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Pagoda PR has been recognised with a Gold Award in the Public Affairs Campaign category at the CIPR PRide Awards in Scotland. The winners were revealed on Thursday 9th October at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh.

The independent public relations consultancy picked up the prize for their campaign with McCarthy & Stone, entitled Improving housing choices for older Scots. The retirement home builder tasked Pagoda with placing the issue of housing choices for older Scots firmly on the political radar. The high level campaign successfully won ministerial support, leading to housing for older people making its way into policy and councils required to include it in their built environment considerations.

Lynne Veitch, Account Director for Pagoda PR who leads on public affairs for McCarthy & Stone in Scotland said: “We’re very proud to have our work for McCarthy & Stone recognised by the CIPR for a Gold PRide award. It’s always satisfying to work for a client who is genuinely committed to an issue - and rewarding when, together, you manage to influence government policy. We’re looking forward to continuing the campaign to improve housing choices for older Scots in the future.”

Pagoda also picked up Silver in the category for their campaign First Class Stakeholder Engagement with the in-house communications team at First ScotRail. The two campaigns finished above other finalists Grayling Scotland (Secure housing its rightful place in the Act to integrate health and social care) and Prostate Cancer UK (Quality Care. Everywhere.).

A full list of winners from the CIPR PRide Awards in Scotland can be found on the CIPR website.

The below content is the winning submission from Pagoda and McCarthy & Stone.

Improving housing choices for older Scots

Scotland faces a demographic time bomb. The number of people over 65 is estimated to almost double to 1.4million 1 by 2035, putting pressure on housing, health and social care budgets.

However, Scotland only has 36,000 sheltered homes, just 10% of which are privately owned.

Specialist retirement developer, McCarthy & Stone, tasked us with devising a campaign to influence Scottish Government planning policy.

Existing policy didn’t recognise the distinctive requirements of retirement housing. It needs to be close to shops and services (usually expensive, centrally located brownfield sites), requires a high-spec build, with around 30% communal (unsaleable) space, and include support services. These factors mean there’s an uneven playing field when bidding for sites against other developers.

Campaigning for policy change to benefit private sector housing developers wouldn’t be easy. It could be misrepresented as championing developer interests rather than the needs of older people.

Reviewing Scottish Planning Policy (SPP), we found no mention of older people’s housing so we developed campaign proposals including:

  • a partnership approach with government, demonstrating how a policy shift could encourage private investment and relieve pressure on public funding;
  • making the case that all councils must consider older people’s housing in housing assessments;
  • pressing for recognition of the social and economic benefits of older people’s housing and;
  • arguing for an exemption from affordable housing (AH) contributions.

There were huge variations between councils in how AH contributions were applied, despite clear Government guidance. We gathered case studies to demonstrate this including councils that:

  • exempted AH and approved two planning applications in 15 months, delivering 100 new homes;
  • imposed such a high contribution the site became unviable and remains vacant.

Implementation

Developing a persuasive case to engage with Government, key influencers, councils and the media, we:

  • capitalised on media interest in the demographic ‘time bomb’, linking to the Census publication by writing op-eds, blogs and an e-newsletter campaign highlighting the mismatch between numbers of older people and sheltered housing (securing ‘read’ rates up to 87% among politicians);
  • secured a meeting with the Planning Minister immediately following a consultation on a review of the SPP and went armed with a draft policy document (in Scottish Government ‘house style’), showing how older people’s housing could be included in revised guidance;
  • built third-party support with opposition spokespeople, the CPG on Older People and Age Scotland and briefed MSPs to help inform Parliament debates and PQs;
  • invited the Minister to preview and open McCarthy & Stone’s first Assisted Living development in Scotland, to see the benefits first-hand;
  • met with Heads of Planning of Scotland to discuss council variations;
  • persuaded McCarthy & Stone to exhibit at the SNP Conference where we announced plans to invest £141 million in new homes, given the right planning conditions.

On 23rd June 2014 the Planning Minister published the new SPP including provisions (see right) for older people’s housing, ensuring that councils must consider sheltered housing in housing needs assessments; prepare policies to support its delivery and allocate sites. Furthermore, a contribution to affordable housing for developers of specialist homes may not always be required.

The objectives for the campaign were fully met.