Renfrewshire Council: the Audit of Best Value and ... - Audit Scotland

Exhibit 13
Ferguslie Park
In 1988/89 Ferguslie Park was designated as one of four pilot urban regeneration initiatives under the
‘New Life for Urban Scotland’ strategy. This aimed to address high levels of multiple deprivation with regard
to employment, poverty, housing, environment and image. A major aspect of this comprehensive review
was physical renewal of the area to diversify the housing tenure, integrate between tenures and to make
the environment more attractive.
The area has now been dramatically turned around from an area of 100 per cent local authority housing
with a high proportion of void properties to an area of mixed tenure of local authority, housing association
and private properties. The main vehicle for planning and co-ordinating the physical renewal of the estate
was the area development framework prepared by the department of planning and transport and approved
by all the main stakeholders in the estate including the council, Communities Scotland, Ferguslie Park
Housing Association, Scottish Enterprise Renfrewshire, and the local community. The implementation of
the framework is overseen by a locally based implementation group made up of representatives of these
groups and local councillors.
Area development frameworks have been implemented in seven neighbourhoods, and as part of its Local
Housing Strategy, the council plans to roll out this approach to all estate areas by March 2009. The use of
estate management agreements helps to ensure that improvements are sustained and that residents are
aware of the service levels they can expect and also their responsibilities as residents.
Source: Renfrewshire Council and Audit Scotland
151. The council performs slightly better than the Scottish average for the time taken to resolve homeless
cases from initial presentation to finding suitable accommodation. It has set an ambitious target of 9.5
weeks for 2005/06, well below the Scottish average of 13.4 weeks. This is linked to the increased
supply of permanent accommodation identified in the housing strategy. However, the council needs to
reduce its reliance on the use of bed and breakfast as temporary accommodation (see Exhibit 14).
The council also performs significantly better than the Scottish average for the proportion of
households re-presenting as homeless within a year with only six per cent re-presenting.
Exhibit 14
The council needs to reduce its reliance on bed and breakfast temporary accommodation
Applicants placed in B&B as principal temporary
accommodation
12.0%
10.0%
8.0%
6.0%
4.0%
Renfrewshire
City / urban councils
2.0%
0.0%
2003/2004 2004/2005
Source: Scottish Housing Best Value Network – benchmark information for Renfrewshire Council, and Audit Scotland
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