LGN June 2018

Volume 40. No2

Local Government News June 2018

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Volume 40. No2

Local Government News www.LocalGov.co.uk

Right to Buy The ongoing struggle for councils to deliver replacement homes

Distress indicators How councils can tell if a financial crisis is looming

Future of parks Councils warn their budgets for parks will be cut in five years

June 2018

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Contents

Editor Laura Sharman T: 020 7973 4644 l.sharman@hgluk.com Sales Executive JamesTyson T: 020 7973 4638 Commercial Manager Jason Pidgeon T: 020 7973 4645 Commercial Manager Samantha Marsh T: 020 7973 4619 Head of Local Government Sales Kasia Brzeska: T: 020 7973 4769 Sales Co-ordinator Adrian Bradnam T: 020 7973 4646 a.bradnam@hgluk.com Production Tim Malone t.malone@hgluk.com Production Editor Trent Nicholson Marketing Mustak Kothia m.kothia@hgluk.com Subscriptions Maggie Spillane m.spillane@hgluk.com Editorial Director Michael Burton m.burton@hgluk.com Managing Director Bill Butler b.butler@hgluk.com

finance

With figures showing councils are struggling to replace only a fraction of the homes sold under right to buy, will new freedoms expected from Whitehall go some way in closing the gap? P10 It & technology

Calls on local government to adopt a ‘plug and play’ approach to public services P14 procurement & efficiency

Some of the key areas for local authorities to consider before becoming involved in the provision of utility services P16 built environment Local Government News (ISSN: 02615185) is published by Hemming Media, a division of Hemming Group Ltd, 32 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SS. Local Government News is published on a quarterly strictly controlled circulation basis and sent free of charge to readers who meet the publisher’s registered terms of control. To register, readers should call 020 7973 6694. Maximum life of registration is three years. Other readers can take out an annual subscription of £55.00 in the UK or £69.00 overseas (including Eire).

Every effort is made to ensure that the contents of this publication are accurate but the publisher accepts no responsibility for effects arising there from. We do not accept responsibility for loss or damage arising from unsolicited contributions.

Opinions expressed by the contributors and advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher. This publication is protected by copyright and no part may be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher.

The impact a new planning policy framework will have on the number of homes councils will need to deliver P18 fire safety

How the local government sector has responded to the final review of building regulations from Dame Judith Hackitt P22 grasscare & landscaping

A new survey has revealed 85% of councils expect to cut budgets for parks in the next five years. What impact will this have on council-owned green spaces? P26 Some of the main issues facing councils in pest control, and insight into a pioneering scheme from one local authority P29 public realm

Why councils are being urged to be more diligent about repairing and maintaining electronic road signs P31 New research from the Association of Play Industries has revealed the scale of decline in playgrounds across England P37

HEMMING GROUP

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June 2018

News in brief this month Laura Sharman rounds up the most popular news stories from our website www.LocalGov.co.uk

Councils given power to create New Town Corporations Local authorities welcome more powers to deliver new towns and garden communities, but say more needs to be done to boost council housebuilding.

Councils take over 1,000 people to court for ‘social care debt’ Local authorities have taken more than 1,000 people to court for social care debt over the past two years, according to GMB.

June 2018

Six councils win share of £6.5m cycling fund Six councils have bid successfully for a share of a £6.5m fund aimed at making cycling ‘the natural choice’ of transport.

New bus figures show ‘slow death of local buses’ The number of people using buses in England fell again in the last financial year in the face of real-terms fare increases and cuts to local routes.

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Waltham Forest council defends ‘right’ to publish newsletter A London council is set to challenge the Government over its right to publish a fortnightly newsletter for residents.

Scrap all districts says Heseltine District councils should be scrapped and 60 unitary counties created instead across England led by directly-elected mayors according to former Cabinet minister Lord Heseltine.

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Web news

Three-quarters of councils facing financial crisis next year warn leaders Three-quarters of senior officers expect austerity to claim more victims in the coming year, according to a new survey.

Councils take key Prevent strategy role

Contractor ordered to pay Birmingham £50m in PFI dispute Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd has been ordered to pay Birmingham City Council more than £50m in compensation after the contractor’s loss in the Court of Appeal earlier this year.

Local government figures celebrated in Queen’s birthday honours’ Key figures in local government have been recognised on the Queen’s birthday honours list for their services to the sector.

Cuts putting ‘impossible squeeze’ on care services

Benefit cuts forcing young people into homelessness, charity says

Continuing budget cuts are putting ‘ an impossible squeeze’ on councils’ ability to provide care services, local government leaders have warned.

Welfare restrictions are forcing young people into homelessness despite recent Government reforms, charity says.

‘Cash injection’ not enough for special needs education

Carillion collapse to cost taxpayer £148m

Council buys shopping centre for £14.8m

Council leaders have welcomed the announcement of extra money for special needs education — but warn that a ‘one-off cash injection’ is not enough.

The liquidation of Carillion will cost UK taxpayers an estimated £148m, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said, excluding around £2.6bn pension liabilities and losses by the firm’s non-government creditors.

Bolton Council has completed the purchase of the Crompton Place shopping centre for £14.8m.

Councils have been handed administrative control of the controversial Prevent counterterror strategy, as ministers seek to make it more amenable to communities, The MJ has learned.

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June 2018

News feature

The indicators of distress Christian Wall outlines some of the warning signs that a council may be in financial distress.

I

t’s no secret that local authorities are under severe financial pressure. With central government funding having halved since 2010, the pressure for councils to continue delivering local services on a shoestring budget is having a catastrophic effect on local government.

According to the National Audit Office’s most recent study into the financial sustainability of local authorities, Northamptonshire is just the tip of a worryingly large iceberg as a growing number of councils find themselves on the verge of financial crisis.

The recent plight of local authorities has been well documented. However, Northamptonshire County Council’s Section 114 Notice still came as a painful blow despite numerous warning signs that the authority was in trouble. Others have either been exhibiting signs of distress or baldly stating that they are in distress for some time.

Common to all distressed authorities has been the dwindling level of their ‘rainy day reserves’, in some cases presaged by ‘salami slicing’ of budgets and often accompanied by yawning pension fund deficits and significant maintenance backlogs. Historically, local authorities have been criticised by central government for holding high levels of reserves, although much was legally ringfenced leaving little for a true ‘rainy day’.

English authorities withdrew £1.4bn from reserves in 2017 (source: Office for Budget Responsibility). Whereas some withdrawals funded capital expenditure, the figure indicates it’s been raining for a long time now and the storm clouds continue to gather.

Dipping into ‘rainy day’ reserves to fund services is unsustainable. Reserves can only be spent once: a small sticking plaster over a gaping wound, ultimately doomed to fail. Due to austerity, services have been cut, yet demand is increasing, particularly for care services ranging from looked after children to older people’s services. More than half of the UK’s councils expect to overspend on adult social care alone this year, by an average of £21m (source: Office for Budget Responsibility).

As district councils and Northern Irish authorities do not provide adult social care, this suggests most upper tier authorities are significantly overspending. A combination of consistent overspends and dwindling reserves

June 2018

inevitably places a council on a fast track to financial ruin. Children’s services may well be a larger and more intractable problem.

In the case of Somerset County Council, its children’s services are a manifestation of its inability to balance its budget. Reserves have fallen 60% in the past five years as it struggles to cut expenditure in line with income. It is forecasting a £14.6m overspend on children’s services alone in 2018 and as a result, has agreed to close two thirds of its children’s centres in order to cut costs. Surrey County Council, which faces a £105m gap in its finances, has been drawing heavily on its reserves and has had persistent struggles in children’s services, with two adverse Ofsted reports.

Once a council is in distress or unable to balance its budget, these are desperate measures: a council in distress lacks the resources to reconfigure services as needed and lacks time to properly consult and explain its decisions, thus those outside the council inevitably see every service as a ‘sacred cow’.

All councils want to do the right thing by their communities and do not take these decisions lightly, but the end result is hate and distrust from the very communities they serve.

However, given time and a proper understanding of the funding crisis and the decisions needed to maintain critical services, residents can and do accept cuts.

In the US, we saw this very situation in Pittsburgh, where the City’s credit rating was downgraded to ‘junk bond’ status and it was

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questionable whether or not the City could survive. As an independent, public sectorfacing body, PFM worked in partnership with elected and appointed leaders, trade unions, businesses, citizen groups and other stakeholders to draft a multi-year recovery plan.

In five years, the City drastically turned around its fortunes, ultimately turning its annual budget shortfalls into a $46.5m general fund surplus.

Local government needs a drastic reappraisal. At no time has any government sat down and determined what local government is for, how it should be structured and how it should be funded. Even today, the response to financial distress appears to be the creation of an ad-hoc patchwork of unitary authorities that cannot fully address the underlying financial issues. However, a fundamental reappraisal is not going to happen soon and it is not obvious local government is in line for funding increases.

The only option is take the tough long-term decisions that enable tangible, long-term stability and focus on the outcomes that matter most. Authorities must lay everything out on the table, take a long, hard look and determine the areas that can cut be back.

These will be tough, painful decisions to make – possibly harder than closing libraries or reducing refuse collections – that need the support of stakeholders. But in order to avoid further crises, we must really move the meter. n Christian Wall is director of local government at PFM UK

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Building a future:

women in construction

Women working in the construction industry are very much in the minority, but they could be a valuable source of much-needed skills. Mark Whitehead attended a round table discussion focusing on the issue and considering some solutions.

Delegates at the event: Elizabeth Eyre - Editor for Builders’ Merchants News magazine Marina Robertson - Operations Director at NPS London Cllr Clare Coghill - Leader at Waltham Forest Council Maxine Smith - Deputy Head Teacher at Waltham Forest College Lucy Shomali - Director for Regeneration and Growth at Waltham Forest Council Claire Holmes - Group Director HR at NPS Group Marian Asare-Bopaeh - Owner of Rabmaris Ltd Meryl Davies - Head teacher at Walthamstow School for Girls Rebecca Davey - Head of Employment and Skills at Waltham Forest Council Jan Gill - Senior Manager at Brent Council Donna Owen - National Sales Manager (previous Recruitment Lead) at NPS Group Tina Salmon - General Manager at Mitre Construction Dorrian O’Neill - Business Development Consultant at NPS Group Amy Leader - Chair at RICS Matrics

June 2018

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A

s discussion began at the round table gathering being held in the elegant surroundings of the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, north east London, the point of the event was clearly summed up. The question being asked, the chair said, was: ‘Why are there so few women in construction, and what can we do about it?’

Some figures underlined the problem: out of nearly 2.3m people employed in the industry, less than 13% are female and men earn on average £11,000 more than women in similar roles. Given that scenario, it is perhaps not surprising that only a small minority of young women would consider a career in the industry.

Participants at the round table, titled Women in Construction, included representatives from the local Waltham Forest council, school and college leaders, industry executives and senior officers of professional bodies.

These included the event’s sponsor, the multidisciplinary property services company NPS Group which delivers social infrastructure projects through joint ventures with local

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News feature

authorities and other public sector bodies.

In a discussion covering a wide range of issues, the first topic for consideration was what part education and training might play in overcoming the problem of women’s under-representation.

Attention focused on the stereotypical ways boys and girls are encouraged to see their roles.

‘The first stumbling block we have is getting girls to open their eyes to what they can do,’ the participant said. ‘We have to challenge their expectations.’

Several of those round the table commented on the role of careers advice, saying the reason girls often do not consider the building trade is because it has never been suggested to them. It was generally agreed that it is vital for work experience opportunities in construction to be offered to girls so that they can see for themselves what is involved.

Another potential barrier to girls and women entering the construction was the way apprenticeships are set up. They tend to be based on a full-time model and this makes them more restrictive. By not allowing for part-time and flexible working many women, especially if they are caring for children, are effectively barred.

The discussion then took an important turn: we need, it was suggested, to find out from girls themselves why most of them do not consider a career in construction. Was it because it is seen as male-dominated, or because it is thought to be not flexible enough for family life?

‘We need to talk to girls to find out what the barriers are and whether they are real or perceived,’ one participant suggested. ‘We need to talk to women who have worked in construction but then decided to do something else.’

After the event, Marina Robertson, director of operations for the NPS Group, explained how the action plan was being implemented by the participants: ‘All our participants are progressing their actions enthusiastically. After the roundtable event in early March, a letter was sent to all participants setting out the actions we agreed and asking for leads to champion them. As a result, further one to one meetings between participants have started to take shape to move the action plan forward.

‘As a result of those meetings further actions and ideas develop, such as exploring the idea of using the Construction Skills Academy located in Leyton, Waltham Forest as the venue for future meetings and ‘home’ of this developmental work. Our next event is likely to be held in September where each lead will report back on progress, new actions but also dead-ends. We will then seek to reshape the action plan and continue to move forward. We hope that at the next meeting participants will

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Action Plan: Concluding the discussion, the group agreed on an action plan to help tackle some of the challenges identified at the round table event.

Discussion point 1: Education and training: Summary: Women and girls often do not have enough information about career opportunities that are available to them. We need to raise awareness of the wide range of careers available among young people, parents and teachers, as well as informing them of the technical skills involved in the sector.

Action: Establish network of local volunteers to visit schools and colleges Contact local schools and ask how we can help (future events, schemes) Team up with national mentoring programmes (such as CITB) Encourage local businesses to engage more with young people and offer work placements (through procurement incentives) Contact Erasmus to explore funding opportunities which can support our work with educational bodies (possibly, design a project similar to the one described in Finland where students set up their own companies) Discussion point 2: Recruitment and employment Summary: Construction is not always seen as an attractive workplace for women. As an industry it can be seen as old-fashioned, low tech, with little job security and career progression. More needs to be done to promote the positive impact women have in construction and encourage other women to pursue and apply for roles.

Action: Create a prototype to disrupt the perception of the construction industry Use a local project to demonstrate how many women were involved and what their roles were (i.e. Magistrates Court) Use the London Borough of Culture Award to highlight how the industry can support diverse communities through creative design and building work.

Discussion point 3: Industry retention and career progression Summary: Lack of modern working arrangements is creating problems for women with caring responsibilities or disabilities. Construction firms should offer flexible working policies, more family friendly environments and a commitment to supporting women who wish to go into management.

Action: Set up a lobbying group Write to local MP’s about statutory maternity pay and how this compares to other sectors and the impact this is having on retention Contact Mayor of London to stress urgency at a national level (must act now and tackle inequality at a time of high recruitment and skill shortages) Highlight the issues / barriers for women, why this causes them to leave the industry and what can be done about it (using data from professional bodies such as RICS.) be able to discuss some measures of success and targets of activity.

‘We hope that this and our action plan will form the base of a long-term campaign that will make a real impact and recast how we can encourage women into the industry, making a difference locally. In the meantime, we have been in touch with charities and youth trusts who

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offer community-based learning programmes and education partnerships to engage girls into the world of construction.

‘By working with these types of organisations, NPS London in partnership with Waltham Forest Council, also hopes to support new entrants and help young women access training, education and employment opportunities.’ n

June 2018

News feature

Resourceful partners

This summer, with the support of three councils, the HERU (Home Energy Resources Unit) will be going out for field trials. Ruth Corrall and Vic Allison looks at the HERU and what the councils hope to achieve with their involvement.

T

he HERU (Home Energy Resources Unit) is a UK innovation that generates hot water for the home from everyday items previously discarded as waste. In simple terms, a household would put a bag of resource (that would otherwise have been disposed of) into the HERU (which is about the size of a washing machine) and it would be heated using heat pipe technology to around 300°C (similar to a conventional oven).

The resource becomes char, releasing tiny amounts of oil and gas, which are both captured. The HERU cleans the oil so it is safe to discharge and it utilises the gas for use in a domestic boiler. A single cycle of the HERU can produce up to 122 litres of hot water a day.

Ultimately, it avoids the creation and collection of waste and significantly reduces the amount of carbon generated.

Supported by the European Regional Development Fund and Worcestershire Councils, the Low Carbon Opportunities Programme was established to support low carbon innovation by small to medium enterprises in Worcestershire, as well as installation of renewables.

It was recognised that support for technology development is crucial and support for the low carbon economy is a key element

June 2018

of the local growth strategy. Finding out that the development of the HERU was taking place within the county was therefore great news for the programme.

The HERU is being supported by a grant from the programme to fund the trial phase, and it is hoped that this will help to bring the technology closer to commercialisation.

Grants through the programme have been very well received by local businesses, demonstrating the importance of funding this type of development. Many low carbon innovations such as this, can experience the ‘valley of death’ during their development but public funding can help prevent this and ensure the technology gets to market, a key aim of the programme.

Wychavon District Council has an Intelligently Green Plan which sets out actions

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which not only result in environmental benefits but also have a community or financial payback too. The council encourages partners and others to follow the same principles and this is why the HERU is something that the council is delighted to support.

Councillor Emma Stokes, Wychavon’s portfolio holder for the environment explains: ‘Wychavon recognises the potential for this technology to revolutionise the management of resources worldwide and bring significant environmental benefits.

‘As this is a local business we are even more excited and had no reservations in offering our Civic Centre as a place where one of the field trials can take place.’

When the results of the field trial are known, they will inevitably throw up new questions, and it will be down to the partnership of commercial minds and public sector thinking to tackle those together.

The HERU clearly has massive potential, and all parties are working together to realise that potential. n R u t h C o r r all i s p r o j e c t manag e r a t Worcestershire County Council and Vic Allison is deputy managing director at Wychavon District Council

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Education

Meeting the challenge of 21st century schools Austerity budgets and rising demand for places has long made building for schools a challenging subject for local authorities. One programme in Wales is showing what can be achieved, as highlighted by Morgan Sindall in this sponsored article

T

he shortage of pupil places is often presented as a ticking time bomb, with population changes and poor school stock putting huge pressures on the system. It’s not just about increasing numbers of children but also changes to where families are living, leaving some schools heavily oversubscribed whilst others face closure. Few would dispute the assessment of The National Association for Headteachers which has said that the need to replace, update and modernise the schools’ estate is “hugely challenging.”

Against this reality, it’s also clear that the issues can be addressed and progress made. One of the biggest initiatives is in Wales, where the 21st Century Schools and Education Programme is delivering a £1.4 billion investment in education throughout all 22 local authority areas. The outputs include the rebuild and refurbishment of over 150 schools and colleges. The first phase of its work will complete in March 2019 and a follow up wave of investment is currently under development.

As one of the UK’s most experienced designers and builders in education, Morgan Sindall has been very much involved in the 21st Century Schools programme. We have worked on over 15 individual projects to date and have been able to showcase our revolutionary new MySchool Wales concept. It has been developed and refined

by Morgan Sindall through an investment of over £1 million in R&D and over many years of working in primary and secondary education.

In the simplest terms MySchool is a kit of parts. Local authorities have the freedom to choose from permutations of layout, materials and specification. Each school

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is bespoke but is still delivered in a way that achieves savings in time and cost. Aside from the flexibility to have a layout that suits the needs of any given school, there are significant reductions in design fees and capital cost because components have already been designed. The gains include speeded up delivery of the school from commissioning to completion. The finished buildings have improved natural light, better indoor air quality and acoustics, and more comfortable temperatures.

There are also significant benefits in reduced running costs and energy saving.

To date we have designed and are delivering batches of three MySchools for Cardiff County Council and three for Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, and one for both Newport City Council and Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council.

What’s been important for the Welsh government, the local

authorities involved and the framework provider SEWSCAP, which has governed the procurement of these projects, is ensuring that is not just about upgrading the schools’ estate.

The whole 21st Century Schools programme has been driven and shaped by the requirement to put value back into communities.

Morgan Sindall has worked very hard to ensure these benefits do indeed accrue. We support small and medium enterprises, drive local employment opportunities and training. We have also used our projects as a learning tool to inspire the next generation to consider construction as a career. On all our projects in Wales we have exceeded training targets though the delivery of work placements, apprenticeships, training days, supporting ex forces and criminal offenders back into work and upskilling local enterprise.

The desire to make a positive difference to people’s lives is what

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motivates many to get involved with local government in the first place. It’s about spending time and resources on things that will benefit lives and making decisions that serve the greater good.

As a business, Morgan Sindall understands and respects that commitment. The end game is sustainable communities – not just providing a new school, but providing opportunities to young people, local enterprise and the unemployed/disadvant aged.

As part of our Employment and Skills Pledge, for instance, we have committed to achieving a number of New Entrant Trainee and Apprenticeship opportunities, equivalent to a minimum of 52 weeks of New Entrant training and employment per £1 million of contract value which will be supported directly by us and through our supply chain partners.

Tom Davies, Senior Framework Manager, Morgan Sindall

June 2018

Finance

Time to restructure Right to Buy? Neil Merrick finds out why councils are struggling to replace only a fraction of the homes sold under Right to Buy, and explores how the housing policy could be improved.

I

t took until March for the Government to admit what councils have known for years.

Homes sold under Right to Buy (RTB) are not being replaced on a one for one basis.

One for one replacement was a key feature of the relaunch of RTB six years ago, with higher discounts. Local authorities were promised they could keep some receipts and use the money to build or acquire new homes - so long as they worked within government rules.

But the rules are so rigid that councils are struggling to replace more than a fraction of what they sell - even within the three years permitted. By the end of 2017, just 15,981 new homes had been built or acquired since 2012-13.

To hit the three-year target, councils needed to build or acquire 17,072 homes. But even this underestimates the real shortfall, as ministers only require replacement of ‘additional’ sales, not sales forecast prior to higher discounts.

John Bibby, chief executive of the Association of Retained Council Housing (Arch), says the target was missed for many reasons, not least the fact councils can only use receipts to cover 30% of replacement costs.

‘It was not a surprise to anybody working in housing or local government,’ he says.

As councils have limited borrowing headroom, can be difficult to raise further funds. Together with bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and the National Federation of Arm’s Length Management Organisations, Arch has compiled a list of ways the system might be improved [see box at end].

It remains to be seen how many are

June 2018

included in a forthcoming consultation on new flexibilities that should appear in the next few weeks along with the promised green paper on social housing.

The Government could, for example, allow councils to combine RTB receipts with grants from the Affordable Homes Programme, or to set discounts locally. Or even keep all the money raised from RTB sales, though that is likely to be resisted by the Treasury, which currently recoups about 20%.

As things stand, says Mr Bibby, councils are bound to borrow prudently. There is vast uncertainty over the future of social housing, including rent levels and the possibility councils will be required to sell high-value stock. ‘The Government needs to instil confidence back into the sector,’ he says.

‘We need to go back to the principles of selffinancing.’

Depending on how long they have been with the council, tenants qualify for a discount of up to £80,900 (£108,000 in London). A study in February by the Local Government Association suggested tenants in England and Wales have received £3.5bn in discounts since 2012. RTB is being phased out in Wales this year and has been abolished in Scotland.

English councils in areas with low house prices face the greatest problem replacing properties. After the discount is applied, they are left with a relatively small receipt, some of which is paid to the Treasury or used to pay off debt.

Since 2012, Stoke-on-Trent has raised £29.6m from the sale of nearly 800 homes.

Just 27 have been replaced by the council,

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In Newark and Sherwood, the council sells between 20 and 30 homes per year.

In 2017/18, its retained receipts totalled £14,500, yet it costs up to £130,000 to build a new home on infill sites. plus a further 90 by housing associations using receipts passed to them by the local authority.

Had the council kept all receipts, director of housing Carl Brazier estimates it might have built about 250 homes, perhaps 330 if it combined receipts with grant.

Brazier would also like councils to have freedom to spend receipts on refurbishment (including fire safety). ‘If it wants local government to manage its business, then the

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Government should give it flexibility to do what’s best for its area.’

In Newark and Sherwood, the council sells between 20 and 30 homes per year. In 2017/18, its retained receipts totalled £14,500, yet it costs up to £130,000 to build a new home on infill sites.

Furthermore, the council is unable to pass receipts to its arm’s length management organisation - Newark and Sherwood Homes - even though the almo has its own building programme and manages council development schemes.

Rebecca Rance, the almo’s chief executive, would like to see fewer restrictions on use of receipts, plus local discretion on discounts.

‘We are using every penny of the housing revenue account that we can to build,’ she adds.

Homes built with RTB receipts are mostly let at affordable rent (up to 80% of market rents).

The CIH estimates that, since 2012, about 150,000 social rented homes have been lost due to RTB, while another 80,000 could go by 2020.

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David Pipe, CIH policy and practice officer, cannot see any justification for receipts continuing to be paid to the Treasury. ‘We should be striving for genuine one for one replacement, so councils replace all the homes they sell,’ he says.

A recent study by property firm Savills for the LGA found two thirds of councils will have no chance of replacing homes on a one for one basis in five years unless the RTB scheme is significant restructured.

The loss of housing through RTB can be traced back to the 1980s. During this time, Sheffield has sold about 32,000 homes, leaving it with about 39,000 properties. On some estates in popular areas, as many as 70% of homes have been sold, some of which are now let privately.

In the past six years, the council has sold just over 2,000 homes but replaced only 400. ‘The RTB is in urgent need of review,’ says director of housing Janet Sharpe. ‘It has created mixed tenure communities but has gone too far and created issues that are destabilising the housing market in some areas.’ n

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Options for improving right to buy: 1. Allow councils to keep 100% of receipts.

2. Permit receipts to cover more than 30% of the cost of replacing homes.

3. Let councils combine receipts with government grant.

4. Allow councils to set discounts locally.

5. Give councils five years (instead of three) to replace each home.

6. Allow local authorities to pass receipts to almos.

7. Reduce discounts under the cost floor rule when a council has taken over or improved a home in the past 25 years (not 15).

June 2018

IT & technology

‘Plug and play’ Dr Mark Thompson calls on local government to adopt a ‘plug and play’ approach to public services.

Dr Mark Thompson is a senior lecturer in information systems at Cambridge Judge Business School and strategy director at Methods Group

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build-your-own service constructed of Lego bricks. Stored in the cloud, each brick would be the newly-compatible systems, datafiles and processes that make up the base of the public services. This would be in sharp contrast to the current kitchen drawer tangle of incompatible processes and technologies that are painstakingly repeated day to day.

A digital commons would belong and be visible to everyone. Transparency would mean that governments at all levels would be held accountable for being efficient with our taxes. There is even a potential international development dividend: opening our best-inclass public service infrastructure to the world.

Our manifesto, Better Public Services, calls for the biggest reform to British public services since Beveridge. It is ambitious and will require some heavy lifting. But the dividends - better service and soaring investment in even better service – would make Britain’s public sector a beacon in the world. n

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June 2018

Capitalising on new platform-based technology, we can harness its potential to be flexible, wide reaching and efficient. We propose a plug and play system, as easy to use as Uber, as convenient as Amazon, as intuitive as Google, but with 100% of the savings in the delivery of public services reinvested instead of pocketed by shareholders or businesses.

For successful modern internet businesses, the only directly valuable activity is the one in front of the customer. That’s the ‘specialised’ activity: almost everything else is standardised and consumed – and often shared, wherever possible, through the ‘shared plumbing’ of the internet.

A modern public sector that uses the same clear-eyed discipline and is capable of constantly measuring and differentiating between citizen-facing roles – doctors, nurses, teachers, day-care centre workers, social services, librarians – will be one that is focused entirely on outcomes.

Almost everything else – the current functions of services that are purely administrative - can be removed or shared and streamlined. Doing this would save an eye-watering £46bn per annum by our estimates. This investment could be channelled into more frontline workers delivering services direct to citizens.

To achieve our goal we envisage a new ‘digital commons’, that enables the sharing, distribution and ownership of information, services and technology across the public sector. In other words, technology designed to serve frontline staff by empowering them to do the jobs they are trained to do.

The key value is in compatibility and interdependence.

A digital commons would operate like a

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he list of problems facing our nation grows longer by the day. While divisions remain over appropriate solutions, one thing unites us: our concern for the future of our public services.

In Britain, public services are at breaking point. Councils are going bankrupt; police, prison, probation and prosecution services are struggling; our NHS is in the midst of crisis; and homelessness is on the rise. The fraying of our social institutions under the weight of inefficiency and burgeoning reliance is undeniable. It is vital that we start investing in some radically different ideas.

To recover our services, we need to make major changes; to make those changes we need to think holistically about how our public services are organised.

Our daily lives are filled with examples of systems that collide over the achievement of a similar function when one standard is all we need. Misplace your phone charger, go to the kitchen drawer, rummage through the cable options and you’ll probably know what I mean.

Our focus needs to be on delivering better outcomes rather than investing in technology that simply papers over the cracks in existing systems – or worse still seeks to reinvent something done perfectly well already in a neighbouring borough. We need to consolidate solutions and put an end to wasteful local reinvention.

We need technology that is consistently deployed, yet flexible enough to serve disparate needs that already exist and anticipate the needs to come.

This is already the business model of global platform-based businesses: the Netflix and Amazons of the world.

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Advertorial

A giant leap for care leavers Support for care leavers is taking a huge step forward with the Care Leavers App

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oung people leaving local authority care are some of the most vulnerable people in society and the events that take place when they leave care can shape their lives for years to come.

Too often, care leavers say that the support they receive during this critical time “falls off a cliff”. This, combined with a lack of both a social network and the confidence that their peers may have, can make important milestones like moving into their first home, or starting their first job, far more diffcult.

The Care Leavers App, from focusgov, provides support for care leavers as they move to independent living and is a source of information, advice and guidance available to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The App is already being used by local authorities throughout the UK to support their care leavers and to publish a care leavers local offer, inline with new statutory duties from the Children and Social Work Bill 2017.

www.LocalGov.co.uk

The App has been entirely co-produced with care leavers through a series of engagement workshops held across the country during 2017. The way that the App looks, the way that it functions and the content it includes has all been decided by and driven by care leavers. One of the largest technical challenges they set was for the App to function without any internet connection - saving on their phone data allowance and continuing to provide support in situations where wifi might not be available, such as moving into their own accommodation for the first time.The technology behind the App allows it to work whilst internet is not available, but to update itself with any new data once a wifi connection has been established.

The App includes information and advice on subjects such as Benefits & Entitlements, Housing, Managing Money, Health & Wellbeing and Education & Employment. These subjects were talked about by care leavers as

being important to them and they also form the basis of the new local offer. That said, each local authority is free to brand and customise the App in line with their own content and their own requirements.

Care leavers told us that social isolation was a big problem; so the App includes both a listing of local and national events and a searchable directory of support groups and other local services that might be helpful for young people. Local authorities are using this feature to ensure care leavers get access to colleges, libraries and drop-in sessions.

There is also a VIP section for care leavers to store the contact details of people important to them, and allowing them to get in touch with people quickly.

All content throughout the app can be published in multiple languages with just over 120 languages currently supported.

Local authority teams gain access to their own web-based administration system where they

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can manage app content, send push notifications to app users and view real-time statistics and analytics on a number of important performance indicators, such as number of users, how long the App is being used for and what sections / pages are popular or not.

Leaving care teams across the country are already seeing the benefits of providing their care leavers with help and support through technology that young people already use in their dayto¬day lives.

If you would like to know more about the Care Leavers App then please visit our website:http:// www.careleaversapp.co.uk, or contact the focusgov team on 0117 949 8008, or by email:hello@ focusgov.co.uk. focusgov are a digital agency based in Bristol. We’ve been working with local authorities since 2004, helping them build digital tools that communicate and engage with vulnerable groups.

We are ISO9001:2015 certified.

June 2018

Tiffany Cloynes looks at some of the key areas for local authorities to consider before becoming involved in the provision of utility services.

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he pressure on local authorities to deliver efficient and effective services whilst managing resources effectively means that they are constantly seeking innovative ways of working. One area which has seen interesting and innovative approaches from local authorities recently is the management of utility services.

The announcement by Blackpool Council earlier this year that it had applied for a water and sewerage licence, so that it could manage its own water supply was a particularly radical development.

Other local authorities have explored opportunities to find more effective ways of sourcing energy, including becoming involved in arrangements for provision of energy. Such arrangements can bring advantages to local authorities and the areas they serve – it was reported that Blackpool expected to make considerable cost savings through its involvement in water supply – but there are several issues that local authorities will need to address in order to use such arrangements lawfully.

Managing utilities in-house

Powers Any local authority will need to ensure that it can identify a power which will allow it to make its proposed arrangements. Local authorities have a wide range of powers but these can be subject to limitations and constraints. The introduction of regulations in 2010 to provide an exception to the restriction on the power in section 11 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 in 2010 and so to allow local authorities to sell electricity produced from renewable sources, rather than just electricity produced in association with heat, showed how local authorities can find themselves constrained by restrictions contained in legislation made at a time when arrangements that are considered appropriate now would not have been considered.

Local authorities will also need to ensure that any action that they undertake amounts to a reasonable exercise of their powers.

They will need to take account of all relevant matters, disregard irrelevant matters, act for proper purposes, not act in bad faith,

June 2018

observe procedural requirements and not take a decision that is so unreasonable that no reasonable local authority could have taken it. It will therefore be very important for local authorities to analyse thoroughly the basis of the arrangements they are pursuing and their reasons for pursuing these.

Regulatory Requirements There will be detailed regulatory requirements associated with the provision of utility services – as illustrated by the need for Blackpool to apply for a water and sewerage licence. Before any local authority takes steps to become involved in the provision of utility services, it will need to ensure that it is aware of any regulatory requirements and the implications these will have on the local authority’s proposed arrangements.

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The local authority will need to have in place appropriate resources and procedures to allow it to comply with its obligations and to monitor its compliance.

Resources Local authorities might be attracted to consider arrangements for the provision of utility services by the prospect of savings which might be made. However, resources would be needed for the delivery of any such arrangements. The local authorities would therefore need to assess the scope comprehensively to identify what resources would be needed and how it will make the required resources available.

A local authority might decide that it needs to involve external service providers and product suppliers to enable them to deliver particular

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Procurement & efficiency

a contract to it? Would the authorities intend to establish a new separate entity such as a company? Each local authority would need to be satisfied that it would be acting within its powers in making any such arrangements and complying with any legal obligations, including any statutory requirements and any requirements within its own constitution.

It can be seen then that there will be a range of important issues for a local authority to address before it pursues arrangements to become involved in the delivery of utility services. It will therefore be of fundamental importance for any local authority to identify at the outset its purpose and objectives and to establish a business case to confirm that the proposed arrangements have the potential to meet the purpose and objectives.

A business case should set out the objectives, provide details of the resources required, assess the risks involved and how these could be addressed, identify any legal obligations and how the local authority would ensure that it complies with them, and identify the expected outcomes. An effective business case can be an effective tool in helping a local authority to take a reasonable decision as to whether it would be appropriate to proceed with proposed arrangements, as well as a useful source of reference when the local authority plans and implements arrangements.

Conversely, if a local authority enters into arrangements without giving adequate attention to its purpose and objectives and the legal basis for achieving these, it could put itself at risk of failing to address important issues and to comply with legal requirements. n Tiffany Cloynes is partner and head of the regeneration and public services team in England for Geldards

“Some local authorities might consider that they would gain advantages and achieve more effective arrangements if they work together on particular initiatives.” arrangements. It will be important for it to identify and comply with any legal requirements associated with this. It is likely that any such requirements will need to be procured in compliance with relevant public procurement legislation unless contracts are below the

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threshold at which the legislation applies or are covered by exclusions.

Procurement obligations could have a significant impact on the resources and timescales required to introduce particular arrangements, so it is important that local authorities should take account of this and plan accordingly from the outset of considering particular initiatives.

Some local authorities might consider that they would gain advantages and achieve more effective arrangements if they work together on particular initiatives. They would need to be clear about the basis on which they would be doing this and the process they would need to follow in order to put such arrangements in place. For example, would one authority be delegating functions to another or awarding

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June 2018

Built environment

Implications of tough new housing targets Allison Whittington explores the impact a new planning policy framework will have on the number of homes councils will need to deliver.

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he stark warning from housing secretary, Sajid Javid, that local authorities could lose the right to rule on planning applications if they fail to meet house-building targets, could have wide-reaching implications.

A new planning policy framework will introduce rules to determine how many homes councils must build – with bigger targets for areas where the cost of housing is particularly high relative to average earnings.

If local authorities fail to meet these targets, their right to rule on planning applications locally could be passed over to planning inspectors.

Developers could also be denied planning permission if they take too long to build.

The quality of construction One concern is whether the quality of housing could be compromised in the rush to build homes more quickly. While initiatives that encourage more house building should be welcomed, we must make sure that we’re building high quality homes. Local authorities need to ensure that house builders don’t consider building regulations as the standard to aim for, but as the bare minimum.

Another potential concern is if developers were to see modular structures as a solution to the challenge of building at a faster pace.

Modular homes tend to have short shelf lives and are more likely to be affected by damp, which can cause health problems. There is also a widespread lack of understanding of how such properties behave in an event of flood, fire or escape of water which needs to be addressed.

Local authorities may also feel under pressure to approve developments in areas of higher flood risk. It is vital that where there is increased risk of flooding, councils insist on appropriate mitigation measures, such as sustainable drainage systems.

June 2018

Management of long-term housing needs There is a need for local authorities to understand how the housing mix in their area matches local demand. For example, if lots of starter homes receive approval to give young, first-time buyers a step onto the housing ladder, you then have to consider whether you’ve got enough larger properties for them to move into when they start having families.

Then there is the potential knock-on effect on local infrastructure. Will you have enough school places? Will your roads be able to cope with all the extra cars?

While house builders will be under pressure to move forward with developments quickly once planning permission has been granted, there is a danger that this could simply lead to more selective choices of development sites, and the type of housing built.

From a social housing perspective, there is also the question of how many registered providers have the capacity to build on a larger scale.

One way the sector might look to respond to this challenge is with an increase in merger

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activity. L&Q, for example, is planning to deliver 100,000 new homes on the back of its merger with the East Thames Housing Group and subsequent acquisition of Gallagher Estates. Local authorities may also become more directly involved in house building and Brighton and Hove Council is an example with its £120m joint venture with Hyde Homes to deliver 1,000 affordable homes locally.

A shortage of labour, however, is a problem which might be trickier to overcome, and one that could be exacerbated by Brexit. Some reports estimate that as many as 200,000 construction workers could be lost if Britain leaves the single market.

While there are no easy answers to the challenges outlined above, it is important local authorities and registered providers of social housing understand the significance of the new planning framework, and how it could impact upon their organisation, as the Government has said it could be implemented as early as this summer. n Allison Whittington is head of housing at Zurich Municipal

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Releasing the A recent planning decision has seen a Green Belt site in East London being deemed suitable for affordable housing development.

Jesse Honey explores what implications this case could have for local authorities across the country.

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n March this year, the London Borough of Redbridge adopted its new Local Plan. Like many local authorities, Redbridge can point to extensive evidence of significant housing need, including the London SHMA (strategic housing market assessment) and local figures on overcrowding and homelessness. The adopted Plan therefore sets out an ambitious target of 17,250 net additional homes over the next 12 years, and is supported in this aim by the Greater London Authority (GLA).

So far, so relatively uncontroversial; where it gets political is deciding where those houses will be built. Redbridge carried out extensive analysis seeking to maximise building on previously-developed land, conscious of the fact that almost all its undeveloped land is Green Belt. However, the message from consultees was clear: avoid further densification in or around large parts of the existing urban area, including conservation areas and Ilford town centre.

Conventional wisdom would have it that, of all options, local residents would be most opposed to Green Belt release, and on the face of it, this seemed to be the case- a vigorous local campaign opposed the development of Oakfields Playing Fields, a large parcel of Green Belt land, where multiple football and cricket pitches would have been lost.

On closer inspection, however, the Oakfields campaign was more about resisting the loss of community facilities than the principle of Green Belt loss. Though some local opposition to the principle of Green Belt release did exist, it was lower-key than might be expected from the exalted status of Green Belt in the planning system.

In this context, it was therefore perhaps unsurprising that the Local Plan submitted by Redbridge for Examination recommended the removal of multiple sites from the Green

June 2018

Belt. Nevertheless, the GLA sent Redbridge a letter of non-compliance on the basis of the London Plan’s effective ‘zero tolerance’ approach to Green Belt release. Such a position is understandably politically, and at least has the effect of challenging boroughs to find more previously developed land than they are identifying at present. However, it is questionable if zero tolerance is consistent with the national planning policy position, which is that Green Belt boundaries can be amended through the planning process if ‘exceptional circumstances’ can be demonstrated. It also lacks nuance - it cannot make allowances for cases like Redbridge where the full range of alternatives to proposing Green Belt release were exhaustively investigated and found undeliverable.

At the Local Plan Examination, the Inspector heard submissions from all sides when weighing up the approach to Green Belt. AECOM, on

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behalf of a developer client, argued that Green Belt boundaries should be redrawn not just to address housing need but also the pressing need for new secondary schools (calculated at 47 forms of entry). Unlike housing, which in some circumstances can be provided within neighbouring boroughs, land-hungry new schools need to be provided close to the populations they serve. As such, there seemed no alternative to Green Belt release.

In his final report, the Inspector agreed with AECOM and over-ruled the GLA. Though he blocked development at Oakfields on the basis of loss of playing fields, all other Green Belt release sites, including that of AECOM’s client at Billet Road, became development allocations in the adopted Local Plan.

This saga has important implications for local government and for the planning system not just in London, but across the country. The first is that in areas of high population growth,

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e Green Belt?

“The GLA’s zero tolerance approach to Green Belt will become increasingly unsustainable the more London boroughs find themselves in the same position as Redbridge.”

infrastructure need (including, but not limited to, schools) can be as relevant an ‘exceptional circumstance’ supporting Green Belt release as housing need.

The second is that the GLA’s zero tolerance approach to Green Belt will become increasingly unsustainable the more London Boroughs find themselves in the same position as Redbridge.

The draft London Plan published earlier this year claims that London can deliver almost 65,000 homes per year over the next ten years without the need for Green Belt review or release. The evidence backing this claim is the Greater London Strategic Housing Land

Built environment

Availability Assessment (SHLAA), a capacity study which states it has found the brownfield land for what would be unprecedented densification. However, unlike other planning authorities, the GLA has not published, nor does it plan to publish, the exact locations of the sites it claims can accommodate this growth.

The eminent scientist Carl Sagan is remembered for noting that ‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’. Though Sagan was referring to the scientific principle, the statement holds true for the SHLAA as well.

Until the boundaries and claimed capacities of individual sites within the SHLAA are revealed, Londoners are not able to judge for themselves whether or not the intense densification of their local areas is a price worth paying for a zerotolerance approach to any Green Belt release.

Furthermore, it is assumed (in the absence of full disclosure) that the London SHLAA may only identify housing land. As the Redbridge case shows, sustainable development means providing extensive supporting infrastructure alongside housing, including but not limited to schools. As such, on its current path, the GLA will continue to lose the arguments at Local Plan examinations and the London Plan will be increasingly seen as toothless.

Two things are needed urgently: firstly, disclosure of full SHLAA evidence on urban intensification and capacity, and secondly a strategic approach to Green Belt that properly reflects increasing local concern over intensification of existing urban areas.

Such an approach would mean, in the short-term, the GLA supporting rather than obstructing boroughs that may need to carry out Green Belt Reviews in the face of intense pressure for housing and supporting infrastructure. For significant new housing in the medium term, then the current approach of nibbling away at an asset of regional importance must be replaced by a strategic review of the overarching purpose and role of the Green Belt, recognising that the demographic, economic and environmental context is very different from that when it was first designated. It remains to be seen if London’s politicians will be brave enough to take up these challenges. n Jesse Honey is associate planning consultant at AECOM

For up to the minute job vacancies visit

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June 2018

Fire safety

A system ‘not fit for purpose’

William Eichler explores how the local government sector has responded to the final review of building regulations from Dame Judith Hackitt.

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ast year’s tragic fire in Grenfell Tower, which killed 72 people, has raised pressing questions over the safety of construction materials and who is responsible for ensuring the basic building blocks of people’s homes are secure.

To answer this question, the Government set up the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety to make recommendations to ‘ensure we have a sufficiently robust regulatory system for the future’.

Led by Dame Judith Hackitt, the review’s final report, which was published last month, recommended that councils be given more responsibility for oversight when it comes to higher-risk residential buildings (HRRBs).

Dame Judith’s report is pretty damning.

It condemns the existing regulatory system covering HRRBs - such as high rises like Grenfell - as ‘not fit for purpose’.

In the report’s forward, she says the key issues underpinning the system failure include ignorance, indifference, inadequate regulatory oversight and enforcement, and a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities. To overcome this she proposes the creation of a ‘Joint Competent Authority’ (JCA) as a single regulatory body to ‘maximise the focus on building safety within HRRBs across their entire life cycle.’

June 2018

This new body will combine existing and available expertise by having Local Authority Building Standards work alongside fire and rescue authorities and the Health and Safety Executive.

The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed many of Dame Judith’s conclusions.

‘The Grenfell Tower fire exposed a system for ensuring buildings are safe which is broken,’ says LGA chairman Lord Porter. ‘Since the tragedy, the LGA has led calls for a review of building regulations and made the case for systemic change. ‘It is good that Dame Judith’s report agrees that the current system is not fit for purpose and has set out a range of recommendations for its long-term reform.’

Under the reformed regulatory system, councils would continue to take a lead during the design, construction and refurbishment of buildings, but this would now be ‘on behalf of the JCA’.

The report adds: ‘They could also support the proposed safety case review process during occupation and help to identify where changes to existing buildings could reasonably be made to reduce safety risks.’

While there was much he welcomes about the report, Lord Porter expressed ‘disappointment’ that it did not call for a ban on the use of combustible materials and desktop studies.

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One of the reasons last July’s fire spread so rapidly was because of the use of combustible cladding. Desktop studies, which are safety assessments carried out without any tests, are also believed to have contributed to the faults in Grenfell Tower’s construction.

‘Our immediate priority is to ensure that a fire like that at Grenfell never happens again, and to make certain the buildings which people live, visit and work in are safe today,’ Lord Porter says. ‘It is therefore disappointing that Dame Judith has stopped short of recommending a ban on combustible materials and the use of desktop studies, both essential measures to improve safety.’

‘The Government should nevertheless act without delay to introduce a temporary ban on the use of combustible materials on complex and high-rise buildings and until we have a regulatory and testing system which is fit for the 21st Century,’ he continues.

‘Local authority leaders were not the only figures to express concern over these issues.

Clive Betts, chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, wrote to the secretary of state for housing James Brokenshire in May describing desktop studies as ‘clearly dangerous.’

‘We are concerned that the over-use of desktop studies may be a contributory factor to a weaker, less stringent regulatory regime and increases the likelihood of dangerous materials being used on high-rise residential buildings,’ Mr Betts wrote.

He also repeated the committee’s view that the use of combustible materials in the cladding of high-rise buildings should be banned altogether.

Dr. Jo Farrar, from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, attempted to reassure the local government sector that Whitehall was carefully considering concerns over combustible cladding and desktop studies.

In a letter to chief executives, Dr. Farrar wrote: ‘The department is consulting on significantly restricting or banning the use of “desktop studies” to assess cladding systems.

Inappropriate use of desktop studies is unacceptable and the secretary of state will not hesitate to ban them if the consultation does not demonstrate that they can be used safely.’

Pointing out that the cladding used on Grenfell Tower was illegal under the current building regulations, Dr. Farrar said the Government was ‘minded’ to agree with proposals to ban combustible material. n

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Fire Protection of high-rise Buildings with Water Mist I

WMA President Ragnar Wighus says: “Water mist fire-fighting systems are well established and have been in use for well over twenty years in their present stage of technology.” But how does water mist work?

A fire needs three elements to add up to a fire triangle: the combustible material, heat and oxygen. Water mist removes two of these items – heat and oxygen – and thus suffocates the fire.

The systems spray water through specially designed nozzles. As the pressure increases, the size of the droplets decreases. This results in droplets with an altogether larger surface and water turning into steam. The temperature and the oxygen at the flame front are rapidly reduced and energy is subtracted from the fire. Plus: the cooling effect prevents re-ignition.

The list of applications is long: tunnels, offices, car parks, saunas, hospitals, care homes, atriums, churches and cathedrals, museums, archives and libraries, cable tunnels, power stations, machinery spaces, industrial oil cookers, escalators, data centres and high-rise buildings. In the marine sector, the technology protects passenger ferries, container ships and oil rigs. Water mist systems have been installed in the Clock Tower at Mecca, the “Elbphilharmonie” in Hamburg and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York as well as the Eurotunnel. They protect old wooden churches in Scandinavia and new buildings made from brick, glass and steel all over the world. Particularly in the public eye: High-rise buildings.

Fires in high-rise buildings are problematic. For one: “A highrise building is typically a multipurpose building with several hazard categories”, explains Ryan Conaghan, Sales Director for Marioff UK. Secondly, the average fire ladder extends to 30 metres only, whereas a highrise building is, by definition, 45 metres or higher. Plus: “Fire risks may be increasing with the use of

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combustible modern construction material and methods”, Gary Howe, Senior Fire Protection Engineer with Zurich Risk Engineering says.

Apparently, only three per cent of the UK council buildings are protected by conventional sprinklers or water mist systems.

Yusuf Muhammad, Chief Design Officer of Plumis and co-inventor of Automist, explains: “Legislation has focused on new builds where the costs can be diluted.” He continues: “Only buildings constructed since 2007 which are taller than 30 metres are required to have sprinklers fitted.” The requirement was not applied retroactively. The Grenfell Tower was built in 1974.

In early March, the International Water Mist Association (IWMA) held a seminar in the UK. The topic: “Fire Protection of high-rise Buildings with Water Mist”. This will not be the specific topic of the 18th International Water Mist Conference which will take place in London, UK, on 19th and 20th September. However, with the Grenfell Tower Fire still vivid in people’s mind the discussion will continue.

There are already a number of high-rise buildings in the UK

and around the globe fitted with water mist systems. Two projects by Marioff in London: Vantage Point in London is a 1960s office to residential retrofit. The protected areas are: apartments, plant rooms, generator set and communal areas. And: Creekside Wharf is a 70 metre high new build, modular construction. Block 1 is 22 storeys high, block 2 is 11 storeys high. The protected areas are: apartments, plant rooms, generator set, communal areas, car park, bin store. Sounds very much like complete building protection.

Plumis have adopted a different approach: partial protection.

Automist is a low pressure midwall mounted stand-alone system.

The idea is to prevent the fire from spreading from the room of origin where sparks from a faulty electrical appliance may cause a catastrophe. Surrey Towers have been retrofitted with the system following the Shirley Towers blaze in April 2010. Automist was selected, because it is easier to retrofit than other active fire suppression systems.

Also Dean Reeve, UK and Ireland Agent for VID Fire-Kill, stresses: “Yes, water mist is acceptable for

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high-rise buildings.” He adds: “There are published British Standards and the scope of these standards gives guidance and recommendation on the design, installation, water supplies, commissioning and maintenance of water mist standards.”

Insurance people like Gary Howe naturally always ask questions like: is it installed as designed? Is it installed correctly? And: Will it work?” But as Dean Reeve puts it: “If a project is going to use any suppression technology, it is not acceptable for it to be designed and installed by a company that does not have the proven training and skills in that exact technology.”

Indeed Gary Howe admits that if he finds fault, all kinds of fire protection systems are affected.

The discussion should therefore remain within the framework of advantages versus disadvantages and challenges versus solutions.

A major advantage of water mist is the amount of water that needs to be stored and pumped up to the higher floors. David Sherrington works for Ultra Fog. His focus lies on the design and development of systems for residential, commercial, and industrial applications within the UK. He points out that water mist systems have a consumption of 80 to 90 per cent less water than conventional sprinkler systems.

This means: reduced demands on the water supply, smaller diameter pipework and reduced water damage. The smaller droplets have a larger overall surface which means: rapid cooling, reduced transmission of radiant heat and greater interaction with smoke particles.

Bettina McDowel, IWMA General Manager, says: “With all these points in mind, the future looks bright for the technology, which is well developed and ready to use. And with the European Standard on the horizon the sector will get an extra boost.”

For more information go to www. iwma.net or write to info@iwma.net.

June 2018

Grasscare & landscaping

Going back to the future Clive Nottingham outlines the benefits of local authorities embracing gang mowing.

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rogression is sometimes about looking back in order to look forward. At a time when it’s fashionable to have the latest tech, we forget that often the best solutions to common problems are the most simple.

Many people look at gang mowers and think about past use, but never look at the latest machines available and wonder if they’re heading in the right direction. The latest technology is not always the best and development is not always about the latest technologies; it’s also about the advancement of existing products and methods with sound rationale that have withstood the test of time.

To ensure capital budgets are invested wisely, grounds maintenance professionals must ask themselves what they need and want to achieve with their purchase at their site in the short, medium and long-term.

Let’s consider the many benefits of gang mowing.

Affordability and lifetime cost: Gang mowers have a lower purchase price and overall running cost than other grass cutting machinery, and can last substantially longer than other types of equipment due to their simplicity and robust build quality. A set of gang mowers will last 15 to 20 years or even longer before needing to be replaced. There are many sets that our customers are using that are 20 or even 30 years old, and they are still producing a high-quality finish. Gang mowing offers savings of up to 60% in fuel costs over ride-on, hydraulic and PTOpowered equipment.

Reliability and resilience: An issue with, or accidental damage to, a cutting unit may take it out of service, but work can still continue with the remaining units. With ride-on, hydraulic or PTO-powered equipment, it is more likely the whole outfit will be out of use while the problem is resolved. Additional features can be an attractive selling point, but it also means there’s more to go wrong in the long-term.

Most organisations already own or run tractors, which can be expensive prices of equipment to run, maintain and replace alongside ride-on machines.

Ease and cost of servicing: When budgets are squeezed, servicing costs are more closely

June 2018

scrutinised. It typically costs 5-10% to service a machine. Therefore, a £10,000 gang mower would cost £500-£1,000 to service and an £18,000 gang mower around £900-£1,500, possibly less if cared for and used correctly.

Leda gang mowers can be maintained and serviced easily by the customer themselves if they have good basic mechanical knowledge and no special tools or equipment are needed.

With ride-on, hydraulic and PTO-powered equipment costing anything from £25£60,000+, servicing bills of £2,000-£5,000 are not uncommon, especially as electrics, hydraulics and drive systems age.

Residual value and community benefit: Gang mowers can be part-exchanged when purchasing replacements. As a manufacturer dealing direct, we can offer generous part exchange allowances against new, exdemonstration and fully-remanufactured outfits. Part-exchanged outfits are recycled as remanufactured machines which enable grass roots clubs with limited or no or budget to access good-quality reliable equipment.

Environmental profile: From emissions

LGN 24

levels to the cost of specialist disposal for oils and fluids, ‘green’ credentials will almost certainly be given greater consideration at the point of purchase. Gang mowing remains the most environmentally-friendly method of cutting larger grassed areas. Decades after manufacture, outfits can remain in full use, or they can be dismantled and parts used in the refurbishment of other units. Being made almost entirely of metal, only around 10-20% of a unit ends up as scrap.

Quality cut: We have heard people say ‘gang mowers don’t cut as well in the wet’ or ‘gang mowers can clog up’. This will only be the case if the gang mower in question is some years old and has had a lack of adjustment and/ or servicing. Sharp, well-set gang mowers will perform well in any situation. If you have an old, under-used gang mower that needs rejuvenating, have it completely overhauled by the manufacturer and begin to enjoy the benefits of ownership once again. n Clive Nottingham is director of Lloyds & Co. Letchworth

www.LocalGov.co.uk

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Grasscare & landscaping

What future for our parks?

A survey has revealed 85% of councils expect to cut budgets for parks in the next five years. Mark Whitehead finds out what impact this will have on council-owned green spaces.

T

he parks adorning many of Britain’s towns and cities have a proud history as valuable spaces for enjoyment and relaxation. So, it is not surprising that alarm bells should ring when they appear under threat.

The Association for Public Sector Excellence (APSE) has rung such alarm bells in its recent ‘state of the market survey’ on local authority parks and green spaces.

It reveals serious worries among many of the local authorities questioned. No less than 75% agreed that the squeeze on public sector resources is disproportionately affecting parks compared to other areas of council spending, and 85% expect further cuts in the next five years. This has led to reductions in land being maintained, while one in six are expecting to make compulsory redundancies.

The findings are presented alongside figures showing government funding for councils falling to a lower level than at any time since 1979 and the now well-known ‘graph of doom’ illustrating how the burgeoning demand for adult social care and children’s services is biting into shrinking budgets.

The prospects for parks and green spaces are in the balance. As APSE’s chief executive Paul O’Brien told LGN, the survey shows that local councils are ‘seriously challenged’ when it comes to funding.

June 2018

By 2020, he reminds us, councils will be reliant on council tax or business rates to support their income. Research shows that councils have lost £3.1bn of funding from neighbourhood services, which includes parks, since 2010. ‘That scale of cuts cannot happen without the impact being felt,’ Mr O’Brien says.

APSE’s report says that despite ongoing service budget cuts, managers and front-line staff are continuing to provide quality parks and greenspaces, but notes there is ‘a real risk that service quality will diminish as a result of the ongoing pressures on budgets, changes to maintenance frequencies and a need for investment.’

But the warnings are tempered with some caveats: more than half the councils questioned thought cuts were likely to be less than 15% in the next five years and most said the number of parks and green spaces would stay the same or even increase slightly.

And the big plus is that parks are hugely popular. They boast no fewer than 37 million regular users and, according to APSE, 57% of adults visit their park once a month or more while 90% of families with children under five head to their local green space at least monthly.

The association says councils are working hard to meet these challenges through making efficiencies and looking for income generation opportunities to plug the gaps, and as a result additional funding is growing.

The report shows how the structure of local authority funding is changing as the centrallyprovided rate support grant shrinks and council tax takes a much more prominent role, and APSE is clear that in the new landscape councils are going to have to fend for themselves as never before.

It outlines the various ways this is being done, by raising extra funds from everything from sports pitches to cafes to allotments. External sources of cash include lottery money, friends’

LGN 26

groups and sponsorship.

Support from local residents will also play a bigger role in helping run parks. Nearly three quarters of those questioned in the APSE survey thought there would be more community involvement in the year ahead and more than half thought there would be an increase in events held in parks. Almost as many saw an increase in partnership working with other public bodies.

A big majority of those surveyed said they would carry out a review in the next couple of years, most often involving service redesign and the use of assets and technology.

The parks and green spaces so many people enjoy are not facing any dramatic changes and will continue to play a key role in our communities. But, says APSE, what is needed now is ‘a genuine commitment to funding parks at both a local and a national level.’

As Mr O’Brien puts it: ‘Some have dabbled with short term fixes like alternative delivery models but what we need are long term solutions and this can only be achieved if we secure funding for parks which reflects their intrinsic value to our local communities and local economies.’ n

85% of councils surveyed expect to make further cuts to parks budgets in the next five years.

One in six councils are expecting to make compulsory redundancies in the same time period.

57% of adults visit a park at least once a month.

www.LocalGov.co.uk

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Grasscare & landscaping

Pest awareness in local government Dee Ward-Thompson outlines some of the main issues facing councils in pest control, and gives insight into a pioneering scheme from one local authority.

P

LGN 29

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.uk o c

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Local governments can also play a key role in educating the public to the importance of being Pest Aware, with one of the main ways being mindful of the link between pests and litter.

In March, BPCA organised Pest Awareness Week to raise awareness of the issue – highlighting the threat to society and the knockon effect to public health.

As well as the clean-up, BPCA also re-released it’s A to Z of Pests, a reference tool for identifying pest species, as well as a supporting PestAware

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www.LocalGov.co.uk

An educated approach

Dee Ward-Thompson is technical manager of the British Pest Control Association (BPCA)

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calgov. lo

BPCA is seeing an increasing number of local authorities working within the membership structure developing pest control services.

One example is Lancaster City Council who rebranded their pest control unit to ‘Unbugged’.

A couple of years ago, Lancaster City Council was asked to make its pest control division cost neutral. Against a trend of local authorities closing their pest management departments, Lancaster was keen to not only meet, but exceed this target.

The idea for Unbugged first arose in 2016

blog - customer tools which the Association encourages local authorities to utilise or even link to.

PestAware features professional advice from leading experts in the pest control industry and is designed to help customers tackle their domestic or commercial pest problems.

Ultimately, BPCA suggests that local authorities are perfectly placed to raise awareness of the challenges faced. Through engagement and collaboration with members, partners and supporters, BPCA is confident the vital message of protecting public health together can be echoed by communities across the nation. n

k

‘Unbugging’ commercial opportunities

when, due to the state of public finances, the council began to consider commercialising some of its services.

Lancaster City Council’s plan was to take on more, higher value commercial contracts, increase the size of the team and offer more pest control services, thereby increasing income and protecting the services provided to residents.

And with the ambition to pursue larger contracts, Lancaster City Council wanted to break away from its local authority image hence the Unbugged brand.

In addition to general services, Unbugged now carries out rodent proofing and offers a range of bird-proofing services including spikes, netting and gull egg replacement. They’ve just experienced a rise in requests for pigeonproofing solar panels.

.u co

est control is increasingly on the radar in light of a recent report which has revealed the presence of a new generation of rats carrying a genetic mutation, making them resistant to some conventional poisons.

A study by the University of Reading, commissioned by the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU), has identified ‘the massive extent of L120Q resistance across the whole of central southern England’.

It also reports that rats without the genetic mutation are being killed off by poison, so the resistant species are taking their place, leaving a growing population of resistant pure-breds.

With their numbers expanding, there could be a significant risk to public health if their population is left unchecked, in both urban and rural environments.

As a result, the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) suggests that rodents particularly must be dealt with by those with the skills required to understand rodent behaviour and their habitat, and who know how to treat any particular strain.

Local authorities should be aware of the situation and have the knowledge in place so they offer the right approach to take to tackle the issue.

June 2018

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Public realm

Maintaining digital signs P

otholes. Everyone has an opinion.

Local newspapers are often deluged with stories of unhappy road users with punctured tyres, damaged wheels and suspension or worse as a result of a modernday and very first-world scourge. Insurance companies and local authorities are often at loggerheads over responsibilities and liabilities, and who should carry the cost.

One cycling charity claimed that UK councils have paid out some £43m in compensation claims over the last five years, and that is in raw costs alone; it does not take into account the council employees’ time for handling each case.

Such has been the media backlash that many local authorities have been forced to take action, using up scant resources (council spending on highways and transport has fallen by almost 40% over the last six years according to NAO official statistics) to patch and mend, often on a seemingly random and ad-hoc basis, to prove that the voice of the consumer is being listened to, and something is being done.

The Gov.uk website has a dedicated ‘report a pothole’ section, and details of how you can claim compensation for injuries caused by roads in a poor state of repair. There is even an organisation known as fillthathole.org.uk to make it easier to report potholes and road defects and claim that ‘councils are often quick to respond’.

But whereas local councils may indeed be ‘quick to respond’ when alerted to a pothole, they do not always appear to show the same alacrity when it comes to repairing and maintaining road signs, and specifically those

www.LocalGov.co.uk

Andrew Walker calls on councils to be more diligent about repairing and maintaining electronic road signs.

electronic signs that warn of potential dangers or obstacles ahead. Vehicle Activated Signs (VAS) and Variable Message Signs (VMS) are increasingly being used at dangerous junctions to prevent serious accidents, or to warn of flooded roads and low bridges to keep the UK traffic moving safely on the roads. But even the best technologies can sometimes go wrong, especially if they are not regularly serviced and maintained. The trouble is, you won’t know there’s a problem until they fail to work, and by then it may be too late.

There is a recent example concerning a bridge in Leicestershire. VAS were installed on various approach roads to the bridge, to divert high-sided vehicles away from the danger.

Unfortunately, the signs failed to work when they were most needed, allegedly through lack of maintenance, causing yet another vehicle to strike the bridge, with the resultant chaos that ensued. Roads were closed, obliging local traffic to take lengthy detours. Local businesses were affected, and the media swift to point the finger of blame. The point of this example, however, is that this incident was thoroughly avoidable and need not have happened at all.

There is no doubt councils are faced with a Hobson’s choice when it comes to making decisions on where budgets are spent. There is only so much money in the coffers. But whereas money always seems to be available for the larger, capital projects, and through various parties from the Highways Agency through to local developers, budgets are harder to come by for ongoing maintenance and repair, and it often seems to be a case of ‘he who shouts

LGN 31

loudest gets heard’.

What is needed is a radical re-think on how budgets are set aside for ensuring digital road signs are always performing on the top line, and don’t let you down when they are needed.

There also needs to be further thought given to signage equipment obsolescence and having a clear strategy for future upgrades. Failing to do so could end up costing you much more than you bargained for. n Andrew Walker is business manager at Swarco Traffic Ltd

development

June 2018

Public realm

Smart city tech for local challenges?

How do local authorities take advantage of ‘smart-city’ technology in an affordable and realistic way? Miguel Lira and Amy Barker investigate.

I

t’s been said before, but we need to say it again; it’s time to turn the concept of smart cities on its head and ask the question, ‘what are we really trying to achieve here?’

Many of us have spent time at smart city exhibitions, trawling the aisles, listening to thought leaders and looking for inspiration.

We’ve all attended meetings to discuss how we make our own city or town smarter. But as we are listening, looking and discussing these things, can we be sure we are asking ourselves the right questions and looking in the right places for the answers?

Let’s face it; for so many towns and cities, the idea of becoming ‘smart’ is a far-off dream. Budgets have been cut and day to day concerns are far more mundane than the technology elite may suggest. Fixing the pot hole on Barnards Avenue and the flickering street light on Mayville Road still feature in

June 2018

every day conversations. A far cry from the efficient operations that a ‘smart city’ promises.

However, it has come to the point now where we all understand the concept of what a centrally managed control system does and how a bird’s eye view of daily operations can help to save energy, money and time. But, with limited budgets and massive growth targets to meet, how do local authorities take advantage of ‘smart-city’ technology in an affordable and realistic way?

Well, it could be argued, that by using the very term ‘smart city’, we are thinking about the application of intelligent technology in a back to front manner.

Let’s look at a typical scenario. Most towns have an accident ‘black spot’. And it would be a surprise if the subject of technology hadn’t been discussed as a possible solution. Better lighting control? Smart signs that detect speed? But if we think outside the immediate and obvious issue, we are likely to see that at the heart of the problem is ‘inefficiency’.

It might be that the accidents are occurring because up ahead a set of traffic lights is causing a queue which means drivers have to break suddenly. Or a narrow road runs next to a popular cycle route and drivers become frustrated at having to drive slowly. In fact, at the heart of most troublesome hot-spots, we

LGN 32

will find that it is because our towns and cities are not efficient.

And if our towns and cities are not efficient, then Mr and Mrs Marshall may choose the town next door because they know they can get around much easier and faster. If our towns are not efficient, then productivity will be lower and investors will look elsewhere.

So maybe the question is not ‘how do I make my city smarter?’. Or even ‘how do I make it more efficient?’ In fact, the question we all have a duty to ask is ‘how do I help to make my city more competitive, and be a place people choose to live, work and play in?’

And if we start with that question, we have to think about more than just our own, individual remits. Implementing a sensor across our cities that helps to monitor litter bin levels may help us to keep our streets cleaner - but if it isn’t considered as part of a wider, competitive strategy, then we risk wasting precious budget and not future proofing our investment.

This is a challenge for all of us; engineers, planners, technology providers, councillors – we all have a responsibility to think creatively about how we use intelligent technology to improve our productivity and contribute to our council’s long-term visions.

But none of us can expect to individually develop a complete solution. Instead we must

www.LocalGov.co.uk

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Public realm

with functionality switched off, and then switch it on in the future. Or is the product’s firmware upgradable remotely to accommodate new features?

• How compatible are the products with other manufacturers and network providers? E.g. can a street lighting node talk to multiple networks? If it only needs to talk to one now, how easy is it to upgrade it in the future?

work collaboratively with our peers, to inspire the powerful thinking and impactful ideas that will fuel our vision for the future. Because not only does collaboration help create clear purpose and aligned focus, but it also provides a platform for innovative thinking.

A practical example might be to consider the opportunities surrounding big property developments. Depending on the impact that the development has on the surrounding area, there may be opportunity to receive funding from the developer to put towards a lighting control system that in turn, will enable a communications network to connect air pollution sensors, waste bin’s filling rate alerts or monitoring the drainage system condition.

Of course, these sorts of opportunities will vary council by council. But the point is; without opening up the dialogue between departments, we can’t even begin the conversation.

Better collaboration also ensures that the vision for a more competitive and efficient city supports the need for diverse connectivity under one integrated management environment.

The idea of having a single, physical communication network to support all aspects of a highly productive town, is an outdated school of thought. Supporting diverse

June 2018

connectivity however, means supporting multiple networks, subnetworks, connection interfaces, ranges, bandwidths, topologies and so on. Eventually these will all have to coexist in order for us to truly reap the benefits of smarter living. After all, we no longer purchase a smartphone with only cellular connection.

We also require Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC. Exactly the same expectation must be applied when considering the hardware and software that is required to achieve the vision for our cities.

Asking some simple questions before deciding on a technology solution can help to future proof the investment and ensure it is flexible enough to scale up and adapt to future innovations.

For example: • Does the product have the physical space to add in new chips or tech in the future?

• Does the technology have a multi-purpose or function? For example, does a lighting control system not only control lights but also capture and analyse data from other sensors, so the cost can to be spread across all departments that benefit from the system?

• If it is a physical product, how featurerich is it? Even if the need or funding is not immediately there for a particular feature, ask if you can purchase products

LGN 34

In return, we technology providers, must be considering the longevity of our solutions.

We must ensure we are doing all we can to provide options for those with small budgets but have long-term growth ambition. We must be striving to offer this level of flexibility so local authorities can invest with confidence, knowing their solution will grow with them.

The final part of the jigsaw is to consider what happens when we start to reap the benefits of our improving environment. Do we all pat each other on the back and say ‘good job, that new system was implemented perfectly’, and then go back to working in our silos? Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. Because one of the biggest and often most immediate benefits of any intelligent system is the flood of data and information that it brings to our finger tips.

And if our objective is to build a more competitive, more efficient and productive environment for our citizens, then surely the biggest prize is the ability to sustain those advantages through the analysis and interpretation of the data being captured.

In order to achieve this, we must consider how efficiently the data is disseminated to all stakeholders. To keep innovation alive, we must not be precious with the data that is captured or the trends that are identified. It is so easy to assume that no one else will benefit from understanding the man-hours that a central management system may have saved us by being able to operate a targeted maintenance programme. Instead we must readily share these learnings with other departments, with the technology provider, with universities and professional bodies so we can obtain the maximum return on our investment.

It might be unrealistic to ditch the phrase ‘smart city’ when we’ve only just begun to understand it. But let’s make sure that the word ‘smart’ is more about how we, the solution providers, leaders, manufacturers, planners and engineers, are working together to leverage the benefits that new technology brings. If we can do that, then we can truly claim to be a ‘smart’ city. n Miguel Lira is innovation & development director and Amy Barker is marketing manager at Urban Control Ltd

www.LocalGov.co.uk

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Public realm

Nowhere to play?

New research from the Association of Play Industries has revealed the scale of decline in playgrounds across England. LGN finds out more.

P

rovision for spaces in which children can play is under threat, according to research from the Association of Play Industries.

The Nowhere to Play report uncovered a steep decline in playgrounds in England with 448 playgrounds closed or closing. In March, Chris Leslie, MP for Nottingham East, called for research into the state of UK play provision in a debate in Westminster Hall.

Chairman of the Association of Play Industries, Mark Hardy, says: ‘With no dedicated funding for playgrounds from central government or third-sector grants, play provision falls to local authorities whose budgets are squeezed.

We are now calling upon the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government to commission a thorough report into the state of play facilities and open spaces throughout the UK. ‘With rising levels of childhood obesity and a deepening crisis in children’s mental health, research is urgently needed into the correlation between these issues and the deprivation experienced in some areas where free play opportunities are lacking.’

To obtain an accurate and up-to-date picture of local authority playground provision in England and how it is changing, the Association of Play Industries put in Freedom of Information requests to 326 local authorities. Each authority was asked to provide information on playgrounds and play facilities for which they were responsible in their local authority areas.

The study revealed that between 2014 and 2016, 214 playgrounds were closed, and a further 234 playgrounds were earmarked for closure by local authorities between 2016 and 2019.

‘It’s now time to drive forward a renaissance in children’s play across the country so that the physical and mental health benefits of outdoor play are opened up to children from all backgrounds,’ says Hardy.

‘We are asking the Government for a clear show of support for play and the benefits it brings to children, families and communities.

A relatively modest investment in playground

www.LocalGov.co.uk

provision now will help reverse the downward trend.’

The findings come as Fields in Trust published their research showing, for the first time, quantifiable evidence of the value of parks and green spaces. The Wellbeing Value associated with the frequent use of local parks and green spaces is worth £34.2bn per year to the entire UK adult population and parks are estimated to save the NHS around £111m.

‘The evidence grows that our parks and green spaces contribute to a preventative health agenda,’ adds Hardy. ‘They reduce health inequalities and increase social cohesion and equality. These spaces have been taken for granted – an essential part of our daily lives – and now they are under threat.

‘Such is the positive impact of our parks and green spaces, that to lose them will further exacerbate the obesity crisis and rising mental

health problems, as well as increasing levels of loneliness across many sectors of the population.

‘For many children living in deprived areas – who are more than twice as likely to be obese than those in more affluent areas – playgrounds are often their only chance to play outdoors.

‘We would expect to find a higher incidence of childhood obesity in deprived areas where free play opportunities are limited. Research into the prevalence of obesity and other health issues in certain geographic areas could examine these correlations and ultimately guide policy.

‘Play is fundamental to children’s wellbeing. If play is restricted there are likely to be profound effects upon their physical and mental health, both now and in the future. Well-maintained community play areas foster social cohesion, inspire children to get active and can transform a community.’ n

n NEWS

Child obesity is ‘ill-health time bomb’ New figures show that child obesity is contributing to a ‘multi-billion pound ill-health time bomb’, local government leaders have warned.

Data released by the National Child Measurement Programme says 4.1% of children aged 10 and 11 in Year 6 are classed as severely obese. This is nearly twice the number of four and five

LGN 37

year-olds, showing that they are gaining weight as they go through primary schools.

The LGA is calling for reductions in public health grants to be reversed and for further reforms to tackle childhood obesity. This should include councils having a say in how and where the soft drinks levy is spent.

June 2018

Lighting

LEDs: A public health risk?

LED street lighting has come under fire of late, with research claiming it affects everything from cancer rates to an increase in light pollution. But are LEDs really harmful to public health? Laura Sharman reports.

F

rom breast cancer to light pollution, LEDs have been blamed for a wide variety of problems in recent months.

The national press were quick to cover an academic study that claimed to find a ‘strong link’ between new LED streetlights and the risk of breast and prostate cancer. The study, published by the University of Exeter and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, claimed the blue light emitted by LED light could affect hormone levels.

Another story held up as evidence, was the warning that the new generation of LED street lights could disrupt people’s sleep and damage their eyesight. However, the statement from PHE was completely taken out of context by the national press and did not refer to street lights but blue light in general.

So why is LED street lighting getting such a bad press at the moment?

Peter Hunt, chief operating officer at the Lighting Industry Association (LIA), explains: ‘Technology change usually brings with it concerns about health effects which is entirely understandable and this is why the European Commission undertook a study by the Science and Health group SCHEER.

June 2018

‘The Committee has concluded that there is no evidence of direct negative effects on the health of the healthy population from LEDs under normal conditions of use. A further review of this study is expected imminently.

‘Another source of independent advice on the health effects of LEDs is Public Health England. In fact there is much work being done to highlight the health benefits of good lighting since the discovery of the so called ‘third receptor’ in the human eye which responds to light intensity and colour.

‘By tuning the light we receive indoors to match the requirements of our circadian rhythms we can improve our sleep patterns, cognitive ability and performance.

‘Essentially we will all benefit from the right light at the right time in the right place.’

The SCHEER study mentioned by Mr Hunt found: ‘There is no evidence of direct adverse health effects from LEDs emission in normal use (lamps and displays) by the general healthy population.

‘There is a low level of evidence that exposure to light in the late evening, including that from LED lighting and/or screen, may have an impact on the circadian rhythm. At the moment, it is

LGN 38

not yet clear if this disturbance of the circadian rhythm leads to adverse health effects ’.

Alan Grant, design and development director at DW Windsor, said this research was the most relevant and up-to-date for lighting professionals.

In a recent article, Mr Grant concluded: ‘We’ve only been exposed to LED emissions for a small number of years, after previous exposure to other types of light sources. As the years pass, today’s toddlers will become adults who will have only been exposed to LED lighting. The ever-increasing ageing population will have had exposure from a far younger age.

‘Manufacturers, designers, specifiers and installers – we all have our part to play as lighting professionals. We should all take care with the application of this technology, ensuring that good lighting control, appropriate distributions, shielding, dimming, colour temperature and other facets of LED lighting are used responsibly and proactively. It is too simplistic simply to choose a 3000K (or lower) colour temperature without consideration to the SPD of the light source.’

So what can councils do to ensure they are confident about upgrading to LED lighting?

Mr Hunt says: ‘Councils are well aware of the energy saving benefits of switching to LED lighting but the lighting scheme needs to consider avoidance of unnecessary light pollution and glare. A well designed scheme by qualified professionals using quality fixtures is the key to having confidence that the upgrade will deliver good lighting and energy savings.’ n

www.LocalGov.co.uk

0169_

CUBE ONE SHAPE, ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES FROM A FLEXIBLE, ROBUST AND HIGHLY EFFICIENT EXTERIOR LUMINAIRE The Cube LED exterior luminaire series offers a versatile solution for lighting designers and architects. The design is a study in clean lines and minimal form which takes the shape of a cube and can be mounted as either a floodlight, wall wash effect feature or on ground bollard. A wide range of beam angles and accessories allow comfortable viewing from any angle. Extremely precise beam spread optics offer the opportunity to create specific light effects.

To see further models in the range please visit our website.

www.concord-lighting.com

0169_FS_Concord_Cube_A4_AD.04.indd 1

Tel: 0800 440 2478

13/03/2017 09:54

Company announcement showcase Aico Limited

uvex Safety (UK) Ltd

Kee Systems

STANLEY Security

Aico, the UK’s market leader in domestic mains powered Fire and Carbon Monoxide (CO) detection, has launched the new 3000 Series.

This technologically advanced series detects both Fire and CO and includes, for the very first time, a Multi-Sensor Heat & CO Alarm, providing whole property coverage from one Series.

Unique to the 3000 Series, the Ei3028 Multi-Sensor Heat & CO Alarm has been much anticipated as a convenient, cost-effective, efficient solution to protecting residents from both Fire and CO. With high heat sources from cooking appliances posing a potential fire hazard and gas fuelled appliances representing a potential source of CO, combining Heat and CO detection in one alarm is a sensible approach.

Visit www.aico.co.uk/3000series or Tel: 01691 664100

Intelligent PPE, enhanced with a range of integrated digital functions through smart electronic devices worn on the body, is the latest innovation from uvex.

Uvex’s exciting new wearable digital technologies, applications and solutions are the absolute latest advances. Equipped with sensors and actuators that can interconnect PPE, they also react, interact and communicate with the wearer, according to the situation. This imparts increased safety, protection and comfort to the wearer on the most vulnerable parts of their body.

Techware digitally enhances the safety features and ergonomics of uvex’s range of world-beating PPE. Tel: 01252 731200 or visit www.uvex-safety.co.uk

Kee Klamp® fittings and mesh infill panels from Kee Systems have provided a recycling centre in Worcestershire with safe access for both visitors and maintenance teams. With a requirement for safety barriers, MF Freeman, the main contractor on this project, opted for a Kee Klamp® guardrail system.

These fittings are hot dip galvanised, making them more resilient to corrosion. Supplied via Kee Systems, 120m of Kee Klamp® safety barriers were installed around the recycling centre. To ensure complete customer safety while visitors drop their waste into the individual bays, mesh infill panels were added to the guardrailing system.

Visit www.keesystems.com or Tel: 0208 874 6566

STANLEY Security, one of the UK’s leading security providers, has adopted an innovative asset mapping technology to provide customers with more efficient system maintenance & servicing than ever before.

‘Connected Assets’ is an advanced digital asset mapping technology that enables STANLEY Security to quickly and easily map out an entire security system and all its individual elements. It allows for detailed additional information to be included, including images of equipment in situ. Using Connected Assets, a visiting STANLEY engineer can now familiarise themselves with a customer’s security system before attending site and, whilst there, can quickly locate where specific items are that require servicing.

Visit www.stanleysecurity.co.uk

Thorn Lighting

Totalmobile

Aico Limited

Vickers

Fife Health and Social Care Partnership has boosted its capacity to deliver services to users by over 30 percent in the past year through the adoption of mobile working solutions provided by Totalmobile it is announced today.

Fife has introduced technology from Totalmobile to some 900 of its home care workers across the council area. This includes mobile workforce management and dynamic scheduling solutions.

These enable greater efficiency in the scheduling of visits and for carers to see their daily rota on their chosen mobile device out in the field.

Tel: 028 9033 0111 or visit www.totalmobile.co.uk

Aico – the market leader in domestic Smoke and Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarms – will be relaunching its award-winning Expert Installer CPD accredited training scheme at this year’s FIREX (19th – 21st June, ExCel London) on stand A625, in addition to showcasing its alarm ranges.

Taster sessions of the new, improved Expert Installer will be held twice a day at FIREX in Aico’s on-stand mini theatre.

To date, Expert Installer has trained over 17,500 industry employees in domestic Fire Alarm specification and installation.

A feature of the new Expert Installer scheme is greater use of video content and interactive elements.

Tel: 01691 664100 or visit www.aico.co.uk

When the North Cheshire Jewish Primary School in Cheadle decided to upgrade its lighting system, it turned to Vickers - Manchester’s leading supplier of bespoke energy saving lighting and lighting systems.

The subsequent installation of a new LED system not only transformed the school’s key learning areas into bright and vibrant environments; it helped achieve substantial energy savings too.

In total, 434 LED lamps and luminaires were installed by Vickers; providing a lifespan of around 30,000 to 50,000 hours and luminous efficacy that is superior to incandescent lamps, and significantly better than traditional fluorescent tubes.

Visit www.vickers-energy.co.uk or Tel: 0161 886 7190

On the Isle of Man in the middle of the Irish Sea, one of the latest councils to switch to energy efficient LED lighting, Douglas Borough Council, has chosen Thorn Lighting’s popular R2L2 Small & Medium fittings and Lucy Zodion CMS drivers for the conversion.

The new system has also ensured the Council is providing a better light quality for road users, as the LED lanterns produce a whiter light which improves night-time vision and colour definition.

Thorn Lighting’s Craig Lensky worked on the projects design and praised Douglas Borough Council for ‘investing to save’ after the Council resolved to convert the borough’s 4,400 street lighting lanterns to Thorns LED luminaires.

Tel: 01388 420042 or visit www.thornlighting.co.uk

June 2018

LGN 40

www.LocalGov.co.uk

Company announcement showcase 3M

Ashtead Technology

Everbridge Europe Ltd

Heightsafe Systems Ltd.

Industry opinions of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) 2016 are being canvassed in a 3M survey believed to be the first of its kind.

The science-based technology company consulted Highways England, Transport for London (TfL) and industry peers to produce the detailed questionnaire.

The project aims to discover what professionals involved in sign specification think of the TSRGD now that two years have passed since its introduction.

The survey is open to all those involved in sign specification and design, from scheme and sign designers to road safety engineers and technicians.

To take part, visit at www.3M.co.uk/TSRGDSurvey.

Reflecting the level of support and expertise that Ashtead Technology has been able to provide for its sales and rental customers over the last year, TSI has renewed Ashtead’s Gold Partnership status.

The achievement of this level of support triggers higher levels of engagement with TSI, resulting for example, in joint activities such as free air quality training events.

One such event took place in January, focusing on both indoor and outdoor air quality. The day began with a presentation by Ashtead’s Josh Thomas, who outlined the reasons for monitoring particulates; including the management of indoor air quality and regulatory compliance. The next speaker was Nicholas Baxter from the Health & Safety Laboratory (HSL) who described the requirements for Respiratory Protective Equipment.

Tel. 0845 270 2707 or visit www.ashtead-technology.com

Everbridge Inc., the global leader in critical event management and enterprise safety software applications to help keep people safe and businesses running faster, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Unified Messaging Systems ASA (“UMS”).

Based in Oslo, Norway, UMS provides a unique countrywide mobile population alerting system globally and is also one of the leading critical communications providers in Europe. By uniting UMS’s proven mobile alerting, crisis management, and notification applications with Everbridge’s market-leading Critical Event Management (CEM) software platform, the acquisition creates an unparalleled set of solutions.

Tel: 0800 035 0081 or visit www.everbridge.co.uk

Heightsafe Systems have been recognised with a prestigious award in acknowledgement of its practices and achievements for providing its staff, clients, and contractors with the tools to get home safely at the end of the working day.

With a keen eye for compliance and safety whilst Working at Height, Heightsafe are proud to have achieved this award from the internationally acclaimed, and longest running industry awards scheme in the UK – RoSPA Health and Awards.

The RoSPA awards scheme recognises achievement in Health and Safety management systems and practices.

Tel: 020 3819 7199 or visit www.heightsafesystems.com or email info@heightsafesystems.com

J McCann & Co. Limited

Steelway

SWARCO Traffic Limited

Nottingham-based civil and electrical engineering firm McCann has hit a major landmark after the company surpassed 2,000,000 consecutive hours without an incident and maintained its accident frequency rate (AFR) for RIDDOR reportable incidents at zero.

McCann puts a strong emphasis on its internal health and safety culture and this has been reflected in the company’s awards in recent years.

Following the award of the Fluor Spirit of Safety in 2016, the company then backed this up with RoSPA Gold Awards in both 2016 & 2017.

Observation cards are raised by members of staff in order to report potential health and safety risks in the workplace. This means that everyone within the company contributes to McCann’s continually high health and safety standards and ultimately - help to maintain the accident frequency rate at zero.

Tel: 0115 954 0166 or visit www.mccann-ltd.co.uk

Steelway are celebrating 90 years of trading, supplying our products and services to a diverse range of clients and customers.

Steelway’s long standing history begins all the way back in 1928 when C.W. Goodyear founded Steelway.

Since 1928 Steelway has continued to be a market leader in the field of steel fabrication excellence and expertise. Steelway’s product range includes the design, manufacture and installation of safety critical access metalwork and architectural metalwork, access covers and frames, fencing and gates to suit play areas, residential applications and parks and sports areas.

Tel: 01902 451733 or visit www.steelway.co.uk

To support an accident reduction programme co-ordinated by Brent Council, SWARCO Traffic Ltd has installed Vehicle Activated Speed signs (VAS) at key locations across the borough where significant numbers of accidents have occurred.

This particular project is aimed at reducing collisions, casualties, road danger and accidents that involve powered two wheelers (P2W – primarily motorcycles and mopeds) throughout the borough, in line with the Government’s road safety strategy to reduce the number of road traffic accidents nationally.

SWARCO has installed 34 VAS, most of which are fixed to existing light, whilst some are solar powered.

Tel: 01784 824624 or visit www.swarco.com/stl

Intergrated Security Manufacturing (ISM)

Intergrated Security Manufacturing (ISM), a leader in the design, development and manufacture of ISMS technology, has received formal notification from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) that its Genesys integrated security management system (ISMS) has met the CPNI standard for CAPSS. Genesys will be included in the Catalogue of Security Equipment (CSE) and can be advertised as being “Approved for UK Government Use, for details contact CPNI.” Steve Smith, Managing Director of ISM, said: “Genesys goes beyond PSIM to offer unparalleled scale, redundancy and ease of use for operators of National Critical Infrastructure sites,” he said.

Tel: 01293 529990 or visit www.ism-uk.com

www.LocalGov.co.uk

LGN 41

June 2018

Company announcement showcase Marsh Industries

Remeha

Schueco UK

Marsh Industries has launched its latest innovation in domestic sewage treatment plant technology, the Marsh Ultra:Polylok L (UPL).

The UPL draws upon Marsh Industries’ extensive experience in the industrial/commercial sewage treatment sector bringing its outstanding performance and value-engineering to the domestic sector.

Available in 6 and 12PE models, the Marsh UPL is tested and approved to BS EN12566-3 and boasts a minimum effluent quality of 20:30:20 (BOD:SS:NH3), well within national consent standards.

The system is compact, safe, quick to install and requires minimal annual maintenance.

Tel: 01933 654582 or visit www.marshindustries.co.uk

Aberystwyth University has reduced gas consumption by 46% since refurbishing the heating plant serving its William Davies research centre with energy-saving Remeha condensing boilers.

Three Remeha Gas 310/610 Eco Pro 6-section boilers were specified to replace the failing boiler plant due to their high gross efficiencies of 98.4%, ultra-low NOx emissions and easy installation.

Gas readings at the William Davies Building indicated a fall from 469,813 kWh during the six month period from August 2016 to February 2017 to just 254,756 kWh in the same period the following year.

Tel: 0118 978 3434 or visit www.remeha.co.uk

Leading sustainable building envelope specialist, Schueco UK, has announced that it will be running a series of free seminars designed to address compliance issues in the aluminium façades, windows and doors market in the UK. Schueco UK believes that following the publication of the final report of the Hackitt Review, compliance is a topic that every responsible company needs to address urgently and expects that demand for these seminars will be very high.

The seminars will take place on a quarterly basis in Schueco UK’s new London Office and Showroom in Great Portland Street, London W1.

For further details please email: mkinfobox@schueco.com or visit www.schueco.co.uk

The first week-long celebration of environmental sustainability across the NHS, social care and public health sector is happening on 25-29 June.

The #SHCWeek18 shines a light on the great work going on in health and care organisations to boost health, protect the environment and save money.

During the week organisations are encouraged to share and celebrate their sustainability projects. The campaign has produced a range of resources to support local activity.

If you have some examples of best practice why not enter it for an award? Closing date 20 July.

Follow us @SustHealthCare or visit: www.sustainablehealthandcare.org

Airtech

Gradus

Intratone

Sika Sarnafil

A trial of Intratone access control systems at Network Homes’ sites across London has been so successful that it resulted in zero faults over two years. Proximity readers and fobs were installed by Delta Security in 319 apartments across 19 blocks in 2015; High Frequency (HF) receivers for car park access have also been trialled.

Paul Grady, Electrical Contract Manager and Neville Tucker, M&E Project Manager have managed the project to date. One of the principal objectives for installing the new system was to simplify key management, especially when granting access to contractors.

For further information visit www.intratone.com

Sika Sarnafil has launched a new RIBA accredited Continual Professional Development (CPD) seminar, ‘Selecting Flat Roofing System to Meet Modern Demands’, for those wanting to specify high performance flat roofing that meets the most up-to-date legislative requirements.

The experts at Sika Sarnafil created the CPD specifically to meet the needs of architects and specifiers.

The seminar aims to inspire, educate and reassure by covering all the vital knowledge required to ensure a successful and effective roof system.

The CPD provides specifiers with a breakdown of all the typical roof build-ups from cold and warm to protected roofs.

Tel: 01707 394444 or visit https://gbr.sarnafil.sika.com/en/ new-builds/contact/request-a-cpd. html

Airtech is celebrating 30 years of providing mould and condensation control solutions to Housing Associations and Local Authorities across the UK. A growing body of evidence has identified the dangerous impact poor air quality is having on our health, fortunately, Airtech has developed a comprehensive service during the last 30 years, which offers landlords solutions to help ensure a healthy home.

The company offers a one stop shop for condensation and mould with three simple steps that solves this problem; comprehensive property surveys, mould removal treatment and a full installation service.

Tel: 01823 690 292 or visit www.airtechenvironmental.co.uk

June 2018

Contract interiors specialist Gradus has updated its market leading XT range of aluminium stair edgings.

New aluminium XT retains all the existing benefits of XT with the addition of new features that offer improved performance.

The Gradus XT range of stair edgings offers the ultimate solution in reducing slips, trips and falls on stairs and supports the recommendations in the latest building legislation and standards.

The range features an extended insert design that wraps around the leading edge of the step to ensure that foot contact is always made with the slip-resistant element of the stair edging.

Tel: 01625 428922 or visit www.gradus.com

LGN 42

Sustainable Health and Care Week and Awards

www.LocalGov.co.uk

Company & Product Focus Sidey Solutions Limited

Timberplay

Walker Profiles

Next Generation composite doors are the latest addition to Sidey’s impressive range of entrance doors. The new doors are now available to order from Scotland’s strongest fenestration specialists.

“The unique flush fitted inner frame glazing is just one of the extra benefits of installing Next Generation doors from Sidey,” says Steve Hardy, Managing Director at Sidey. “Not only does the flush fitted glazing make it look more like a traditional timber door, but it removes the raised glazing cassette. There’s enhanced security and the doors are PAS 24:2016 compliant. The doors also offer excellent weatherproofing, high energy efficiency, and superb sound insulation.

Exceptional durability is another key feature, and Sidey backs up these claims with a 10-year guarantee as well as a 25-year structural warranty.

“Of course, they have great looks too. There are lots of colour and design options and a choice of traditional and modern styles. We offer 43 door colours including Honey beige, Azure blue and Sable.

“Sidey has an enviable track record supplying windows and doors to Local Authorities, Housing Associations and Registered Social Landlords,” adds Steve.

Tel: 0800 234 400 or visit www.sidey.co.uk

Accessing funding for playground equipment has just been made easier thanks to a new initiative launched by Timberplay.

Timberplay has joined forces with Safe Consultancy, a funding specialist aimed at helping not-for-profit organisations achieve their funding goals. The new partnership has opened the doors for schools, parish councils, community groups and charities to get access to full or part funding to help turn their project into a reality.

The free advice service includes an assessment of eligibility the identification of a funding stream, support if needed with the application form and costings for the project. It is the customer’s responsibility to make sure the application is summited and wait to hear the result.

Ben Harbottle, Sales Director at Timberplay, comments:- “Our funding partnership is a pathway to access funding streams which many of our customers may not know about.”

This is a financially risk free service for applications up to the value of £10,000. To ensure eligibility, an organisation must be not-for-profit, have a minimum of three people on their management committee and have a bank account in the group’s name.

Tel: 0114 282 3474 or visit www.timberplay.com

Two new council housing developments in Cumbernauld have been completed to give 46 new homes to local residents. Nursery Court offers 16 one and two-bedroom cottage flats, and 30 new homes have been built on Cardowan Drive.

The windows and doors for the new homes were manufactured and installed by Walker Profiles, a leading manufacturer, supplier and installer of high-quality windows and doors.

“Windows and doors are key to delivering extra security and energy efficiency for tenants,” says Jim Gibson, Director at Walker Profiles. “All windows and doors were manufactured and fitted to the higher Secured by Design specification, the police initiative to design out crime.

“Our teams installed white Rehau Total 70 tilt and turn PVCu windows which give modern styling as well as easy access for cleaning. We complemented the windows with white GRP composite doors to create an impressive entrance for tenants.”

The contractor for the build was Lovell, who Walker Profiles has worked with regularly on a variety of developments throughout North Lanarkshire – both new build housing and window replacement to tower blocks as part of an over-cladding project.

Tel: 01698 267052 or visit www.walkerprofiles.o.uk

Etesia UK

Polypipe

Zeta Specialist Lighting Ltd

Etesia UK has announced huge savings on selected models in its Duocut range of green technology battery-powered pedestrian mowers.

The revolution in battery powered equipment continues to sweep through the groundscare industry and it is easy to see why - no emissions, low noise, low vibration, easy operation, reduced risk of fuel spills and fires, and much, much lower maintenance requirements.

Etesia UK was one of the first manufacturers to bring battery powered equipment to the marketplace, which enabled professional users to work for a full day on a single charge. As it stands, the company invests more money in green technology research than it does in any other department and this, in turn, enables Etesia to continue to offer ever improving grass cutting machines.

The Duocut range of green technology pedestrian mowers give professional users a means for efficient, environmentally friendly and profitable mowing. With immediate effect, four of the Duocut models can be now picked up at a discounted rate.

The Duocut 41 NACTS boasts the same great features as the NACS and is a push mower.

Tel: 01295 680120 or visit www.etesia.co.uk

Polypipe, the UK’s leading manufacturer of sustainable drainage and water management solutions, has supplied more than 300,000 Permavoid and Polystorm-R components for water attenuation systems at the new £150m Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

The hospital complex at Little France is set to provide the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, department of clinical neurosciences and child and adolescent mental health services. Polypipe has supplied 11 shallow attenuation tanks, that will hold a combined volume of up to 2020m3, installed at key points across the site. The tanks have been installed under parking bays and beneath crucial entrances, including the hospital’s Accident and Emergency departments by civil engineer and groundwork specialist, Crummock.

An intelligent sub-base replacement design was needed to store the appropriate level of water, above the high water table, that gathers on the site during heavy rainfall. Following discussions with Polypipe’s technical team, the Permavoid geocellular system was chosen by the project Consultant Engineer as the primary engineered.

Tel: 01709 770000 or visit www.polypipe.com

Zeta completes £2m LED upgrade for RBWM six months ahead of schedule As part of its ‘spend to save initiative’ the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) awarded Bicester-based Zeta Specialist Lighting a £2m contract to replace all of its existing street lighting estate with energyefficient LED luminaires.

The council’s overriding objective was to reduce both its carbon footprint and annual street lighting budget, by saving on maintenance costs and energy bills.

In the competitive tender process, Zeta’s SmartScape range of street and area lighting solutions which are manufactured at the firm’s UKbased production facility, were deemed to offer the most competitive and efficient solution.

The contract win included approximately 14,000 SmartScape Nano and Macro LED street lights which were installed in residential areas and traffic routes across the Borough. Zeta also provided over 1,000 SmartScape Heritage LED conversion kits which met RBWM’s objective to retain rather than replace heritage-style lanterns in historic positions, including in the centre of Windsor and in some local parish areas.

Tel: 01869 322 500 or visit www.zetaled.co.uk

www.LocalGov.co.uk

LGN 43

June 2018

Company & announcements/New Product Focus products Eurocell

Forbo Flooring Systems

Redland

Orbit Housing’s Fordham House in Stratfordupon-Avon aims to raise the bar for rented accommodation. Designed for key workers in the town, the 82-apartment block will provide enhanced protection against noise, a superior maintenance and repair strategy and additional facilities such as secure internal bike storage rooms.

Much of the budget for these above-and-beyond features has come from the specification of Modus PVC-U windows from Eurocell in place of the aluminium frames originally specified.

Constructed from dense concrete blocks with hollowcore flooring, the three- and four-storey building is clad in a mixture of curtain walling and green wall – sections of planted walls which will be automatically fed and irrigated. The Modus windows are tilt-and-turn so that they can be cleaned internally, avoiding the potential hazard and traffic issues of accessing them from the elevations by the two busy roads.

Details about how to operate and clean the windows, together with a function that allows tenants to report and photograph any problems with their apartments, will be available through a smartphone app, developed by Orbit.

Visit www.eurocell.co.uk/bim or Tel: 0800 988 3049

Forbo Flooring Systems has launched its new hybrid vinyl collection, Novitex, in order to provide an affordable felt-backed flooring solution, designed predominantly for new build or refurbishment homes. The range consists of 25 designs, with 17dB impact sound reduction and is dimensionally stable when loose laid (up to 10m2).

The new Novitex collection includes a selection of the most popular designs from Forbo’s cushioned vinyl ranges Novilon Viva, Viva Fusion and Futura, and is ideal for projects that need to be turned around quickly, as it is more tolerant of slight subfloor imperfections.

Jason Pethard, Regional Sales Manager at Forbo Flooring Systems said: “Novitex has been created to complete our cushioned vinyl range, as our first felt-backed offering which meets the growing market demand for this type of flooring. With housebuilders under pressure to complete builds in a timely manor, Novitex offers the perfect time saving solution as the flexible textile backing makes it quick and easy to install.”

The flooring promises to keep its appearance with a 10-year guarantee for commercial applications.

Visit www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/novitex or Tel: 01773 744 121

On-site training, top quality workmanship and a market-leading 15-year guarantee led Trivallis, one of the largest social landlords in Wales, to choose the free-of-charge roof specification service offered

by Redland – the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of pitched roof systems – when it needed to re-roof the Maerdy estate in Rhondda, South Wales.

The decision to involve Redland and its SpecMaster service was common sense, explains Lee Tapper from Trivallis, Surveyor and Clerk of Works on the project.

“The service ensures that we meet the current British Standard, we get the technical advice that we need and we get the guarantee from Redland which means we know we don’t have a problem with the roof for 15 years. We know that our properties our watertight and that our roofers know exactly what they’re doing”, Lee says.

This element was particularly true for this project because the specification was for Renown tiles in Breckland Brown fixed with nails throughout, but reinforced on the first five or six courses with Redland’s own award-winning fixing, the Innofix Clip to guard against high winds.

Tel: 01293 666700 or visit www.redland.co.uk

REHAU Limited

Rigby Taylor Limited

Structura UK Limited

REHAU’s GENEO™ ALU Top windows were chosen for a new student accommodation development in Coventry, providing a contemporary aluminium finish with all the benefits of PVC-U. The accommodation block was fitted with more than 500 windows and is the UK’s first major installation of REHAU’s GENEO® ALU Top profiles, a cost-effective alternative to aluminium.

The original window specification from the developers was for aluminium windows, as specified by the architects. However, the appointed specialist window installation company, Campbell Mason, suggested using REHAU’s GENEO® ALU Top profiles as a more cost effective and thermally efficient alternative, which could still achieve the aluminium finish the architects were looking for as well as the ability to have large elemental spans.

Manufactured from REHAU’s RAU-FIPRO®, a unique high-tech composite material, used in the aerospace and automotive industries, GENEO® windows are REHAU’s most thermally efficient window profiles. Stronger than traditional PVCU profiles GENEO® requires less steel reinforcement and can also be used for large elemental spans.

Visit www.rehau.uk/coventry-university or Tel: 020 7580 6155

Rigby Taylor has launched its 2018 Euroflor urban meadow flowers brochure, including customer testimonials from towns and cities throughout the UK, from the north of Scotland to Cornwall.

This 56-page, fully-illustrated booklet has an ‘at-a-glance’ feature, site selector and details of the complete range, showing their colours, in-situ examples and individual characteristics such as timings for sowing and flowering, as well as sowing rates and pack coverage, height and species mix.

The brochure also has pages on site preparation, installation and maintenance, helpful troubleshooting advice and five ‘Identiflower’ pages showing common and Latin names as well as individual colour illustrations of all the flowers contained in the mixtures.

Included are the commemorate mixtures, those selected for Rigby Taylor’s Project Pollin-8 and others recommended for BREEAM projects.

Euroflor seeds are available in 50 gram and 1 kilo foil sachets.

Tel: 0800 424919 or visit www.rigbytaylor.com

Kalwall® translucent cladding is the architectural focus of the new £55million development of Benenden Hospital in Cranbrook, Kent.

The Kalwall skylights provide additional light in the large atrium projecting it deep into the interior. They were specified complete with highly insulating Nanogel which achieves an impress U value of 0.28W/m2K, helping the project attain a Breeam status of ‘Good’. This is particularly impressive given the amount of curtain walling and clerestory glazing involved in the scheme.

The skylights have a unique ability to bathe interior spaces with diffused and glare-free daylight, which creates a stimulating and healthy environment.

In addition, their heavily insulated composition eliminates glare and hotspots, thereby reducing the load on temperature control systems and the need for artificial lighting.

Kalwall is a popular choice for projects where performance, long life cycle and low maintenance are required, coupled with an aesthetic finish.

The aluminium or thermally-broken grid core with interlocking I-beams gives Kalwall incredible strength.

Tel: 01233 501 504 or visit www.structura-uk.com/kalwall

June 2018

LGN 44

www.LocalGov.co.uk

Company & Product Focus Envac UK Limited

QRoutes

Redland

London is set to become home to one of the largest automated waste collection systems (AWCS) in Europe after Barking Riverside Limited, a joint venture between London & Quadrant (L&Q) and the Mayor of London, selected Envac to handle the waste of almost 10,000 homes at Barking Riverside London.

The move will see up to 460 Envac waste inlets installed instead of the 19,000 traditional bins that would have been required had AWCS not been selected – a reduction of almost 98 per cent in containers.

Two waste fractions, residual and mixed recycling, will be collected via the waste inlets, which will be conveniently situated near people’s homes. Once the inlets are full, or at pre-programmed emptying times, fans located at the collection station create a negative airflow, ‘sucking’ waste at speeds of over 40mph through a subterranean pipe network measuring 15km in length.

Each automated collection cycle for the entire 178 hectare site will take minutes as opposed to multiple waste collection teams and vehicles taking all day to empty on-street bins – a process that typically has a negative environmental impact.

Tel: 01923 431 630 or visit www.envacuk.co.uk

Bedford Borough Council is one of 15 local authorities using QRoutes software to optimise school transport services. The route planning software assesses the most efficient routes and maximises vehicle utilisation, allowing the local authorities to reduce costs. Previously it took Bedford days or weeks to re-plan routes but with QRoutes the council can run a new plan for 3000 school bus children in minutes. It can also run different ‘what if’ scenarios to test alternative options.

QRoutes is also adept at handling the complex requirements of Special Educational Needs transport provision. Mike Keen, Sheffield’s Senior Transport Officer, says “Delivering SEN services is not easy as there are so many conflicting interests […] QRoutes is a tool that saves us a lot of time simulating different potential options and that frees us up to deal with all those pressing service issues.”

QRoutes is offered through Software as a Service subscription, making it easy to access anywhere, anytime, through any web-connected device.

Tel: 0117 4285755 or visit www.qroutes.co.uk

Redland, the company that invented dry-fixed roofing systems, with patents dating back to 1966; has launched two new dry verge products to coincide with the publication of BS 8612: Dry-fixed ridge, hip and verge systems for slating and tiling – the new British Standard which aims to ensure that dry fixed products are adequately designed and installed to be fit for purpose.

BS 8612 is a response to an increasing number of, particularly, dry verge failures; primarily because of installation errors, but also contributed to by product design. The new standard sets out tests for dry-fixed products to determine how effectively they resist vertical and horizontal wind uplift loads.

Redland’s new dry verges – the DryVerge and Rapid DryVerge – are specifically designed to not only meet the requirements of BS 8612, but also to be best in class. Moreover, the dry verges have been designed to be even easier and faster to fix than their predecessors. The verges feature a particularly effective stop-ended starter unit that makes it far harder to get fitting wrong.

Tel: 01293 666700 or visit www.redland.co.uk/dryverge

Rigby Taylor Limited

Safeguard Europe

Zip Water UK

Rigby Taylor is working with PowerGrass UK to introduce to UK users the innovative PowerGrass hybrid surface. This combination synthetic-natural pitch hybrid boasts all the advantages of natural grass as well as the strength and resistance of a synthetic surface.

PowerGrass has been developed with the aim of providing a surface with more playing hours during the year - up to 1,200 hours - even when natural grass is not yet grown or damaged for any reason.

The system can be tailor-made to provide softness, air circulation in the growth layer and quick water penetration to the drainage layer.

The PowerGrass surface also has the benefit of reduced and simpler installation costs compared to other alternative hybrid options.

When these attributes are combined with the use of market-leading Rigby Taylor grass varieties and agronomy programmes, the result is a surface capable of providing top quality playing characteristics with the added benefit of coping with additional playing time even under winter conditions.

On-going projects include football (full and partpitch installations), rugby and golf.

Tel: 01245 222750 or visit www.rigbytaylor.com

Safeguard Europe – the UK’s leading specialist in damp-proofing and waterproofing technology – has revised its CPD seminar programme on the two major, and commonly confused, causes of damp to simultaneously provide either broad or in-depth briefings on this troublesome property defect.

When tackling any kind of damp, the single most important factor is correct identification of, first, type and then, second, cause.

The first in the new RIBA-accredited CPD series from Safeguard – Dealing with Dampness – is an overarching introduction to the problems of rising and penetrating damp that will give architects, builders and other specifiers enough information to help them tell the difference between the two and determine sources, while giving options on how to remedy the situation.

The 40-minute seminar is delivered in the clients’ workplace, and covers existing and new technologies for dealing with the different forms of damp, and highlights why some diagnostic equipment – such as certain damp meters – can lead to confusion if used blindly.

For those seeking in-depth understanding of the various types of damp, the overview CPD is underpinned with focussed seminars on specific kinds.

Visit www.safeguardeurope.com/training/cpdseminars or Tel: 01403 210204

Aiming to make single-use plastic bottles in businesses a thing of the past, Zip Water UK – world leaders in commercial drinking water systems and the company behind the HydroTap – has launched a high-capacity filtered chilled drinking water range which completely removes the need for plastic bottles. Designed for offices and hospitality areas, Zip HydroChill caters for up to 280 litres per hour of chilled, sparkling or ambient filtered water – equivalent to 373 bottles (75cl). With on-counter or below-counter options and flexible packages depending on usage requirements, the HydroChill range has been created to meet any need.

Alongside its ability to provide vast amounts of chilled water – perfect for filling re-useable glass bottles – its 3 micron Zip MicroPurity filtration system ensures that the water dispensed is safe, pure-tasting and free from contaminants.

The easy to install and use range includes benefits such as portion control for filling bottles, purchase and rental options and a complete after-care package for peace of mind. This package – HydroCare – includes an annual service, technical support and full breakdown cover.

Visit www.zipcommercial.co.uk/commercialrange-hydrochill or Tel: 0345 600 5005

www.LocalGov.co.uk

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I N F O R M I N G

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S I N C E

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Municipal Year Book is the easiest way to find UK local government contacts and data – our online database is accurate and continuously updated YOUR ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION GIVES YOU ACCESS TO: ● All 417 UK Local Authorities ● 40,000+ Principal Officers ● 6,000+ Councillors

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08/01/2018 10:30

Local Government News Appointments In association with

Go to jobs.localgov.co.uk for these roles and more JOB OF THE MONTH

Head of Neighbourhood Management

Infrastructure Delivery Service – various roles

Senior Lawyer (Planning)

◊ Brent, London Borough ◊ £73,974 - £91,044 p.a. inc.◊ Brent Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 10 July 2018

◊ Warrington, Cheshire ◊ Various (£22k+) ◊ Warrington Borough Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 29 June 2018

◊ England, London, Woolwich ◊ £43734 - £46578 per annum + F540102 ◊ Royal Borough of Greenwich ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 05 July 2018 “As Senior Lawyer (Planning) you will be responsible for a varied and challenging

caseload, including judicial reviews, planning inquiries, planning enforcement, CPOs, as well as the negotiation and completion of complex and high value s106 planning agreements, s278 agreements, and the ability to deliver high quality legal advice to a range of internal clients including advising planning committees.”

Engineer

Asset Officer

◊ Cambridgeshire ◊ £32,500 - £35,050 ◊ Cambridgeshire County Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 26 July 2018

◊ Camden, London (Greater) ◊ £28,910 to £33,531 ◊ Camden London Borough Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 04 July 2018

“You will have experience in the development, planning, design and implementation of transport infrastructure.”

Highways Planning Officer ◊ Somerset ◊ Up to £33,136 per annum ◊ Somerset County Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 25 July 2018 “You would have your own caseload of development proposals across the County.”

“You will play a key role in delivering our Asset Management Strategy.”

Director of Policy, Strategy and Communications ◊ West Yorkshire ◊ £92,132 to £106,680 ◊ West Yorkshire Combined Authority ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 28 June 2018 “Someone who can lead our thinking and craft delivery strategies.”

Transport Network Development & Planning Officer ◊ Worcestershire ◊ £30,756 - £33,136 ◊ Worcestershire County Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 01 July 2018 “Quite simply, we want our community to receive a consistently outstanding service – and that will be down to your competent transport design methods and planning.

“It is important that your plans are deliverable, within achievable timescales.”

Assistant Director, Strategic Planning and Infrastructure ◊ Kingston Upon Thames, London (Greater) ◊ Up to £99,000 ◊ Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 28 June 2018 “A new era for the Council.”

“This senior post will be charged with the overall management and delivery of the Neighbourhood model.”

“We are now looking to recruit in to the team experienced professionals.”

Assistant Director - Provider Services ◊ Cumbria ◊ £98,848 ◊ Cumbria County Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 02 July 2018 “Under our new Chief Executive we are starting a fresh chapter and need inspirational leaders to help drive our transformation.

We are now recruiting three Assistant Directors who will play critical roles in leading our workforce and achieving the priorities we have set out in our new council plan.”

Head of Children’s Social Care

Housing Officer

◊ Durham ◊ £112,211 ◊ Durham County Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 27 June 2018

◊Brent, London Borough ◊ £30,930 - £32,637 p.a inc ◊ Brent Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 20 July 2018

“Our Children and Young People management structure has recently been reviewed to further develop our services in these areas and we are looking to appoint a Head of Children’s Social Care to deliver outcomes that have a real and lasting impact.”

“The council is pursuing a far-reaching transformation agenda that better meets the needs of our community so it is an exciting time to join us.”

Principal Planning Officer (Transport) ◊ Gloucester, Gloucestershire ◊ £39,002 to £44,697 ◊ Gloucestershire County Council ◊ Full time ◊ Closes: 04 July 2018 “Demonstrate experience in interpreting the outputs of transport models.”

up today so our recruiters CREATE Sign can match your details to the best jobs available YOUR PROFILE ◊ Upload your CV and let recruiters match you to their jobs ◊ One click apply ◊ Manage your job alerts ◊ Save jobs and manage your applications

For up to the minute job vacancies visit

jobs.localgov.co.uk

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LGN 47

June 2018

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In association with:

A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION

24 PAGES INCLUDING: NEWS COMMENT PIECES FEATURES A RANGE OF CASE STUDIES For advertising opportunities or a copy of the media pack contact: Jason Pidgeon T: 020 7973 4645 E: j.pidgeon@hgluk.com James Tyson T: 020 7973 4638 E: j.tyson@hgluk.com

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11/06/2018 16:27

Brian’s son wrote to us, stating the following:

Our research discovered that Brian had married and had a son. However, the marriage had been short and Brian was not a part of his son’s life. We located Brian’s son in the Bristol area of England.

“I just wanted to thank you for all your assistance relating to my dad. His funeral took place two weeks ago and I am pleased to say that it was a very dignified and respectful send off; I am very happy with the service from all involved. You and the police have helped in so many ways and with thanks to you I now have photographs and details of my dad’s past which I have been trying to obtain since I was 13 years old. I am now in-touch with family that I never knew existed, it has been very overwhelming because there are about 60 people that I am now getting to know. Your help has been very much appreciated by the family, especially me.”

FAMILY REACTION

AUTHORITY REACTION

Brian’s son was really pleased to have been found and more importantly to him than any estate was the opportunity to find answers to questions he’d had for years about his paternal family and background.

The Council was delighted that Estate Research provided them with the details of Brian’s next of kin, which also enabled Brian’s family members to attend the funeral.

SCENARIO ONE Brian died without an estate. He apparently had no family or friends.

SOLUTION

SCENARIO TWO Jennifer was a young lady who the hospital believed was born in Northern Ireland.

She sadly passed away around Christmas time and she left no estate. There were no details of any friends and although the hospital had mentioned she had family, they were unable to confirm anything further.

SOLUTION

FAMILY REACTION

Jennifer was born in 1972 so there was a good chance that her parents were still alive. We located the correct birth entry in Northern Ireland which provided us with the parent’s names.

Although they were very sad not to have located their daughter before her death, Jennifer’s parents were pleased that they had been notified and more importantly, that they had the opportunity to be present at her funeral.

We located them living in Ballyclare. After contact was made with them they confirmed that Jennifer left home when she was 18 and had not been in contact with them since. They often wondered where she was but were sadly unable to trace her.

ps@estateresearch.co.uk www.estateresearch.co.uk

AUTHORITY REACTION The NHS Trust were very happy that Jennifer’s parents were able to attend the funeral and also that they were finally able to get some closure.

Providing advice and support for colleagues undertaking Section 46 funerals

“Public Health Funerals are such an important role of a Local Authority, however since joining the Local Authority and taking on the responsibility it is apparent that there is a gap in the responsibility under S46 and the role of the Government Legal Department.

It is also the case that staff fulfilling the Local Authorities responsibility sometimes work isolated where there are normally one or only a small number of people in the Local Authority that deals with this area.

The reason for this website is to create a community across the country for Local Authorities undertaking this work, to

establish a support network, share scenarios, ideas and good practice. The website and forum is for us as Local Authorities to develop, maximise and create a support network for us, therefore if you think there is anything missing or if there are new pages we need to create or areas we need to cover then let me know.

Following the launch of the website there will also be training events and regional meetings.

I hope you find the website beneficial.”

Mark Weyman

Organiser of Section 46 funerals for over 12 years.

publicsectorfunerals.co.uk