Physical environment: maintenance

The maintenance of streets and public spaces, and conversely the presence of environmental incivilities such as litter and dog fouling, can affect how people use their neighbourhood. It also has an influence on neighbourhood satisfaction and perceptions of safety, and can have a bearing on social connections and neighbourliness within communities.

The Scottish Household Survey includes questions about respondents’ experiences of their neighbourhoods, and the distribution of this by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile. As can be seen in Chart 1, respondents’ experience of litter in their neighbourhood shows a clear deprivation gradient. Similarly, 20% of adults in the most deprived quintile responded that vandalism, graffiti or other deliberate damage to property was very or fairly common in their neighbourhood, compared to 5% in the least deprived quintile.

The 2022 Scottish Household Survey saw a return to face-to-face data collection, following changes in methodology in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that the 2022 results are not comparable to those from 2020 and 2021.

The ScotPHO profiles tool includes data by local authority for people living within 500 metres of a derelict site and adults rating their neighbourhood a very good place to live.