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George Mews designing for safety

A group of students worked with residents to evaluate design and governance improvements to reduce anti-social behaviour on a local estate

A photo of the entrance to George Mews Estate in Camden

20 May 2019

The problem

In 2017, High Speed 2 (HS2) construction work took over St James’ Gardens, a well-used public park near Euston Station. This displaced the illegal and anti-social behaviour, as well as rough sleeping, that used to occur in the park into nearby estates.

This project, undertaken by a group of MSc students in the Bartlett School of Planning and supervised by Dr Yasminah Beebeejaun, focussed on how public participation in the planning process and policy could help alleviate the issues George Mews - one of the estates most severely affected by this displacement of anti-social behaviour - is facing.

Our solution

The residents of George Mews were particularly interested in planning policy with regards to erecting gates at either end of their estate to stop non-residents entering their communal space, which can currently be used as a cut-through between Drummond Street and North Gower Street.

The student researchers could not firmly suggest to the residents that this was a good or bad idea. However, during the course of this project Camden council (the planning authority for the area) introduced new planning guidance that would allow for erecting gates in the precise context in which the George Mews residents find themselves.

The students hosted an event on 9th March, 2019 to enable local residents to participate in generating ideas for the future of their area. Feedback implied that the student involvement in the area seemed to garner extra attention for George Mews from local councillors, planners and the business improvement district, which the students hope will be maintained.

The students' research also focussed on issues with the governance of the area, with multiple agencies having overlapping or unclear responsibilities and no unified system of reporting ​anti-social behaviour incidents and wider estate issues, leading residents to feel their reports aren’t being heard.

Outcomes

The students' final report was shared with everyone who had been involved in the project, including the residents themselves and local councillors, planners and community groups. Since the project's completion, there have been attempts by the local business district, Euston Town, to improve the streetscape in the area surrounding George Mews so as to deter illicit activities.

The students presented their findings from this project to the local Tenants and Residents Association meeting on 20 May 2019, where they learned that the housing department are looking into the feasibility of gating George Mews and certain surrounding estates.

Read the report