Bill Sword Social Bite Recovery Village FAQ

The village project launched in October 2023. Since then, Social Bite has been consulting extensively with organisations and stakeholders in Dundee. This included meeting with recovery and mental health organisations, councillors and MSPs, and groups with lived experience, to gather insight and feedback on the proposed operating model. As of summer 2025, Social Bite has run five community consultation events ahead of submitting planning application.

We’re aiming to submit a planning application before Christmas 2025.

We’re currently engaging with key stakeholders in local government and third sector organisations, as well as the local community. We are commissioning independent reports into the impact the village may have on the community and children. These reports will be made public ahead of our planning application submission. We will also identify a service provider for the village.

Once we’ve submitted our planning application, Dundee City Council planning committee will need to approve the village project as part of statutory planning processes before any building work can begin.

An independent community impact assessment is currently underway.  A report will be created at the end of the assessment, and the findings of the report will be publicly shared and included with our planning application.

We will comply with any recommendations that are generated from the results this assessment, to ensure the best possible outcomes for village residents and the local community.

Yes, we will commit to sharing all surveys and assessments once they’re complete, and in advance of the planning application being submitted.

If our application for this location is rejected during the planning process, then we’re currently unaware of any other viable sites in Dundee where we could continue the project. We’re open to exploring other location suggestions and anyone may put one forward.

Social Bite has been working with Dundee City Council to identify land for the Residential Recovery Village within Dundee’s Development Plan. The proposed location in the DD4 postcode, just off Hebrides Drive, is a good fit as it offers a greenspace location that’s also well connected.

We have explored a range of alternatives, including suggestions from the community:

• Jack Martin Way
• Forties Road
• Myrekirk Road
• Caird Park
• Roseangle, West end of Dundee

Some of these sites were not council-owned, whilst others were industrial sites and not zoned for residential use. Caird Park is restricted due to the title deeds stating that it can only be used for leisure and not for residential purposes.

Social Bite takes an innovative approach to building villages, with 95% of the build done offsite in a factory. The community hub and houses will be manufactured and transported to site, where they will be reassembled and installed. This means that whilst the village may take six to nine months to build, work will only take place on site for approximately three months, minimising disruption for local residents.

This is one of the most sustainable ways to create the village with minimal environmental impact.

Hub – the details aren’t completely finalised yet, but we’re looking at approximately:

• Width – 9m
• Length – 37m
• Height – 4m

The community hub will have 10 ensuite bedrooms at one end, a large, shared kitchen in the middle, and office space, private support/meeting rooms and toilets at the other end.

Houses – there will be ten nest houses each with the following dimensions:

• Width – 3.72m
• Length – 8.65m
• Height – 3.7m

We have a professional design team which includes highly experienced engineers, architects and project managers etc. who are undertaking extensive due diligence. This includes liaising with the applicable departments in the local authority, such as planning, roads and Scottish Water.

At the point the planning application is submitted, all plans become public, and anyone can feedback to the council if they think there are points that haven’t been addressed. As part of the planning process, our submission will be reviewed by a qualified council officer to ensure all these areas are within required guidelines. The council will then let us know if there’s anything we need to do further or any required changes.

The Recovery Village will be a safe, therapeutic community accommodating up to 20 mixed-gender residents over the age of 18. As well as the village residents, a team of experienced staff will be onsite each day, including a minimum of two support workers or residential volunteers on site 24/7.

The village will be full of life and positive energy, with the main Hub building serving as a central gathering space where residents will have the opportunity to work with others and experience something new. Activities will include:

• Cooking and eating together
• Participating in group meetings
• Hosting visitors and professionals
• Engaging in sports, music, and social activities
• Transitioning to work, college, or volunteering

Each resident will also have a dedicated key worker to help design and review their individual recovery plan, which may include activities proven to increase success rates:

• Counselling and therapeutic support
• Structured peer support
• Training and employment support
• Sports and recreational activities

Final details of staffing rotas will be confirmed in advance of submitting a planning application, after a support provider has been confirmed.

As an example, the staffing model for Alternatives, whose model we have based ours on, has eight staff on day shift, including a manager and assistant manager. Overnight a member of staff is on site, plus a manager.

When Alternatives first opened their residential recovery facility, they had three staff overnight. These staff were never needed so they reduced their staffing. Social Bite can explore having more overnight staff initially and assessing the need for them on an ongoing basis.

All staff will have relevant degree-level qualifications and/or regular in-depth training. 

Social Bite will commission a local charity to provide a highly skilled and experienced team at the village. We will tender for an onsite support delivery partner who has expertise in delivering the therapeutic, community and psychosocial element of the service. Social Bite will provide site management.

The village’s service provider would be initially responsible for dealing with a breach of the rules. Depending on the nature of the breach, it could then be escalated to Social Bite, the NHS or Police.

There will also be ongoing reviews of how the service runs and systems to document and report concerns. If someone is discharged, they will swiftly be fully supported into follow-on accommodation, which may be in their original tenancy, including given transport to the relevant place, where appropriate.

People who come to live at the recovery village are motivated to deal with their substance issues and will have made meaningful progress in their recovery journeys before being accepted into the village. Residents will be expected to uphold the principles of a therapeutic community and provide peer support, helping each other as they move through the programme and their recovery journeys.

If someone’s behaviour suggests they’re not interested in addressing their issues within the structured recovery programme, the village will not be an appropriate setting for them, and they will be supported to move on swiftly. Police Scotland’s Building Crime Prevention Team has also committed to mitigating risks and ensuring that the environment remains safe for all.

The following answers are based on the model run by Alternatives recovery housing in Dumbarton, with whom we have been working closely to design our village staffing and support model. More detailed processes will be confirmed and shared in advance of our planning application submission, following the confirmation of our support delivery partner, who will wish to have input into these details.

• Residents’ whereabouts will be closely monitored by support staff. The exact process around this will be determined in partnership with the support delivery partner and we can share more details in advance of submitting our planning
• On the rare occasion that someone requests to stay away overnight, they would require permission and to have demonstrated that it was appropriate for this stage in their journey. Residents would not regularly or routinely stay away from the site overnight – it would only happen in exceptional circumstances.
• Residents could be tested for drugs or alcohol, if they were behaving in a way that suggested they had taken drugs or alcohol.

People who come to live at the recovery village are motivated to deal with their substance issues and will have made meaningful progress in their recovery journeys before being accepted into the village. If their behaviour indicates that they’re not interested in addressing their issues within the structured recovery programme, the village will not be an appropriate setting for them, and they will be supported to move on swiftly.

Residents at the village will be further along their recovery journeys and committed to not using illicit drugs or alcohol. Residents will be fully aware that a relapse would risk their place in the village.

The village will be operated by a highly trained workforce, experienced in trauma-informed care, dealing with crises where necessary. They will support all residents to minimise the possibility of risk of relapse. For example, every resident will have a support worker and a personalised recovery plan that includes who to speak to if you’re worried about relapse, or places and people to avoid.

At Alternatives, if a resident relapses they will be sanctioned or, if necessary, discharged, because drugs and alcohol are forbidden on site. In the case that they’re discharged, they’ll be fully supported to swiftly move on to appropriate follow-on accommodation, which can include their original tenancy.

We’re not assuming that people are automatically going to cause antisocial behaviour. There will be strict rules in place, implemented though a 24/7 staff presence on site, support services, and a structured programme of activities (such as volunteering), as well as work, to help the residents achieve what they want to do – which is to stay clean.

If there is antisocial behaviour, it will be managed the same way any landlord does, by enforcing the occupancy agreement and if necessary, getting police support.

We’re working closely with Police Scotland, including their Safer by Design and Building Crime Prevention teams, to ensure the layout of the proposed village increases safety in the area through enhanced lighting, CCTV coverage, and secure access.

On the basis the planning application is successful, Social Bite will explore ways of reducing wider issues of antisocial behaviour in the area with Police Scotland, such as installing staggered gates on paths to stop motorbikes passing through the site. We welcome further suggestions from the community on which antisocial behaviour issues need tackling. Police Scotland’s Building Crime Prevention Team has committed to reviewing plans to mitigate risks and ensure that the environment remains safe for all.

Before being offered residency at the village, applicants will be assessed on several key criteria, including a willingness to engage in recovery, a commitment to community-based living and therapeutic engagement, and no behaviour that poses a risk to others (e.g. violence, exploitation).

A high level of consideration has been given, with service provision, viability and the potential impact of the village being thoroughly discussed. We have been working with many organisations across the city, including GPs, NHS Tayside and community policing, to ensure the village would be successfully embedded within and complement existing systems and services.

Regular meetings are in place with members from the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). The HSCP works towards a set of national health and wellbeing outcomes and is responsible for adult social care, health care and unscheduled hospital care, alongside children’s services, homelessness and criminal justice social work.

Meetings have taken place with Police Scotland and we’re working closely with a local GP service to coordinate their practice supporting the village. We’ve also been meeting regularly with the local Dundee City Council community development teams and their community safety officers.

As part of the process for placing someone in the village, there will be checks and assessments completed for each individual before they move in. If there was evidence that anyone was a potential risk, they would not be placed in the village. Any person who is subject to MAPPA (Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements) is deemed a schedule 1 offender and would not be able to live at the village.

Residents will be people in recovery, who have already made a significant commitment to that journey. There are many more people with drug and alcohol problems living among us in every community than there are in specialist facilities. We believe that there is no basis for assuming that people in recovery are any more of a threat to children than anyone else, within the context of a well-managed and regulated recovery facility.

To ensure this has been robustly assessed, we are commissioning a specialist report into any potential impact on children’s rights, including recommendations relating to safeguarding measures. Once this report has been completed, the findings will be shared publicly, and any recommendations will be implemented to ensure the village and surrounding area are safe for all.

Social Bite is in the process of commissioning a children’s impact report through an independent third-party organisation that specialises in children’s rights, including a review of safeguarding measures and an evidence review of other recovery facilities and their impact on children or children’s facilities nearby.

The results of all the surveys and assessments that we’re conducting will be made public once they’re complete, and in advance of our planning application.

Social Bite will comply with any recommendations that are generated from the outcomes of the report.

We do not believe that people in recovery pose any greater risk to children than people in wider society who are not in recovery, within the context of a well-managed and regulated recovery facility.

We’re commissioning a specialist report to identify any potential safeguarding matters along with recommendations, and these will be shared in advance of our planning application and implemented if the application is successful.

Security for residents, the wider local community and children is a clear priority for Social Bite. We’ve worked with Police Scotland’s Safer by Design Community on the site layout. The village will have a perimeter and therefore will not impede in any way on the children’s play facilities and football pitch.

Each resident will have a tailored, holistic support package, which will include family involvement. Family members will be invited to participate in support groups and activities to promote family involvement and connection. Some residents of the village will have their own families with young children and may wish to use the playpark with their children, during visitations.

We also plan to work with the charity Street Soccer to run football sessions at off-peak times for the residents of the village, when the pitch is not otherwise in use. So, in these ways the village would integrate with the local facilities. However, other than this, we envisage no impact at all on the playpark, basketball court or football pitch.

Many recovery-based facilities run successfully in residential areas in proximity to children’s facilities. For example:

• Catch Recovery Newcastle, Road to Recovery Trust, 45-51 George Street, NE4 7JN – located near to a sixth form college, in the middle of the city centre.
• Abbeycare Scotland, Erskine Mains House, Meadows Drive, Erskine PA8 7ED – located two minutes’ walk from a nursery school.
• Fife Intensive Rehabilitation and Substance Use Team, Carlyle House, Carlyle Road, Kirkcaldy, KY1 1DB – very residential, a three-minute walk from a nursery school.
• Harbour Ayrshire, 6 Miller Rd, Ayr, KA7 2AY – located in a residential area surrounded by schools and child-friendly spaces.

Whilst Social Bite cannot influence housing prices, we would ensure the village adds value to the area through its appearance, that it is well run and maintained, and that residents are active, positive community members. We expect that the village will reduce crime and antisocial behaviour in the area with a 24/7 staffing presence, lighting and CCTV.

Here are a few examples of property sale pricing data in the immediate areas of other UK recovery facilities (source: RightMove.com):

• Pheonix Futures Glasgow – open since 1992, a residential recovery facility in the middle of the highly-populated Anniesland area of Glasgow. Property sale prices in the G13 postcode, where Phoenix Futures is, are up 6% since 2022.

• Alternatives Dumbarton – open since 1995, providing community-based recovery services just off the high street, in a mixed residential and commercial area in Dumbarton. Property sale prices in G82 postcode, where Alternatives is, are up 16% since 2022.

• The New Leaf Recovery Project Brimingham is a residential rehab facility. Houses on the same street have seen an upward trend in prices, in line with the city average. One property on the street was purchased the same year the facility opened in 2013 and sold in 2022 for a 65% increase in price.

• Changing Lives has operated a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Newcastlesince 2019. Property sale prices on the street are up 41% since 2019 (compared to the 1% average across Newcastle as a whole).

We have reviewed the 2009 redevelopment plan and we understand our plans fit within the appropriate planning zonings for this site.

Once the planning application is submitted, we will look at further engagement events and can invite relevant partner organisations.

We have undertaken an Ecological Impact Assessment on site, which covers wildlife and trees / landscaping.  A development of this size and nature does not meet the thresholds required for a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Typically, EIAs are only required for much larger-scale planning applications, such as big housing masterplan developments.

We consulted with the council on a pre-planning application and were not advised that we needed to provide a full EIA. We were advised that we needed to undertake an ecological impact assessment and tree survey however, which we have done and will include with our application for review.

In preparing the site for the small foundations for the houses and hub building some vegetation will be lost such as grasses. We would aim to minimise any loss of existing hedgerows and bushes throughout construction.

A key part of the application is to provide significant improvement to biodiversity through the planting of additional trees, hedgerows and bushes. This would be including but not limited to the proposed community growing space. We are working with a highly qualified landscape architect who is reviewing all these factors in detail as part of our planning application.

We have undertaken a tree survey, which recommended removing one tree on the site as it is dead. We are not planning on removing any more trees, and in fact would look to plant additional trees to increase biodiversity. No protected species will be removed, and we will implement all measures recommended by specialists – such as root protection areas – to ensure native trees aren’t harmed.

Yes, the ecological and tree surveys have been completed. As part of the ecology survey the ecologist reviewed all requirements for protected wildlife in the area.  We will make the results of all surveys and assessments that we have and are conducting public once they have all been completed.

• We have undertaken a tree survey which recommended removing one tree on the site as it is dead. We are not planning on removing any more trees and are we planning to include more native trees in the design to improve biodiversity.
• No protected species will be removed and all measures recommended by specialists will be implemented, such as root protection areas to ensure no harm is done.
• Ecology survey reports that there is a negligible to low potential that bat tree roosts may be present in trees at the site (bat surveys are valid for twenty-four months). There is potential for Common and Soprano pipistrelle bats to forage in the area. We will be following the recommendation that planting of native species takes place as part of the landscaping, to enhance the bat foraging habitats within the site.
• Retaining the tree boundaries, planting native species and installing new bat roost locations will result in a low impact to the bat population.

Yes, we have conducted an ecology survey where any possible impact on local protected wildlife was assessed.  Results of the survey made some recommendations for actions we could take that would encourage wildlife populations to further thrive, such as the introduction of bat boxes. This is something we’re looking to include in our plans.

All relevant surveys, including the ecology survey, will inform the design of the Village, including the location and specifications for lighting. Any proposed street lighting would be compliant with all required council regulations and in line with guidance regarding light pollution and ecology. We are working with a highly qualified landscape architect, with additional support from a qualified ecologist, both of whom are considering design and lighting in detail for our application submission.