Housing and Environment
Localities and Neighbourhoods
Why is this important?
The quality of the built and natural environment, such as the local neighbourhoods, access to local shops, services, parks and green spaces, affect the health and wellbeing of everyone.
What is the local picture? How does it compare?
The satisfaction of residents with the local area is like the city average. According to the Coventry Household Survey 2022, 69% of people surveyed in Tile Hill were satisfied with their local area as a place to live, similar to the overall satisfaction level recorded for Coventry overall at 66%. This has not changed much since the 2018 survey where it was 71%. 17% of people surveyed from Tile Hill thought their area had got worse to live in over the previous two years, this was lower than the Coventry average of 28%.
Overall, residents in Tile Hill have relatively good access to green space compared to the average across the whole of Coventry; although there is some variation across the area, and it perhaps doesn’t have as good a variety of types of green space as other areas. The Coventry Green Space Strategy 2019 -2024 shows there is considerable variation in the amount of unrestricted green space by ward across Coventry, the average per ward is 62.3 hectares. Residents of Woodlands ward have access to 76.8 hectares. While the data is only available by ward and not specifically for Tile Hill, most of Tile Hill is located within Woodlands ward and this data is a good indication of the area of green space accessible to people living in Tile Hill. When you compare this to the size of the local population, this amounts to 4.15 hectares per 1,000 population compared to an average of 3.05 across Coventry overall. Neighbouring Westwood ward also has 4.15 hectares per 1,000 population. Most of the unrestricted green space in the area is ‘Natural and Semi-natural Greenspace’, mostly woodland – Tile Hill Wood, Pig Wood and Limbrick Wood are located in Tile Hill. Coverage of this type is much greater than the city average, the 2nd greatest amount of all wards in Coventry. However, while there is also some ‘Amenity Greenspace’ (informal green space often found in housing areas or adjacent to highways) in the area, the area has relatively low access to other types of green space, such are ‘Parks and Gardens’ or ‘Green Corridor’.
While the Strategy shows that residents living in all parts of Tile Hill are within 400 metres of some kind of unrestricted green space, people living in Tile Hill South are less proximate to green spaces than those in Tile Hill North.
The table below illustrates the amount of green space by type in Woodlands ward compared to the other wards of Coventry.
Table: Green space quantity by primary type and Coventry ward, hectares per 1,000 population
Source: Coventry Green Space Strategy 2019-2024, Coventry City Council
Woodlands ward where Tile Hill is located generally has a relatively better air quality than the average for the city. Air pollution is the largest environmental risk to the public’s health and has a harmful impact on the health of people living, working, and studying within Coventry. Like many towns and cities throughout the UK, roadside pollution levels, especially those resulting from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions from traffic and particulate matter (PM), are a concern. Poor air quality affects different communities disproportionately, some areas in Coventry do not achieve the EU and international standards. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is one of the pollutants of concern, and ‘diffusion tubes’ are deployed to measure levels at various roadside locations in Coventry, in 2022, 75 locations were measured. Unfortunately, none of these tubes are located in the Tile Hill area. An alternative measure is presented in the ‘Shape Atlas’ tool from the Department of Health and Social Care, the estimated annual NO2 levels by neighbourhood. It indicates NO2 levels to be lower than average for the city, although not the lowest and it does indicate NO2 levels to be higher than the national average across the whole city. The same source also estimates sulphur dioxide (SO2) levels to lower than the average for Coventry in Tile Hill and particulate matter (PM) levels to be amongst the lowest in the city.
The Living Environment domain of the English Indices of Deprivation 2019 assesses the quality of the local environment. In Tile Hill, the local environment is relatively good, with no residents living in the most deprived areas. While 51% of Tile Hill’s population lives in the most deprived 20% of neighbourhoods overall, none are deprived in terms of the Living Environment. This is better than Coventry, where 43% of residents are in the most deprived areas for this domain. The Living Environment covers indoor housing conditions and outdoor factors like air quality and road safety.
What else is happening? What else can be done?
Improving public transport and creating safer cycle routes could have a positive impact on the environment and encouraging different ways of travel. Several residents suggested that creating safe and segregated cycle lanes, especially around schools could encourage more people to cycle. There was also a call to discourage the unnecessary use of petrol and diesel vehicles, with suggestions to promote electric transport options more vigorously. Expanding Electric Vehicle charging points was identified as a way to do this, as well as promoting renewable energy solutions for homes
“Add more accessible bus routes to uhcw from the Tile Hill area”
“Discouraging flagrant and constant unnecessary use of diesel and petrol vehicles…. I now use my car for only essential journeys which is quite a dramatic change to my previous behaviour.”
“More electric ways to travel throughout the city”
Incentivising recycling and energy improvement programmes were suggestions made by residents. Residents suggested that by creating “More recycling points and make it easier to use the waste centre” would encourage more people to recycle. This could be a way to improve the city’s environmental footprint. “
Community and voluntary groups work together to ensure areas are clean, however they need support. Coventry Clean Up a group of volunteers who litter pick, plant trees and ensure the area across Coventry are clean. Some residents suggested a more proactive approach by creating public campaigns against littering and efforts to make recycling more accessible in neighbourhoods and parks are viewed as necessary to maintain the city's cleanliness and environmental health.
“Encourage more cycling and maybe offer some kind of incentive to local people that decide to commute on a bicycle.”
As part of Coventry City Council's commitment to plant 360,000 new trees in the city in the next 10 years – that’s one for every citizen – they are invited local people to take part in making it happen! Hundreds of volunteers planted over 3,0000 trees in Floyd's Field in Tile Hill. Trees were also planted in planted in Allesley Park, Sowe Common, Longford Park, Floyds Field and Park Wood. The wide variety of new trees will not only provide habitats and homes for wildlife, but also help combat air pollution as well as providing green spaces for us all to enjoy. The trees were provided by Trees for Cities, a UK charity that works to plant trees globally.
Housing and homelessness
Why is this important?
Historically, housing is only considered in relation to health in terms of support to help vulnerable people to live healthy, independent lives and reduce the pressure on families and carers. However, it is now recognised that good quality housing for all leads to better health and wellbeing, as it indirectly affects early years outcomes, educational achievement, economic prosperity, and community safety.
Conversely, rough sleeping and homelessness significantly impacts on a person’s mental and physical health, and the longer someone experiences rough sleeping, the more likely they will develop additional mental and physical health needs, develop substance misuse issues and have contact with the criminal justice system.
What is the local picture? How does it compare?
Tile Hill has a higher-than-average proportion of social renters and a lower-than-average homeowners when compared to Coventry. The 2021 Census showed that in Tile Hill, 41.9% of households are owned outright or with a mortgage compared to 57.4% across Coventry overall. 41.9% of households in Tile Hill are socially rented compared to 17.0% across Coventry overall and 15.5% of households in this area are privately rented, lower than the city average of 24.7%.
Tile Hill North have particularly high proportions of socially rented households, in the neighbourhood ‘Tile Hill North - Jardine Delius’ 53.4% are socially rented, and areas to the south have relatively lower numbers of socially rented households and more owner-occupied households; in the neighbourhood ‘Tile Hill Lane South - Gravel Hill’ 32.5% of households are socially rented.
Purpose-built block of flats or tenement housing is most prevalent in Tile Hill compared to Coventry overall, making up 44.2% of households compared to 15.7%. Tile Hill is one of the areas of Coventry with the highest proportions of flats or tenements. 25.3% of households are terraced (Coventry 39.9%), 18.1% are semi-detached (Coventry 30.0%) and 9.8% are detached (Coventry 11.6%).
House prices in Tile Hill are lower than the Coventry average. House Price Statistics for Small Areas (HPSSAs), produced by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows that the mean average price of houses sold in Tile Hill in the year ending September 2022 was £206,100, lower than the Coventry average of £235,700. A rough indication of how affordable the homes in the area are to its residents is given by looking at the ratio of the average annual household income, described above in the Prospects chapter, to average house prices. This gives a ratio of 6.6 in Tile Hill compared to 5.7 across Coventry overall; buying a house in this area appears less affordable than compared to the average for all Coventry neighbourhoods. While house prices in Tile Hill remained stable in the year to September 2022 (compared to a 4% rise in Coventry), they increased by 30% over the past four years, outpacing Coventry's 20% rise.
Households in Tile Hill are more likely to be overcrowded than the rest of Coventry, and the population density of the area is higher than average. The 2021 Census counted a total of 3,029 households in Tile Hill. It revealed that 9.9% of households were overcrowded compared to 7.7% in Coventry. A house is defined as overcrowded if there are too few rooms for the number of occupants based on standards of a minimum number of common rooms and bedrooms needed for the size and composition of the household. The population density of Tile Hill is 3,795 residents per square kilometre, slightly higher than the city average at 3,500 residents per square kilometre. Overcrowding is more prevalent here despite the average household size in terms of number of people being lower than average with a relatively high number of working age people living alone. The 2021 Census showed that in Tile Hill, 16.0% of the households had 4 or more people, less than the Coventry average of 23.1%. 42.4% of households in Tile Hill had 3 or more bedrooms, lower than the Coventry average of 64.6%.
Fuel poverty rates, which is influenced by energy prices, incomes, and housing quality, are relatively low in Tile Hill. This is measured using 2021 data, a time before the significant increase in energy bills impacted on households - the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on communities across the city is yet to be fully realized, as people face rapidly rising energy, fuel, food, and housing costs. In 2021 fuel poverty was more prevalent in Coventry than in the region or England, Coventry had the 4th highest fuel poverty rate of all local authority areas in England. The Coventry average was 20.8% and the England average was 13.1%. 16.0% households in Tile Hill were in fuel poverty, lower than the Coventry average.
The city has high and increasing levels of homelessness as indicated by data on homelessness applications from Coventry City Council, and rates are higher than average amongst people from Tile Hill. In 2022/23 there were 53 homelessness applications made to Coventry City Council from people living in Tile Hill, an increase from the 37 applications made in 2018/19. These are people who made an application and were assessed as being homeless or at risk or being becoming homeless and assigned to the area based on their last settled address. The rate of homelessness or at risk of becoming homelessness per 1,000 households in Tile Hill was 17.5 in 2022/23, higher than the overall city rate of 14.6. The trends in the area are similar to those for the city overall, increasing and notably higher than four years previously before the pandemic, 2018/19; although rates of increase have slowed in the last two years.
What else is happening? What else can be done?
Housing affordability was raised as a concern as well as increasing prices of private renting, one resident calling for a “Need more social housing, private renting is so expensive and not always affordable for everyone”
Threats to health and wellbeing are exacerbated by the increased costs associated with keeping homes warm, dry, and ventilated sufficiently over the colder months of the year and potential intermittent shortages in energy supply. Cold homes are recognised as a source of both physical and mental ill health, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke, respiratory illness, falls and accidents.
The Council has been proactive in supporting the most vulnerable residents access support through a series of initiatives. Coventry City Council have commissioned local energy charity Act on Energy to deliver its Keeping Coventry Warm Scheme. Keeping Coventry Warm provides Coventry residents with free energy saving advice and information.
The household support fund is also a way to provide residents with support for essentials linked to energy and water in recognition that a range of costs may arise that directly affect a households’ ability to afford or access food energy and water.
Crime and community safety
Why is this important?
Being a victim of crime, and being worried about crime, impacts on a person’s perception of their quality of life in the neighbourhood and has a negative effect on a person’s mental and physical wellbeing.
What is the local picture? How does it compare?
The recorded crime rate in Tile Hill is relatively high and has significantly increased over the years. In 2022/23 the total number of crimes recorded in the area totalled 1,038, a rate of 158.5 per 1,000 population, higher than the city average of 124.6. The crime rate in the area has been on an increasing trend, as it has for the whole city; the total number of crimes recorded in Tile Hill in 2022/23 was 111% higher than the 2017/18 levels, compared to the Coventry overall increase of 65%. The scale of increase in Tile Hill has been amongst the greatest out of Coventry’s neighbourhoods.
The main reason for the overall rise in crime in the last 5 years is that there have been more crimes recorded under the category ‘Violence and sexual offences’, which has the highest number of crimes in any category. This pattern is true for Tile Hill as well as for the whole of Coventry; in 2022/23, 594 crimes in this category were recorded in Tile Hill. The rate of recorded violent crimes under this category, at 90.7 crimes per 1,000 residents compared to 51.6 across Coventry overall, is one of the higher rates in the city.
Hate crime is more prevalent in Tile Hill with 30 reported cases between September 2022 and October 2023, at a rate of 4.6 per 1,000 population, compared to Coventry average at 2.8 per 1,000 population in the city.
The number of residents in Tile Hill who feel safe during the day and night is similar to the Coventry average. In the 2022 Household Survey, 77% of residents surveyed in Tile Hill felt safe during the day compared to the Coventry average of 77%. This has been a decrease from the 2018 survey where 83% of residents in Tile Hill felt safe.
44% of residents said they felt safe after dark in their local area, this is also like the Coventry average of 45%. Unlike the city, feelings of safety don’t appear to have reduced in recent years; the proportion of residents of Tile Hill who were surveyed in the Household Survey 2018 who said they felt safe in their neighbourhood at night was 46%.
What else is happening? What else can be done?
A more visible police presence could act as a deterrent for crime and promote community cohesion. This would not only deter criminal activity but create a sense of security and trust within the community, enabling residents to become more engaged and feel safer.
Nationally, there is a focus on implementing a ‘public health approach’ to tackling violent crime. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of taking a public health approach to reducing violent crime is one that “seeks to improve the health and safety of all individuals by addressing underlying risk factors that increase the likelihood that an individual will become a victim or a perpetrator of violence” It focuses on primary prevention at the population level, targeting broad segments to prevent violence. By identifying early indicators and risk factors, agencies can implement interventions to reduce crime.
Crime and perceptions of crime impact people’s relationship with the area, suggestions for community led initiatives to tackle antisocial behaviour. Community led initiatives could be effective by leveraging local knowledge, fostering trust and cooperation and empowering residents to create sustainable positive change.
Reporting hate crime plays a crucial role in challenging negative attitudes and build a more cohesive community. True vision is a web-based reporting system where people can report hate crime anonymously. This makes it easier for people to log on and report their experience.
“Increase police numbers to help reduce crime eg. burglaries, street crime, vandalism fly tipping.”
“Reduction in street crime and vandalism and litter.”
“More community led initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour in the city.”