Consideration for crime prevention within the planning system: Responding to changes in policy and practice within England and Wales

The design of homes can enhance the quality of life of residents by reducing their vulnerability to crime. Copious research has identified the features of individual properties, their boundaries and development layout which act as risk and protective factors. This has been, to some extent, reflected in England and Wales through regulation, national and local policy, guidance, process and incentives to support these. This paper reports on the findings of a collaborative project which was conducted in 2009/2010, which set out to strengthen and update the evidence base on the impact of design on a range of crime types – with a specific focus upon housing developments acclaimed for their innovative design and award winning architecture. The research involved physically assessing the design features of over 6,000 homes across three police forces to establish which features were associated with enhanced crime risk. Cautious of the dangers of relying on official police statistics, interviews were also conducted (on site) with Neighbourhood Policing Teams, local authority planners, Police Architectural Liaison Officers (ALOs)/Crime Prevention Design Advisors (CPDAs) and local residents to identify crime and disorder problems which may not have been reported to, or recorded by, the police. This paper focuses upon the qualitative findings of this extensive study, reporting practical issues and recommendations to address common design problems.