‘Orphan Sites’ project extended across Wolverhampton
Released: 20 September 2007
A project to identify and map problem areas of land in six priority neighbourhoods of Wolverhampton is now to be extended across the whole city.
The ‘Orphan Sites’ programme Phase One was initially concentrated in the All Saints, Bilston North and East, Blakenhall, Ettingshall, Graiseley and Whitmore Reans areas during 2006/7, with the work carried out by Groundwork Black Country.
It identified and mapped some 294 sites on which there were particular problems of litter, graffiti, fly-tipping, poor maintenance, signs of drug use and other aspects of anti-social behaviour.
This project was undertaken so that further work could then be done to track the owners and find long term solutions to make the sites less open to such abuse as well as bring about sustainable environmental improvements to benefit local residents and their communities.
Commissioned through the Green City Theme Partnership of the Wolverhampton Local Strategic Partnership and funded through the Cleaner, Safer, Greener element of the Government’s Safer Stronger Communities Fund at a cost of £30,000, the project’s Phase Two will now be continued in 2007/8 to cover the remainder of the city, also at a cost of £30,000.
Councillor Pat Byrne, Wolverhampton City Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment said: “The project is playing an important role in identifying sites in the city that can be enhanced.
“This is an excellent example of members of the local strategic partnership working together to deliver real improvements for residents and bring benefits for generations to come.”
By the end of the project the entire city will have been mapped and all sites identified will have been ‘scored’ for levels of environmental crime and anti-social behaviour.
All of the sites scoring highly in terms of environmental crime issues will be considered for enforcement action by the Public Protection Service and prioritised to bring about the greatest benefit for local communities and neighbourhoods.
A small number of the sites will also be selected for additional work, hopefully involving the local community, when improvements will aim to bring maximum sustainability and local benefit from environmental enhancement.
The sites identified during the completion of Phase One have been ‘fed’ into the council’s graffiti programme and a proportion of the targeted surfaces at those sites have already been cleaned. The same will happen to all sites identified during the Phase Two survey.
Issued by the press office.