The work undertaken by the Gipton Community Cohesion Group to tackle hate crime and build community cohesion. The multi-agency group, which included Community Champions, developed and implemented an action plan to address these issues. Whilst the objectives are long-term, there has been positive impact in relation to:

• community perceptions
• reduced anti-social behaviour
• reduced voids
• improved partnership working.

Effective community engagement was seen as critical and a ‘Team Gipton’ approach by local agencies has meant that lessons have been embedded and solutions are more sustainable.

The issue

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) defines hate crime as “any crime where the perpetrator’s prejudice against any identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised”. The working definition of hate crime used is “any incident which is perceived to be a hate incident by the victim or any other person. It is motivated wholly or in part by prejudice on the grounds of race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religious belief or similar philosophical belief, sexual orientation, or against disabled people”.

Hate crimes based on visible differences between people are of particular concern and the Government introduced specific legislation and increased penalties for hate crime.

The Leeds Hate Crime Strategy

Leeds is a thriving, multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-faith city, yet, as in other cities and towns, hate motivated crime is a problem that blights the lives of individuals and communities.

In Leeds three organisations are responsible for recording and monitoring racist incidents city-wide:

• Leeds City Council
• Leeds Racial Harassment Project
• West Yorkshire Police.

In 2006/07, West Yorkshire Police recorded 1,340 race-hate crime incidents and in almost one in five of these incidents the victim had reported at least one other incident to West Yorkshire Police in the preceding year. Reports to Leeds City Council also showed that in 40 per cent of incidents, the victim stated they had been the victim of at least one other incident. So reducing repeat victimisation is a key element of hate crime strategies.

Safer Leeds was one of the first community safety partnerships in the country to publish a ‘Hate Crime’ strategy. Its overall aim is to ‘reduce the level of impact of hate incidents in Leeds’ by:

• increasing awareness, reporting and recording of hate crime incidents
• improving service responses to victims
• improving responses to deal with perpetrators of hate crime, and
• developing preventative and educational activity to address hate crime.

The Safer Leeds Partnership Plan for 2008/11 aims to develop and deliver activities to support the city-wide hate crime strategy.

The Leeds Initiative local area agreement (LAA) for 2006/09 includes a target to reduce repeat victimisation in hate crime to help achieve its outcome of promoting a sense of pride in local communities, and building cohesive communities.

Increasing reporting of a hate crime is also a target in the Inner East Area Delivery Plan, which covers the Gipton area.

Building community cohesion

The development of community cohesion is the attempt to build communities with four key characteristics:

• a common vision and a sense of belonging for all communities
• valuing diversity
• similar life opportunities for all, and
• strong and positive relationships are being developed between people from different backgrounds and circumstances in the workplace, in the school and within neighbourhoods.

Thus, building community cohesion is an important aspect of tackling hate crime.

Tackling hate crime and building community cohesion can help address the following national indicators:

• NI 1 percentage of people who believe people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area
• NI 2 percentage of people who feel that they belong to their neighbourhood
• NI 3 civic participation in the local area
• NI 4 percentage of people who feel they can influence decisions in their locality
• NI 5 overall/general satisfaction with local area.

Given the work needed to tackle hate crime and build cohesive communities, it is also likely to impact on indicators relating to anti-social behaviour:

• NI 21 dealing with local concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime by the local council and police
• NI 23 perceptions that people in the area treat one another with respect and consideration
• NI 25 satisfaction of different groups with the way the police and local council dealt with anti-social behaviour
• NI 27 understanding of local concerns about anti-social behaviour

Hate crime and community cohesion in Gipton

Gipton is an area in Leeds with a population of 15,947, with 19 per cent of the population aged between five and 15 . In 2007, West Yorkshire Police recorded a crime rate of 138.4 crimes per 1,000 people in the area. In the 2001 census, Gipton and the neighbouring area of Harehills have 16 SOAs in the top 10 per cent nationally in relation to overall levels of deprivation, and in 2007 43 per cent of households received council administered benefits. However the area has seen large scale regeneration activity, intensive neighbourhood management, and focussed neighbourhood policing. In 2007 the Gipton and South Seacroft Intensive Neighbourhood Management Area found that there were signs of improvement in terms of the index of multiple deprivation rankings.

Gipton was historically a ‘white working class’ area, but change over the last 10 years means that approximately 14 per cent of the population are now from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. Local 2007 statistics show that 86 per cent of the population is White, seven per cent Asian or British Asian, and 3.55 per cent Black or Black British.

In recent years community consultation and engagement work identified some rising tensions in the area. Analysis of local crime data identified that a number of offences had an underlying link to hate crime, and intelligence suggested that neighbours often sided with the perpetrators, rather than the victims, of hate crime. To address these problems, concerned local agencies got together to establish the Gipton Cohesion Group with the aims:

• to reduce racially aggravated offences in the area
• to increase community cohesion.

What they did

The Gipton Dispersal Order

In August 2008 part of Gipton was subjected to a dispersal order to address a 35 per cent increase in anti-social behaviour by youths. Some of these incidents included elements of hate crime such as racist abuse. This was prior to the establishment of the Gipton Community Cohesion group, but it gives background and context to the issues developing in the area.

The order achieved a 15 per cent reduction in calls to the police in a two month period, and was then extended for a further two months, to January 2009. In the initial period, more than 70 families had follow-up visits by the police, housing and Leeds City Council anti-social behaviour officers – a joint approach to ensure that young people and parents and carers were fully aware of the potential consequences of breaking the restrictions of the order.

Tenancy reviews were undertaken with those who repeatedly did not comply, with two tenants being given final warnings about their young people’s behaviour. Five adults became the subject of civil injunctions banning them from a particular area and one full ASBO was granted during the initial period. Acceptable Behaviour contracts and warnings were also issued.

Residents were kept informed of progress through 3,000 leaflets. One resident told the police that during the order the estate “has been like another world. It’s making a big difference”.

Community engagement: I love Gipton – the ‘all new’ Gipton forum

The Inner East Area Committee agreed a community event engagement approach to complement the annual Area Delivery Planning cycle. One of the first of these events in the new cycle took place in Gipton in March 2009.

The event was branded ‘I love Gipton’ and introduced the concept of ‘Team Gipton’. Team Gipton’ is part of the Intensive Neighbourhood Management approach (INM) governed by the Inner East Area Committee to deliver the priorities agreed in the Inner East Leeds Area Delivery Plan, a local version of Leeds Strategic Plan.

The event took place at the Gipton Working Men’s Club. Historically, engagement events had drawn a limited audience and they therefore decided to attract parents and adults by getting local children interested in an ‘open day’. It was held between 3.30 pm and 6.30 pm to maximise after school and work attendance.

The event was an open door ‘market-place’ style event including:

• Leeds City Council’s Area Management Team
• Local elected members
• The local Neighbourhood Policing Team
• East North East Homes Leeds
• Recycling and Education
• Jobs and Skills
• GIPSIL, Gipton Supported Independent Living
• Action for Gipton Elderly
• Youth Services
• Gipton Together
• West Yorkshire Fire Service
• Parks and Countryside
• Leeds NHS
• Learning Partnerships
• EASEL, the East and South East Leeds Regeneration Initiative

The event was publicised widely throughout the community, using notice boards and displaying posters. Residents were sent leaflets and children at the six local primary schools were given flyers. All local agencies were tasked with promoting and publicising the event, and did so with gusto.

Agencies set out actions planned for the year ahead to enable the community to give feedback.

Other attractions included:

• a wall of action, where local people were asked to identify areas where they thought there were problems with crime or anti-social behaviour on a large scale map
• face painting
• competitions and prizes
• a fire engine, and
• an old and a new style police car.

Part of the event included debating sessions where people could discuss local issues. The key service providers attended the debates which ward members ‘chaired’. The format encouraged extensive participation and the topics covered included ‘hate crime – what is it and how can we stop it?’

Approximately 250 people attended the event with a range of ages and backgrounds. Analysis of 70 questionnaires completed at the event showed that:

• 64 per cent of people were now aware of what is happening to tackle anti-social behaviour
• 64 per cent of people were now aware of what Children’s Services and activities were available
• 79 per cent of people enjoyed the event, and said that they would come again.

The event kick-started a more effective engagement process and local people were assured that they would get feedback on actions taken to address the concerns they raised. There are plans to hold similar events three times a year, to feed back on action, identify new issues, and build community cohesion.

Gipton Community Cohesion Group

The Gipton Community Cohesion Group was established at the end of 2008 and hence was able to build on the positive impact the community felt that the dispersal order was having. It meets monthly and comprises representatives of:

• West Yorkshire Police
• Leeds City Council Neighbourhood Manager, Regeneration Team, Safer Leeds, Anti-social Behaviour Unit
• East Partnership Community Safety Co-ordinator
• East North East Homes Leeds
• Extended Services
• Stop hate UK
• Victim Support
• Youth Service
• Gipton Together
• Church and community representatives
• Signpost
• Together Women’s Project
• Family Intervention Programme
• Local elected members

The group drew on previous experience of successful ongoing work to address hate crime in the Halton Moor area, a previously identified hot spot for hate crime where multi-agency action had seen a positive impact. They were clear that to address hate crime in the longer-term they needed to strengthen community cohesion in Gipton.

Gipton Community Cohesion Action Plan

Determined to build on the success of the open day, Gipton Community Cohesion Group have developed, and are currently implementing, an action plan to reduce hate crime in the area, strengthen community cohesion, and build confidence in local service providers.

The actions included in the plan are set out below.

To increase hate crime reporting:

• They have trained neighbourhood wardens in ‘tension report training’. This covers what hate crime is and how they can help ensure it is reported. Local support and project workers, school staff, anti-social behaviour unit staff and housing officers will now be offered similar training.
• Neighbourhood wardens delivered 4,000 leaflets from Stop Hate UK, written in multiple languages, in Gipton, and posters are displayed in key locations.
• A neighbourhood policing team newsletter is regularly hand delivered to all homes in Gipton.

To reduce hate crime and offending:

• Police data and intelligence are helping to create a profile of offenders
• Positive legal or civil action is taken against perpetrators.

Experience has shown that fear of eviction can have a positive impact on perpetrators. In Halton Moor they used professional witnesses, and while this is a relatively costly measure, it could be used when appropriate in Gipton. However to date the police and ENE Housing, the arms length housing organisation in Leeds, have used covert and mobile CCTV to gather evidence. They are also establishing a police base in a disused flat in the area.

To increase the number of people engaged and empowered:

• They have invited community representatives to attend the group to help identify community-based solutions. These Community Champions will have a clear job description to act as ‘local linkers’ for the Community Cohesion Group.
• The ‘Team Gipton’ approach is a key element of the strategy and team members staffed stalls publicising action on hate crime at local fora and galas.
• The question ‘Do you think that people from different backgrounds get on well together in Gipton?’ has been included in a household survey to provide a baseline measure for the work.
• Regular feedback to the community through tenants and residents and PACT meetings.

To increase confidence in local service providers:

• Victims of hate crime are fully supported by relevant partner agencies. Victims have been referred to Victim Support, Stop Hate UK and Sanctuary Housing, and the group are planning to develop a protocol to streamline the referral and support process
• In addition, victim research is being carried out to help improve the support offered.

To increase cultural awareness in schools and reduce bullying and harassment:

• A ‘Show racism the red card’ initiative has been run in local schools involving 300 and 10 classes of key stage 2, children within Gipton.
• Five of the six local primary schools are working towards the Stephen Lawrence Education Standard
• Data on racially aggravated incidents in local schools is being collated – again this will provide baseline data.

To increase public satisfaction in dealing with ASB:

• A dispersal order was granted and then extended to January 2009. This is discussed in more detail above
• Ongoing mapping of youth provision to identify gaps
• Distribution of an activity guide for young people in Gipton
• Use of ‘the pod’, an equipped mobile facility used to deliver youth provision to address hot spots.

In addition, local churches held ‘Sharing Cultures’ events and the police used billboards to highlight their commitment to act on local concerns. Highly visible neighbourhood policing and neighbourhood warden activity sought to increase public reassurance.

The Community Cohesion Group is currently planning further youth activities and cultural events to bring the local community together and increase understanding of cultural differences and similarities.

The impact

The group is currently still implementing aspects of the action plan and so it is too early to talk about specific impact in relation to tackling hate crime and building community cohesion, both of which are ongoing and longer-term goals.

However, local partners were able to identify some early impacts of the Cohesion Group’s work and the Team Gipton approach:

• the dispersal order had a clear impact on anti-social behaviour in the area, with a 15 per cent reduction in calls to the police in the initial two month period
• community perceptions that ASB was worsening have reduced from 46 per cent to 25 per cent
• more families with children at risk of becoming involved in offending are now actively engaging with agencies, hopefully leading to reduced offending
• void properties have reduced from 200 to 40, and there is now a waiting list for the area
• there has been positive feedback from residents
• the ‘Team Gipton’ approach has resulted in increased joint delivery of action.

Significant work has been done with young people and their families, with increased agency support, additional activities, and better communication and publicity. The Cohesion group are therefore confident that they will be able to sustain the Dispersal Order’s impact on anti-social behaviour without the need for a new order in this year’s summer school holiday period.

The ‘Team Gipton’ approach has been important and group members believe that there had been a cultural change in agencies and that they now saw the value of the approach and its potential impact, not least in relation to their priorities and targets.

The group are currently collecting baseline data which will allow them to measure longer-term impact on community cohesion and hate crime more rigorously. The measures will include:

• local crime data, including racially aggravated crime
• hate crime reporting statistics for the area
• community perceptions on cohesion. The question ‘Do you think that people from different backgrounds get on well together in Gipton?’ has been included in a household survey which has been carried out and is currently being analysed
• data on hate crime incidents from primary schools in the area.

Gipton Cohesion Group has focused on sustainable solutions, and hence they have delivered much of the work outlined in this case study through the mainstream service delivery of partner agencies and in kind support.

Where additional funding has been needed, for example to fund additional youth activities or events, the group has successfully bid into a range of local funding pots including:

• local partnership funding available to support multi-agency tasking
• the SSCF which is available through Intensive Neighbourhood Management to support the key priorities identified by local residents, and
• the East Area Partnership’s Inner East Area Committee’s Wellbeing Fund.

The Local Councillor for Gipton and Harehills said that:

“Working for community cohesion in the present climate is as difficult as it is vital. Anything that can be done to do it successfully should be given whatever resources are necessary”.

Lessons

The work to tackle hate crime and develop community cohesion in Gipton has resulted in significant learning:

• Gipton Community Cohesion Group used learning from previous work in the Halton Moor area, but was clear that their approach had to be refined to meet the needs of the local community. They constantly challenged plans in relation to “Will it work in Gipton?”
• The ‘Team Gipton’ approach, developed through the Intensive Neighbourhood Management approach, is seen as key to their success. Many of the local agency staff have long term professional or personal connection to Gipton and want to see it improve. Their experience has provided understanding of what will work in Gipton.
• The community cohesion group has drawn together the key agencies which can impact on the issues. However, they see community involvement as critical and so plan to have Community Champions involved in the group to ensure that their plans are ‘community tested’
• The dispersal order helped increase the community’s confidence that agencies were listening and prepared to act on their concerns. It provided an opportunity to build on its impact and engage local people in identifying and tackling Gipton’s problems. However, local agencies saw it as a short-term solution and recognised that they needed to put effort into addressing root causes of the issues so that impact could be sustained without further extensions of the order
• Local partners acknowledged the importance of community engagement in tackling hate crime and building community cohesion. However, they recognised that traditional engagement mechanisms such as public meetings had not worked. They therefore thought creatively, targeting local children to get them to encourage their parents and carers to come to the open day
• They consider effective community feedback and communication as critical to success. They have used billboards, posters, hand-delivered leaflets and newsletters and an activities guide to do so. In addition ‘Team Gipton’ has attended local meetings and events to tell the community what they are doing. The ‘I Love Gipton’ branding has helped highlight that things are changing
• Local partners think that perceptions indicators, based on the community’s views on how well agencies such as the police and council are working together, actually help foster partnership working
• The group wanted long term solutions, embedded in local service delivery, and hence have implemented most of them without additional funding.

Further information

Racist incidents and harassment toolkit

Tackling hate crime: homophobic crime toolkit

The development of the Salisbury Plain Super Garrison (SPSG) will attract multi-million pound investment, and new more permanent military families into Wiltshire, where the military is already the biggest employer. The Service Personnel Command Paper published in July 2008, is a cross-government strategy that outlines plans to improve the level of support given to Service personnel, their families and veterans.

The Military Civilian Integration Programme is a pilot scheme to identify the changing military ‘footprint’ in the county and measure the military’s economic contribution to the county, and the region. It aims to enable council service provision to adapt to the changing needs of the military and their dependants and to spot opportunities for regeneration and building sustainable communities in the Salisbury Plain area.

The research projects are providing a strong evidence base both for the council and its partners and will inform strategies, policies and initiatives. Partners have worked systematically through the Local Area Agreement, Sustainable Community Strategy and Children and Young People’s Plan and to identify opportunities and threats, which has clarified the relevance of the military changes to service delivery.

The issue

National

Since the end of the Second World War significant parts of the Army had been focused on Germany, where it expected to fight, and a fifth of the Army is still based there. Units were constantly on the move – changing role and location every two to four years. In general long-term planning (except in the equipment area) was unusual, there being a culture of ‘getting on with things and making do’.

There was often a simple expectation that services to its UK communities would be delivered by councils – it was their responsibility not the Army’s – without the full understanding of service planning. There have been exceptions where there were very good relations between local councils and garrisons addressing military needs, such as in Aldershot, Catterick, Colchester and Tidworth.

Change has begun, with the Army’s partial withdrawal from Germany and the development of more of an expeditionary force that conducts military operations overseas, but from a more permanent home base. Greater stability has become a priority with the development of the ‘Super Garrison’ concept.

While there has been general recognition of the military’s importance as a buyer and employer, there was little evidence. Ten years ago information was partial and late and there was no shared ownership of the challenge facing public services and no clear responsibility above individual garrison and town. The MoD is a complex organisation where it is sometimes difficult to be clear about who is responsible to whom for what, and constant reorganisation has not helped.

Service Personnel Command Paper

The Service Personnel Command Paper (SPCP) published in July 2008 is a cross-government strategy that outlines plans to improve the level of support given to Service personnel, their families and veterans. In essence, those who serve must not be disadvantaged by virtue of what they do, and that this sometimes calls for special treatment. A number of measures set out in this strategy are likely to affect local authority service providers, for example:

• Extending access to affordable homes for a year after discharge
• Access to school places and uninterrupted special educational needs support
• A duty to ensure availability of flexible and affordable childcare and family services
• A commitment to tackle disadvantage where service overseas makes it harder for spouses and civil partners to get paid employment and maintain a National Insurance contribution record, which may affect their contribution record for basic State Pension as well as their access to contribution-based working-age benefits
• Developing access routes for Service leavers into public sector employment.

Issues in Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire

The development of the Salisbury Plain Super Garrison (SPSG) and other military sites will attract multi-million pound investment into the county, although the RAF will be withdrawing from Lyneham by 2012.

The declared aspiration for the SPSG is that it:

“..will improve the way of life for those working and living within it and the community at large. It will not only create a strong sense of military community but will also encourage closer integration with the civilian community. Our aspiration is to continue developing high quality recreational, sporting, leisure and retail facilities alongside the new barracks, better service accommodation, opportunities for greater stability and wider integration of full and part-time personnel. Together with more employment opportunities within the Super Garrison we will deliver more choice and a better quality of life for soldiers, their families and the adjoining civilian community”.

The military presence is valued in Wiltshire, but it raises particular issues for its partners.

Currently, around 15,000 military personnel and an estimated 16,000 dependants are based in the county, where MoD is the biggest employer. Many more jobs are ‘defence dependent’ (MoD agency staff, MoD civil servants and Defence contractors). The area is expecting two influxes of military people, mainly men: the first in 2008/09 and the second in 2009/10 as two new units move in, but then a decrease around Lyneham in 2012 when the RAF unit moves to Oxfordshire.

Wiltshire County Council, which became Wiltshire (unitary) Council in April 2009, working with Headquarters 43 (Wessex) Brigade, saw the need ‘to become more agile in its responses to these military changes’, providing leadership to strategic partners to ensure that Wiltshire develops as a sustainable community for all of its citizens.

From the military viewpoint, challenges included a lack of housing and affordable houses to buy, patchy and poorly coordinated education, poor dental facilities, patchy medical facilities, limited employment options for partners and poor facilities. The Military Civilian Integration (MCI) Programme was set up to shape and positively influence these changes.

What they did

MCI programme aim

The aim of the MCI Programme has been to optimise the economic and social benefits of the military presence in the county with acceptable environmental impact, in order to contribute to ‘improving life in Wiltshire’. The programme has five main objectives:

• To identify the changing military ‘footprint’ in the county
• To measure the economic contribution of the military to the county, and the South West region
• To enable the realignment of service provision to meet the changing needs of the military and their dependants
• To spot opportunities for regeneration and building sustainable communities in the Salisbury Plain area
• To ensure Wiltshire continues to be an attractive location for long-term investment by the MoD.

A consortium led by Wiltshire Council is delivering the programme. The Sponsoring Group provides strategic direction and guidance to the MCI Programme Manager.

Wiltshire Council is the ‘Senior Responsible Owner’ on the Sponsoring Group which includes: Headquarters 43 (Wessex) Brigade, Defence Estates, South West of England Regional Development Agency, council representatives at cabinet member and chief executive level, and representatives from the Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce (private sector) and Community First (voluntary sector) in Wiltshire. Some EU funding (from the ‘Sustain the Plain’ rural development programme) has been available to support the MCI pilot. The programme was supported by a MCI coordinator post from January 2008 (now a permanent MoD civil service post), and, on rolling contracts, a programme manager (from the end of 2007) and researcher.

Wiltshire research project: Envisioning the Future

In April 2008 questionnaires were sent to heads of service providers from across the county and former district councils and a subsequent series of seminars clarified the current demands that the military presence made on council services and how these might change in the future. The research culminated in a study, called ‘Envisioning the Future’ published in July 2009, which positions these issues, opportunities and threats within the framework of Wiltshire Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS), the Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) and associated Local Area Agreement (LAA) actions and outcomes, summarised below.

Whereas it was previously difficult for some (council) service areas to see the relevance to them of the military presence, the analysis is now providing a valuable tool for the council and the MoD:

• to ensure that relevant service delivery plans and actions take account of the military presence and expected changes
• to help military, public, private and voluntary sector partners to strengthen military civilian integration in the county
• to share with regional partners, such as Government Office for the South West (GOSW) and the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), and to local partners with an interest in the military, through the Wiltshire Council website.

Military presence and economic significance in the South West Region

Recognising the quality of MoD and agency contacts and data that the council was achieving, SWRDA commissioned Wiltshire Council to undertake research to strengthen the evidence base on the military presence in the region. Funding for the study was shared by SWRDA and Wiltshire Council. This research will inform local and regional policy, so that the economic potential of the military presence in the region is better understood and can be fully harnessed over the medium to long-term. The project is designed to build up a comprehensive picture of the impact of the military on the economy within the region, and was published in March 2009.

Other elements of the MCI programme are:

• The Lessons Learnt Project, carried out by the Tidworth Development Trust, catalogued research, reports, and projects that have been undertaken in Wiltshire and elsewhere. The project was completed in March 2008.
• The Regeneration and Building Sustainable Communities Project is identifying suitable sites for over 900 homes working with Defence Estates and investigating the wider benefits that could arise from the sustainable growth of military settlements as more balanced communities, involving more substantial re-development and regeneration, starting in Bulford, Larkhill and Tidworth
• The Attitudinal Sampling Project will provide a better understanding of civilian attitudes towards the military using the council’s regular survey of public opinion, The People’s Voice panel (3,800 residents). The first survey was carried out in May 2008.
• ADAS UK Ltd carried out a research project to assess the impact on the agricultural sector of the military – changes in the military population, activities and land and airspace utilisation on the countryside and land-based sector in Wiltshire. The report was completed in May 2008.
• A survey of Service leavers suggested that about a hundred per year were keen to ‘start their own business’, so the council and partners have begun to find ways of supporting this, for example by fostering strong links with the new Castledown Business Centre, near Tidworth.

The impact

The military approach has evolved considerably, from its initial detachment to much more meaningful engagement with partners and a new openness to the community, ‘coming out from behind the wire’. Garrison Open Days have begun to build greater understanding and tolerance among local residents and a feeling that the military are a part of the community.

Initially the council had a number of individual projects that had a military theme. This included successful collaboration on a new leisure centre, built on MoD land but staffed by the council and open to the whole community. The centre also houses a community library, crèche and meeting room, and could be a model for centres in other parts of Wiltshire. The MCI Programme has enabled the council and MoD to prioritise and build much greater coherence into their approach.

The research projects carried out provide a strong evidence base both for the council and other partners which will inform a variety of strategies, policies and initiatives. Some partners had been shaken by the likely losses of Army and RAF units from the county, particularly in the current economic climate. This prompted some searching questions about what action would be needed to continue to attract long-term investment by the MoD. Working systematically through the LAA, SCS and CYPP and identifying opportunities and threats has clarified the relevance of the military changes to council service delivery.

The results of the research will feed into the relevant thematic groups serving the Local Strategic Partnership and refreshing the LAA. Initially, the only specific MCI-related target in the Wiltshire LAA was the establishment of a baseline, which the research has now achieved. Because of the MCI Programme, the Super Garrison Commander is now a member of the Wiltshire Public Service Board and attends the Wiltshire Assembly. Also, the fact that there is a military chair of the Tidworth Community Partnership conveys a message of involvement and community participation.

Barriers, challenges

The MoD has had a great deal to learn about how it needs to engage with local service providers in order to plan the best support for the garrison and its families. While overseas, many of these issues did not need to be tackled in the same way. In 2007, for example one of the Tidworth regiments deployed to Iraq leaving, in effect, 850 ‘single parent’ families at home, and sadly, several were bereaved during the first week of the deployment. Better communication locally could help to get appropriate support in place for families. Another example of the need to provide better support concerns children with special needs. When Service families with a special needs child moves to a different area, the receiving council currently has to reassess their special needs, which is costly and cumbersome. There may be scope to ease this by developing a form of child’s passport containing their records.

To do this MoD has had to learn the language of LAAs and new performance measures. Up until two years ago the MoD was not subject to Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act, whereas now, through dialogue, it has developed a better understanding of local problems and priorities. GOSW is exploring new ways of sharing knowledge with colleagues in MoD and participated in the recent visit of the Service Personnel Command Paper National Advocates Group to the Army in Wiltshire. This group brings together staff at director level across all departments.

Partners sometimes needed to be convinced that the MCI Programme was relevant to them. For example, the Chamber of Commerce began to take a keener interest in the MCI Programme when it realised that the spending power of the military in the county equated to some £400 million per year.

Relationships with GOSW have been good, and regional resilience work e.g. dealing with floods has been effective, but the lack of any MoD representation is unhelpful in terms of making the case for Defence to central government, and in taking account of MoD when drawing up key regional plans and documents such as the Regional Spatial Strategy, Regional Housing Strategy and Regional Economic Strategy. The Government Office’s skills in relationship management could be better used to aid cross-government support for the Armed Forces in line with the ambitions in the Service Personnel Command Paper.

Garrison/Station Commanders will now be attending all the unitary council’s new Area Boards which cover their respective military establishments. The presence of more stable military families offers a new incentive for community involvement.

The two tier council structure was complex but the recent move to unitary status in Wiltshire has helped to simplify things for MoD and other partners. Likewise the development of the super garrison concept made it possible for civilians to deal with a single entity.

Lessons

Experience with the programme to date suggests that:

• To enable MCI to work, someone has to own the ‘problem’ and take action. There is a clear leadership role for the local authority, military and partners. Leadership is important to generate commitment and ‘open doors’. The Wiltshire Chief Executive and Super Garrison Brigadier have really championed the work together, which has had a powerful effect on audiences. As the coordinator put it, “both sides needed to think outside the box”. The introduction of the Army’s ‘Firm Base’ concept and Brigadier Steve Hodder’s MCI Strategy to improve communications at all levels between the brigade and the council will greatly assist this process.
• Having dedicated programme support, and an inclusive steering group, is also necessary. The coordinator was given a free rein and held 48 meetings over the initial two months to gather information and build understanding. He says it took six months to develop his role as an enabler. It may also be significant that the coordinator is not from the Army itself, but has a police investigative background and excellent communication skills.
• Whereas in Catterick the lead has come from the MoD, here the council has led and owned the process, though it has also been referred to as a joint venture. Both approaches can work, but it is important to recognise that each situation needs its own tailored response.
• Effective joint working creates wider opportunities for economic development and regeneration and creating more balanced and stable communities in the long-term. MoD may be able to identify areas of land managed by Defence Estates that could be released into the Local Development Framework and realise funds. Partners could plan together to resolve particular shortages, for example, for housing or business units, but this needs to be addressed within the context of the Regional Spatial Strategy.

Further information

The MCI Programme

The Wiltshire Research Project, Envisioning the Future (July 2009) – external PDF available to download

The South West Research Project, Military Presence and Economic Significance in the South West (March 2009) – external PDF available to download