Community wardens starved of cash as councils switch tactics

A wave of community warden schemes run by housing associations are closing down after losing funding for the next year.

Schemes protecting people on housing estates in Bristol and Stoke-on-Trent are the latest to face closure because local authority funding is being re-allocated to other initiatives that tackle similar problems, such as community police support officers.

Almost 250 warden schemes have been set up since 2001 using £68m funding from the ODPM for their first two years. Some programmes closed down after the funding for the first schemes ran out last year (HT 19 March 2004, page 11) but many survived because local authorities took over the funding. However, some councils are now axing that investment.

Among the latest projects facing closure is Bentilee Community Housing’s £243,000-a-year scheme, which serves 10 areas of Stoke. The programme is £126,000 short after the council, housing market renewal pathfinder Renew North Staffordshire and housing association Riverside Group failed to come up with the expected cash.

Neil Hopkins, business development manager at Bentilee, said its warden scheme had been hailed as a great success in reducing fear of crime and dealing with antisocial behaviour. In January it was expanded from six wardens to 10. But Stoke-on-Trent council would only pledge half the cash expected until it completes a review of such schemes in July.

That would keep the scheme going until then, but Bentilee is winding it down now because it wants to give the wardens three months to find another job, given the risk that the council will decide to cut funding for good after the review.

The council is believed to be concerned that the roles of community wardens could be duplicated by police community support officers and “neighbourhood impact” officers, who help the police tackle crime and antisocial behaviour on the streets.

“The council indicated it would continue to fund us but then unfortunately told us about the review quite late in the day,” said Hopkins. “We can’t wait until after the review. We hope something can be worked out but it doesn’t look promising.”

A Stoke-on-Trent council spokeswoman said it was hopeful the scheme could be saved. “We are in discussions with them [Bentilee] as to how we can help them further,” she said. “We are looking at extra funding possibilities.”

The news follows the closure of three warden schemes in Bristol at the end of March, including the Community Links scheme in the St Paul’s and St Agnes areas of the city, as well as schemes in Easton and Knowle West. The schemes closed after the city council said it would no longer fund them because it was focusing on community police support officers instead.

Another warden scheme north of Stoke-on-Trent, run by Touchstone Housing, is also believed to be in funding difficulties. A spokesman said the £250,000-a-year project, which has seen reported crime fall by 15%, was set to close. “There is a funding gap at the moment and, unless that gap is filled, the scheme could close down in July. We are working very closely with our funding partners to retain the scheme,” he said.