Neighbourhood warden schemes face axe as funding is withdrawn

Five neighbourhood warden schemes will fold and a further 16 are at risk of collapse when government funding for the flagship project is withdrawn at the end of this month.

The ODPM has invested £68m in 245 warden schemes over the past three years but the start-up funding for the first phase of 84 schemes runs out in two weeks (HT 16 May 2003, page 7).

The projects have been hugely popular and some have found alternative funding sources. But 16, including schemes in Tower Hamlets, Liverpool, Birmingham and Hull, are still looking for new cash and may have to close.

Those certain to close include a Hyde Housing Group scheme in Islington, north London, and schemes run by Barnet, West Lancashire, Havering and Hillingdon councils.

Gavin Carsfield, regional operations director at Southern Housing Group, which employs five wardens in east London, said: "We've put in money to keep the scheme going for another three months and we're trying all the usual routes to keep it going. But so far we haven't had any positive indications and I'm not optimistic.

"It speaks volumes that ministers always hold neighbourhood wardens up as a key example of sustainable communities and now they've pulled the plug on the funding."

Tom Mann, secretary of the North-west neighbourhood warden network, said: "The prognosis doesn't look good. It's a shame because, where they have been operating, warden schemes have changed the whole face of communities. Those communities will feel the loss more than the politicians."

An ODPM spokeswoman said: "Schemes were given grants for three years on the understanding that they were piloting the warden concept and, if successful, they would be sustained locally.

"Any organisation running a warden scheme can find resources from its own funds or other government funding or it can seek extra funding from local residents or businesses."