living street putting people first

A street audit was carried out in the area surrounding a walled garden containing a Green Gym, a project created by BTCV and designed to encourage local conservation volunteering. The audit was intended to help local residents identify ways of improving walking routes in the area as well as raise the project’s profile.

Howden in Livingston has experienced some social problems, such as high levels of crime and above average levels of drug and alcohol abuse. Data also suggests that nearly half of residents in Howden are economically inactive because they are either permanently sick or disabled.

Two walking routes were identified leading to the Green Gym from different parts of the surrounding community. Local residents of Howden expressed concerns about the safety of walking routes to and from the Green Gym. The walled garden had been associated with anti-social behaviour in the past. Door to door invitations were sent to local residents to encourage them to attend a few weeks before the audit took place. On the day of the audit, two groups were formed to assess each route. A meeting following the audit prioritised findings to see what action could be taken.

The general consensus was that more needed to be done in the area to create a sense of cohesion amongst residents so they could influence improvements. This included improving access to the walled garden by:

• putting in ramps at the entrance
• setting up clear signs around the area to make pedestrians aware of key destinations and access points
• improving lighting
• Brightening underpasses by fixing broken lights and painting over graffiti.

Making an impact:

• The Neighbourhood Environmental Improvement Team provided rapid response to some of the quick fixes, including: clearing broken glass, replacing missing drain covers, cutting back overgrown vegetation on signs, and fixing broken lights in underpasses
• Disability West Lothian got involved with the audit and presented the findings to their Members Forum
• An elected member for the area recognised the work and wants the partnership to help solve the issue of parents parking on residential streets to pick up children from local primary schools
• Local primary schools groups, local businesses and groups from St Johns Hospital are all involved with the Green Gym
• Howden is being considered as the first area in Livingston to benefit from an upgrade of all signs
• The Green Gym steering group is going to take forward the issues raised in the street audit and oversee developments to engage residents in Howden in future activities.

Speaking from experience:

It has been difficult to mobilise residents using traditional approaches (the area doesn’t have a community council or representative group). The street audit approach was used as a catalyst to bring local residents together, but there wasn’t a great turnout.  This could have been down to:

• There is no ‘community hub’ in the village such as a community centre, village hall or miners welfare which made it difficult to publicise the audit widely (invitations were used instead)
• Howden is very close to Livingston Centre therefore many local residents may not have a strong connection to Howden as an area in itself
• Fears of personal safety have preventing people from walking alone in the area

During the audit it became clear that Almond Housing Association also had responsibility for much of the area, therefore it was important to include them in the process and help with future community engagement.

Disability West Lothian have helped to raise access issues. During the audit, residents saw what was happening from their windows and came out to enquire what was happening, thereby offering their own feedback. Engaging school pupils in the project through their eco activities has been a good way to expand the reach of the project to others such as their parents.