A Wrexham estate has been redeveloped to incorporate crime prevention principles set by Secured by Design (SBD), the police crime prevention scheme.
Built in 1970 the estate had comprised of an off white block of flats, five bungalows and 26 houses and soon gained a reputation for crime and anti-social behaviour. Structural problems with the block of flats soon followed, and in 2009 Wales and West Housing applied to redevelop the estate as part of a flagship £16.9m affordable housing development in Hightown and Rivulet Road. Demolition of the old estate started in 2011. With eight local young people gaining apprenticeships resulting from the works and 80pc of the workforce living within ten miles of Wrexham, the redevelopment is believed to have been worth more than £50m to the local economy.
The new development, completed in the summer of 2014, has 92 new affordable and energy-efficient homes – two, three and four bedroom houses, bungalows and apartments – as well as a new Community and Medical Resource Centre. The regeneration saw an SBD-trained Designing Out Crime Officer, employed by North Wales Police, work with architects, developers and council planners at the planning stage, to construction, to ensure that SBD crime prevention techniques were part of it.
These measures included incorporating natural surveillance, such as homes having unrestricted views into the street; the avoidance of excessive through movement to limit escape routes and hiding places; and the creation of defensible space, such as boundaries being protected with high fencing at the rear of properties. SBD techniques also included the actual physical security of buildings thanks to external doors and accessible windows meeting SBD’s standards for being robust enough to resist attack from opportunist burglars.
The redeveloped estate also has very apparent green space, with trees along the periphery and scattered within. With few street trees outside of the site and no other green space visible in the locality the green space on the estate moderates an otherwise domineering urban character, says SBD. More than 200 SBD-trained police officers and staff work in UK police forces. Visit www.securedbydesign.com.
For home and business advice visit http://www.securedbydesign.com/crime-prevention-advice/.
