Strategic Management

Who is responsible?

Residential areas – and the services associated with them – are planned, maintained and improved by many different agencies. The relationship works in reverse too – what happens in residential areas has an impact on all kinds of organisations and on the services they provide.
These are just a few of the services and organisations involved:

Environmental services, such as street cleaning, refuse collection, grounds maintenance and street lighting
Protection services, such as the police (including community support officers and special constables), wardens and caretakers
Housing management and maintenance services provided by public or private organisations with varying responsibilities and powers
Utilities, such as gas and electricity companies
Highways and transport services, including engineering, maintenance and regulation of activities in the street
National agencies and advisory bodies, including regulators or advisers on specific issues such as waste disposal and heritage

Partnerships and setting out how things are done are important for defining responsibilities, particularly between the tiers of 2-tier authorities, but also in other partnerships, between a local authority and a registered social landlord for example. Sharing information is an important factor in partnerships and helps planning and actions.

Existing partnerships – providing they are appropriate to local needs – can be a vital and effective way of harnessing skills, expertise and resources. Neighbourhood management approach is increasingly seen as a successful way to help renew neighbourhoods. Communities and Local Government helps bring all those involved together through a national neighbourhood management network.

Neighbourhood Management involves communities in the work of local agencies to improve services at neighbourhood level. It aims to tackle quality of life issues in communities through:

Better management of the local environment
Increased community safety
Improved housing stock
Working with young people
Encouraging employment opportunities

Partnership between local authorities and the housing sector is continuing to strengthen and adapt. The traditional boundaries between sectors are starting to blur, for example, with the Housing Corporation funding housing development by private sector developers and Local Authority Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) and the plethora of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) operating across the country. In a further move to share and benchmark standards, all the Housing Corporation’s good practice advice will be available to housing authorities and ALMOs.