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Fortress Britain text by Anna Minton & Jody Aked research commissioned by the New Economic Forum Not long ago, Manchester City Council laid on a coach tour for policy experts. As we swept into an estate in a deprived part of the city, the whole coachload gasped and the tour guide exclaimed in shock. The square in the centre of the estate was surrounded by thirty foot high spiked railings and the council building at one end resembled a militarised fortress. This is a particularly extreme example but today all our public buildings, including schools, hospitals and housing, come with high levels of security which are transforming the nature of the environment around us. At the same time fear of crime and concerns about safety and security are at an all-time high. Although crime has been falling steadily since 1995, the vast majority believe it is rising. High security is a now pre-requisite of planning permission for all new developments, through a government backed design policy called Secured by Design which is aimed at housing, town centre development and public buildings, from schools to hospitals. While this includes sensible recommendations, such as the need for adequate locks on doors and windows, the application of Secured by Design standards tends to create very high security environments which can appear threatening. For example, a gated development in East London which won a Secured by Design award, was commended for its small windows, reinforced steel door with full size iron gate and grey aluminium military-style roof. Schools, in particular, have become high security environments, emphasizing gating, high fences and CCTV. Because Secured by Design requirements for schools and public buildings are based on an audit of local crime risk, higher crime areas, which correlate with higher deprivation scores, are now characterised by public buildings, like the council building in Manchester, with a militarised feel to them. At the same time, greater concentrations of social housing, built to Secured by Design standards, tend to cluster in deprived areas. The unintended consequence is that fortress levels of security are now a visual marker for poor parts of Britain and a contemporary feature throughout the landscape. Read the rest of the report on "Anna Minton's website":http://www.annaminton.com/