

The Edinburgh Printmakers is located within the former headquarters of the North British Rubber Company.

The redevelopment project by Page/Park Architects has transformed a derelict building into an accessible multi-use arts complex centred around printmaking production. It features a visitor attraction with two galleries, shop, café, education space, an office, archives and large print studio, with many original materials retained or upcycled.

Nominated for best Public Realm Landscaping: Calton Hill City Observatory

HarrisonStevens developed a concept design around constellations and planetary orbits to complement the restoration of the City Observatory on Calton Hill.

Working with the Collective Gallery’s artist in residence, Tessa Lynch, the design creates a sense of place and time, with landscaping to link up geological features with architectural, planting to illustrate the passing of the seasons and the use of traditional alongside contemporary materials.

Edinburgh Direct Aid leads relief effort by Syrian refugees in Beirut

The small Scottish charity Edinburgh Direct Aid has deployed a team of carpenters and other construction workers, trained in their vocational training depot in Arsal, Lebanon, to repair windows and doors destroyed by the recent blast in Beirut port.

Maggie Tookey, EDA’s international aid director, has arrived in Beirut to lead and plan the work. EDA is one of the very few NGO’s, so far, to begin actual repair work.

For over 6 years Edinburgh Direct Aid has been helping 50,000 Syrian refugees in Arsal, a small Lebanese town high above the Bekaa valley, near the Syrian border. All this aid has been passing through Beirut.

Now EDA has brought a team of Syrian refugees from Arsal to Beirut to carry out emergency repairs after the explosion at the port on August 4th. The team is drawn from graduates of construction courses at EDA’s vocational training centre in Arsal, which are run in partnership with the German “Green Helmets” organisation.

EDA and Green Helmets, are working together in Karantina, a poor residential area of Beirut near the port. Many living in this area have lost not only friends & family, but also their jobs at the port, & have suffered heavy damage to their houses.  

While many NGOs in Beirut are providing food & medical supplies, or carrying out damage assessment, the EDA – Green Helmets team is one of very few (so far) actually working to shore up & repair houses.

The team brought with them woodworking & other machinery from Arsal, now set up in a marquee on some nearby waste ground, & is using its specialised skills to make & replace doors & windows & their frames as needed, & to carry out other repairs to ensure the traumatised local people have shelter.

Working conditions are grim. The need for precautions against coronavirus is ever prevalent; the midsummer heat is relentless; access to supplies & communications in the city is erratic.

MAGGIE TOOKEY, Edinburgh Direct Aid’s international projects director, is leading the team in Beirut. OnWednesday, she wrote from the scene: 

“Beirut is complete chaos. It feels to have lost all its spirit but the strength of the continuing protests seem to belie that. Maybe it’s the depth of anger that everyone seems to hold, apparent in everyone I speak to about how the explosion and the economic collapse came to pass. The city seems to have no guidance and no authority to control anything. It’s almost lawless despite the state of emergency and the presence of the Lebanese army on the streets.

“Traffic congestion is the worst I’ve ever known. It takes me almost 2 hours to get to our work site near the port – a distance of 6 kilometres. I’ve now measured it. The army closes roads at random. Inside the city, thousands of volunteers are sweeping up glass and masonry and endless streams of small trucks come to take it away, choking up the narrow streets even more. Much of it gets left – swept into big piles in any corner behind houses and kiosks, probably destined to remain there for months/years.

Maggie’s ‘office’

“The port area which I pass every day, is a sort of Ground Zero. Nothing is recognisable in the blast area. A desert of twisted metal overlooked by huge and ruined silo towers, still standing but spilling out their contents to form a grain mountain.

“People come to stare in the evening when it’s cooler. They come from all over Lebanon taking selfies and endless pictures of the disaster. They come in big 4 wheel drive cars, blocking the roads and preventing those of us trying to get to work. It’s very hard not to get out and yell at them when stuck at a chaotic road intersection for 20 minutes unable to move. The police are useless. They do nothing. They’ve given up.

“The blast was terrifying. 50% of the force went out to sea towards Cyprus. The other 50% went deep into the city. God only knows what would have happened had the blast not been on a small peninsula by the sea.

“Karantina is an area of roughly 1 sq km, the nearest part being less then 500 meters from the epicentre of the blast. The community is mostly poor Lebanese and a few Syrian families. EDA, along with our partners, the Green Helmets, have set up a carpentry workshop with machinery brought from our base in Arsal and a team of EDA refugees trained in setting up shelters and repairing housing in Arsal.

“The workshop is on a patch of rough land by several blocks of 3/4 storey flats which have all suffered damage. As with many buildings the explosion blasted out windows and doors.

“There’s also some structural damage: we have an engineer in our team to check possible problems. Many men in these families are port workers; some were killed or injured and most have lost friends in the explosion.

“The team is making window frames, door frames on site in the makeshift workshop and every night, 2 of the team take turns in sleeping there to guard the valuable, rented machinery. We have a target of 200 windows but of course the need is endless. We will see how the project plays out in terms of funding. Right now it’s hot, hard, noisy work but the residents are delighted to get our help.

Meanwhile in Beirut the protests continue; sometimes the army fires off their guns to clear the streets which causes alarm when it’s close by.”

Edinburgh Direct Aid initial target is to repair 100 apartments at a cost of around $10,000. With more cash we could do much more, to help out not only with repairs in Beirut, but also in mitigation of the terrible effects of the hyper-inflation & lock down in Arsal.

To help pay for this work by refugees making some repayment for the sanctuary they have received from a desperately beleaguered country, donations can be made, please, at:

https://www.edinburghdirectaid.org

or by cheque to: EDA, 29 Starbank Rd., Edinburgh EH5 3BY

or by ringing 0131 552 1545.

Police appeal following Shandon robbery

Police in Edinburgh have released CCTV images of a man that officers believe may be able to assist them with enquiries into robbery at a shop in the city.

The incident happened at premises on Shandon’s Ashley Terrace around 7pm on Tuesday, 23 June, 2020 and a three figure sum of cash was stolen.

Officers believe that the man shown in the image may have information that will assist with their investigation and would appeal to any members of the public who recognise him to come forward.

The man is described as black, aged in his late 20s to early 30s, of a medium build and around 5ft 10ins tall. He is shown in the image wearing a dark grey suit jacket, a black hooded top, black trousers and black leather shoes.

Detective Constable Zaira Marker of Corstorphine CID said: “Nobody was injured but this was a frightening experience for staff and customers alike. Our enquiries are ongoing and I would urge anyone who may be able to identify the man in the images to come forward.

“If you can assist with this or have any other information at all please call 101, quoting incident 3084 of 23 June, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

East Craigs to become capital’s first Low Traffic Neighbourhood

Edinburgh’s first Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) is to be introduced as part of Spaces for People improvements.

The city council will be implementing a series of temporary measures in the East Craigs area of the city over the coming weeks to help people walk, cycle and wheel safely, including segregated cycle lanes, closing roads to ‘through’ traffic and a bus gate. These interventions will add to temporary measures put in place across the city since May to support safe physical distancing.

LTNs reduce the impact of motor traffic on neighbourhoods, creating people-friendly spaces and encouraging physical activity by limiting through traffic on designated streets, while maintaining local access.

Recent feedback to consultation on the West Edinburgh Link (WEL) project demonstrated strong support for proposals to improve conditions for walking and cycling, enhance public spaces and facilitate sustainable transport.

Suggestions to make it easier and safer to travel by foot, bike or wheelchair received via the Commonplace online tool also influenced council plans for an LTN, along with the local school’s travel plan and traffic surveys of vehicle volumes and speeds in the area.

Once implemented, the council monitor the effects of the LTN, making amendments if appropriate, and will be engaging with the community to help shape the scheme. Any plans for a permanent LTN, as part of WEL, would draw from this, though further, significant consultation with residents would be carried out before any decisions are made.

Transport and Environment Convener Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: “We’ve been working hard to introduce a package of measures across the city that will make it easier and safer to get around, to spend time in local high streets and to return to school as restrictions are lifted.

Many of these changes respond to feedback from the community, and in East Craigs we know that local people want to see conditions for walking, cycling and travel by public transport improved. The range of interventions we’ll be implementing will create safe, people-friendly streets by reducing speeding and opportunities for rat running. Vehicle access will of course be maintained for residents.

Transport and Environment Vice Convener Councillor Karen Doran said: “These temporary measures are supported by previous research and feedback and will benefit the community as they return to work and school.

“We’ll be closely monitoring their impact and drawing from this as we work to develop a long-term LTN for the area, as part of WEL. Of course, there will be further consultation with the community before any decisions on permanent schemes are made.”

The key changes being introduced as part of the LTN in East Craigs include:

  • Introduction of segregated cycleways along Drum Brae North
  • Introduction of advisory cycle lanes on part of Drum Brae South
  • Improvements to junctions in East Craigs to make them safer for cyclists and pedestrians
  • Introduction of a bus gate on Craigs Road
  • Introduction of six road closures, with filtered permeability for bicycles and pedestrians, in the East Craigs area including: North Gyle Terrace, North Gyle Road, Craigs Gardens, Craigs Loan and Craigmount Avenue North

Emergency measures to support walking, cycling and wheeling while observing physical distancing have already been implemented across Edinburgh. These include segregated cycle lanes, widened pavements and road closures both in the city centre, on routes to parks and green spaces and in local shopping streets. We’re also introducing improvements around schools as pupils return.

Examples of LTNs introduced elsewhere have seen traffic levels, and often speeds, fall. Walking, wheeling and cycling has also been found to increase, while it has been observed that stopping through traffic on side streets doesn’t significantly add to congestion on main roads.

Find out more about Spaces for People on the Council website.

Travellers from France and the Netherlands to face quarantine

France and the Netherlands will be removed from the list of destinations exempt from quarantine requirements due to an increased number of cases of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Aruba, Turks and Caicos, Malta and Monaco will also be removed from the exemption list.

The decision made by the Scottish Government, and also made by the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland and Wales as well as the UK Government, is to reduce the risk of the transmission of the virus by those travelling from these countries.

The public health measures will come into effect at 4am tomorrow (Saturday 15 August) and will mean those arriving in Scotland from France, the Netherlands, Aruba, Turks and Caicos, Malta, and Monaco will be required to quarantine for 14 days.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We have always been clear we are closely monitoring the situation in all countries and that we may need to take action to remove a country from the list of places exempt from quarantine requirements should the virus show a resurgence.

“These are not decisions which we take lightly but on the basis of the evidence it is important that we take action to suppress transmission of the virus and protect public health.”

Public health rules for international travel are an important part of Scotland’s wider response to the pandemic, to limit the introduction of new chains of transmission as Scotland’s own infection rates have been falling.

All international travellers arriving into Scotland, apart from a very limited number of exemptions, must complete a passenger locator form and provide evidence that they have done so on arrival in the UK if requested to do so by a Border Force official. Individuals who do not complete the form and present it when asked on arrival may be fined £60. The fine can be doubled for each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £480.

Those travelling abroad should check in advance if there are any requirements to quarantine on arrival at their destination.

The existing list of overseas destinations where  those arriving in Scotland are exempt from self-isolation can be found online.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to France, Monaco, the Netherlands, Malta, Turks and Caicos Islands and Aruba.

Rory Boland, Which? Travel Editor, said: “It’s understandable that the government wants to restrict travel to these countries at this time, but the burden of this decision disproportionally falls on holidaymakers – thousands of whom are likely to be left significantly out of pocket because their airline will refuse to refund them.

“Unlike tour operators, airlines now routinely ignore FCO travel warnings and refuse refunds because, they argue, the flight is still operating. Some major airlines, like Ryanair, won’t even allow customers to rebook without charging a hefty fee.

“The government wants us to act responsibly and not travel to countries with an FCO warning, but it needs to make it clear to airlines that they too need to act responsibly and not ignore government travel advice in an effort to pocket customer cash.”

Over 1000 emergency calls during Tuesday night’s thunderstorms

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service received more than 1,000 emergency calls overnight due to severe weather on Tuesday night.

Crews were mobilised to a number of flooding incidents caused by heavy rain, and fires believed to have been caused by the weather across Scotland, with the east and north of the country particularly affected.

Between 10pm on Tuesday, August 11 and 8am on Wednesday, August 12 the Service’s Operations Control room in Edinburgh received more than 500 (five hundred) 999 calls – almost 400 of which were related to flooding, while Dundee received 300 calls and Johnstone more than 200.

This included calls to a significant landslide at a caravan park in Pettycur, Fife affecting 450 caravans. Crews assisted in the rescue of 27 people and also the relocation of 218 people from the site.

A further 14 people were rescued by firefighters following significant flooding on the M8 motorway, where a number of cars were submerged between junctions 5 and 6.

Six fire appliances and more than 20 firefighters were mobilised to a fire within a kitchen showroom in Falkirk.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms which is currently in place for parts of the country until Thursday, August 13.

Ross Haggart is the Deputy Chief Officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. He said: “This was an extremely challenging night where we received an incredibly high number of calls, making this one of the busiest nights the service has seen this year so far.

“We have seen high numbers of flooding calls from the Lothian, Falkirk and Fife areas which were severely affected by serious rainfall – resulting in a significant localised response from the national service.

“Crews also attended a number of other serious incidents including road traffic collisions and fires which may have been caused by the weather.

“My thanks must go to our crews and Operations Control for their outstanding work overnight in very challenging conditions, and to our partners for their continued assistance.”

The atrocious weather conditions are thought to have been a factor in the train derailment near Stonehaven which resulted in three fatalities. Investigations are now underway.

Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Judi Heaton said: “We can confirm that a joint investigation into the tragic incident near Stonehaven yesterday is being conducted.

“Officers from Police Scotland, British Transport Police and the Office of Rail and Road are working together closely as the investigation seeks to establish the full circumstances of what happened and will utilise the skills of all agencies.

“The investigation, which will be carried out under the direction of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, is in parallel to the independent safety investigation by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).

“The multi-agency response to the incident remains ongoing and we are working with partners to support the family and friends of those involved as well as the rail family and local community.

“I also want to thank the responders who attended yesterday and were faced with a challenging scene. Our thanks must also go to the local community who rallied around the emergency services with many offers of assistance and we are grateful for your support.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with those affected at this difficult time.”

The three people who died at the derailment incident have been formally identified and can now be named as follows:

Brett McCullough (45) – Driver
Donald Dinnie (58) – Conductor
Christopher Stuchbury (62) – Passenger

Family tribute for Christopher Stuchbury aged 62 from Aberdeen:

“Chris was a much adored husband, son, dad, stepdad, grandad, brother and uncle and was a treasured and loved friend to many, including the Targe Towing Team where he was an integral and valued member of staff.

“He also volunteered at Roxburghe House in Aberdeen during his spare time which he thoroughly enjoyed doing.

“We are devastated by his death and we request privacy at this difficult time as we come to terms with our loss.”

Brett’s wife Stephanie has requested that Police Scotland issue the following statement on their behalf:

“Brett was a much loved husband, father, son and uncle who will be sorely missed by all.

“It is an extremely difficult time for us as a family and we would ask for privacy as we try to come to terms with our horrendous loss.”

Statement from the family of Donald Dinnie:

“As a family we are devastated by the sudden and tragic loss of Donald, a loving and proud dad, son, partner, brother, uncle and friend.

“No words could ever describe how much he will be missed by us all and there will always be a missing piece in our hearts.

“It is so heart warming to see how many people have fond memories of Donald and I am sure they have plenty of happy and funny stories to tell. He was a kind, caring and genuine person who was never found without a smile on his face. We know he will be deeply missed by all.

“Together we thank each and everyone of you for your kind words and condolences but we kindly ask at this time that we have the chance to grieve privately as a family.”

Muckle Media unveils raft of support for Edinburgh businesses

Muckle Media, the creative PR agency, has announced a number of innovative support programmes to help businesses in Edinburgh use PR and marketing to support economic survival.

Three streams of activity will provide much needed support for Edinburgh businesses looking to reach more customers through creative communications campaigns.

£20k Muckle Helps grant fund

The £20,000 Muckle Helps grant is a 100% free pot of PR fee funding, which is open for applications today. Interested businesses can register their details here and provide a one sentence response explaining why they need PR support and what it would be used for.

Applications close on the 31st August at which point the Muckle Media team will select the businesses they feel they can have the most impact supporting.

The fund will support a total of eight campaigns. It is made up of three packages worth £5,000, with one each in the food and beverage, tourism and B2B services sectors and five packages worth £1,000 each which are open to any sector. Additional funding may become available to extend the programme and the agency is interested in hearing from any potential funders that may wish to sponsor or match-fund additional support.

PR Now, Pay Later

In recognition of the huge impact coronavirus has had on cashflow for businesses, Muckle Media is also taking the unprecedented step of offering ten-month payment terms on invoices on request, allowing businesses to access creative PR now that does not need to be paid for until June 2021.

This innovative programme will support seasonal businesses in particular, as they can benefit from marketing now to improve their business performance in the 2020 season, but not pay for it until profits are being made into the 2021 season.

Terms and conditions and guarantees may be required to access this option. The amount of funding available through the PR Now, Pay Later programme will be linked to Muckle Media’s business growth, with every £1,000 of new business won (on a pay now basis) unlocking £500 of pay later fund.

PR bootcamp

Finally, Muckle Media will be offering a ten-week PR bootcamp programme, aimed at PR professionals who would like to review and revise their strategic communications plans in light of the many changes facing the world.

Also open to out-of-work communications professionals looking to upskill, the ten-week bootcamp will follow Muckle Media’s ten step communications planning process and deliver weekly webinar content on topics including insights, strategy, planning and crisis management.

Weekly content will include guest speakers from across the industry and accompanying worksheets will allow participants to create a full strategic communications plan over the course of the ten weeks.

For those short on time or who are only particularly interested in one topic, there is also the option to opt into specific webinars rather than the full course.

Nathalie Agnew, Muckle Media Managing Director, said: “It’s a difficult time for the economy just now so we would like to do everything we can to help businesses to spring back.

“Effective PR and communications are key to cut through the noise and reach potential customers, so we hope that our three new initiatives will prove popular with businesses of all sizes in need of support.”

Charitable organisations welcome housing research report

The TDS Charitable Foundation and SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust have welcomed a new report on compliance in the private rented sector produced by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) – part of a wider programme of work funded by the two charitable organisations.

The report, “Improving Compliance with Private Rented Sector Legislation”, explores how local authority enforcement and regulation in the UK’s private rented sector (PRS) could be improved.

The report details findings from 70 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and professionals from 13 UK local authorities. The research finds considerable variation in stance, philosophy and approach to enforcement and compliance both across UK nations and also within them across local authorities.

The research was carried out by Dr Jennifer Harris, Professor Dave Cowan and Professor Alex Marsh of the University of Bristol – one of the 14 institutions in the CaCHE consortium which is led by the University of Glasgow.

The report makes a number of recommendations for UK policy makers, including:

  • Improving the data available to local authorities on the private rented sector.
  • Providing adequate funding to local authorities to allow them to develop appropriate and effective responses to the changing nature and context of the private rented sector.
  • Codification of the diverse legislative provisions which currently exist.
  • Providing sentencing guidelines to the criminal courts and tribunals to ensure that punishment is proportionate to the nature of the offence.

Professor Martin Partington CBE QC, Chair of the TDS Charitable Foundation, said: “With similar remits, both the TDS Charitable Foundation and SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust work to raise standards in the private rented sector by advancing education on housing rights and obligations.

“This research is another example of the support we have given to many diverse and far-reaching projects within the rental industry. Together we are committed to bringing about a positive change that will benefit both renters and landlords.”

John Duff, Chair of the SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust, added: “We are proud to support initiatives like this that support the work we do within the private rented sector.

“This is a comprehensive piece of research which we hope will stimulate debate across the industry, and ultimately create solutions to the issues identified as we work to continually improve the sector.”

The full report can be found at: https://housingevidence.ac.uk/publications/improving-compliance-with-private-rented-sector-legislation

The report has been published alongside two briefing papers:

Researchers warn of impact of ‘lost decade’ in adult social care

Urgent reform of the funding of UK adult social care is needed to save a desperately overstretched system which has now reached breaking point, warn policy experts at the University of Birmingham.

The crisis is partly the result of a ‘lost decade’ in which policymakers systematically failed to act on alarms raised back in 2010, say the researchers in a hard-hitting report published in the Journal of Social Policy.

In what is described as “the first analysis of its kind to present policy makers with different scenarios for adult social care funding and reform, to view these in practice (by comparing them to nearly a decade of policy) and to set out the relationship between future economic growth and the provision of sustainable adult social care”, the team, led by Professor Jon Glasby in the School of Social Policy, asserts that without swift Government intervention, the adult social care system could quickly become unsustainable.

The 2020 update was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council part of UK Research and Innovation,  as part of the research titled “Sustainable Care: connecting people and systems, 2017-21”, led by the University of Sheffield’s Professor Sue Yeandle.

The article draws on and updates a 2010 review of the reform and costs of adult social care – commissioned by Downing Street and the UK Department of Health – which concluded the system was widely recognised as “broken” and that, with no action, the costs of adult social care could double within two decades.

Moreover, this would be the case for current services and approaches (which had already been strongly criticised for failing to fully and appropriately meet need), leading to significantly higher costs with no improvement.

Jon Glasby, lead author of the report and Professor of Health and Social Care at the University of Birmingham, said:  “Our research has explored the future reform and costs of adult social care, and the high cost of inaction. 

“In 2010, we were adamant that doing nothing was not an option.  Our 2020 update shows that, without swift Government intervention, the adult social care system could quickly become unsustainable.  Even though this research was carried out before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, urgent action is likely to be even more pressing in the current context.”

Not only were these warnings not heeded – but the situation has since got worse. 

Adult social care has always been organised differently and funded less generously than health care, and has faced a combination of pressures caused by demographic change, increased costs, and rising need,  compounded by cuts to public expenditure.

Ambitious plans for a ‘National Care Service’ were not implemented, while the austerity agenda led to a decade of spending cuts, service pressures, and a growing sense of crisis.

Predictably, the result has been greater unmet/under-met need, more self-funding, lower quality care, a crisis among care providers, and much greater pressure on staff, families and partner agencies.

 Cuts have also fallen heaviest on older people, with services for working age people less affected.  Despite the legitimate needs of other groups, it is hard to interpret this other than as (at least in part) the product of ageist attitudes and assumptions about the role and needs of older people.

While the situation is urgent, the human misery caused by this ‘lost decade’ is not as visible as financial pressures on more prominent, popular and better understood services, such as hospitals or schools:

 “When social care for older people is cut to the bone, lives are blighted, distress and pressure increase, and the resilience of individuals and their families is ground down”, says the paper. “Yet this happens slowly – day by day, week by week, and month by month. It is not sudden, dramatic or hi-tech in the way a crisis in an A&E department may be, and tends to attract less media, political and popular attention…  With yet more urgency than in 2010 we warn: Doing nothing is NOT an option.”

The article is published by the Journal of Social Policy, and is entitled ‘A lost decade?  A renewed case for adult social care reform in England’, by Jon Glasby, Yanan Zhang, Matthew Bennett and Patrick Hall (all at the University of Birmingham.)