Minutes of the Full Federation Meeting held on
25^th April 2007 at Bull Green House, Halifax

Attendance
Nora Greenfield	Barker Close	Norma Marriott	Barker Close
Leslie Godfrey	Beechwood TARA	Sue Hodgson	Dodge Holme TARA
Iris O'Donnell	Haley Court TA	Eric Sutcliffe	Haley Court TA
Mary Battye	Headlands House TA	Margaret Coupe	Heptonstall TARA
Don McLean	Ling Bob	Bill Stafford	Kershaw TARA
Val Barker	Middle Mixenden TARA	Chris Lates	Pollit Fields TA
Esther Richardson	Pollit Fields TA	George Cameron	Shaw Lodge RA
Richard Guillot	St James Court TA	Barbara Gunshon	St James Court TA
Janet Wilson	St James Court TA	Heather Pitt	Stansfield Crossley
Ruth Rider	Twin Towers	Sue Molineux	Whinney Hill Park TARA
Val Morris	Pennine Housing	Jonathan Howarth	Pennine Housing
Mark Thompson	Calderdale MBC
Apologies
Alan Randall	Dodge Holme TARA	Grace Paradise	Fall Spring Gardens TARA
Carole Shaw	Fall Spring Gardens TARA	Bert Swaine	Haley Court TA
Brian Battye	Headlands House TA	Vera Benney	Heptonstall TARA
Rita McWhirter	Heptonstall TARA	Val O'Leary	Kershaw TARA
Carole Coles	Middle Mixenden TARA	Anne Durkin	Pollit Fields TA
Val Bennett	Pollit Fields TA	Betty Moore	Roomfield House
Heather Stacey	Thornhill TA	Mick Stacey	Thornhill TA
Maureen Scrimshaw	Twin Towers

2. Minutes of previous meetings

Agreed

3. Matters arising

None

4. Correspondence

Training information to be discussed as part of item 8

5. Treasurer's Report

Agreed

6. Pennine Housing Issues

Voidguard - Jonathan Howarth

Jonathan explained to the meeting that a staff project team has spent the last 8 months reviewing how Pennine is currently dealing with empty properties (voids). They have been identifying which staff are involved in preparing a property for re-let, how much money is being spent and how long properties are empty for.

As part of the reviewing process a number of tenants who had recently moved into their property were consulted to find out their views about how we currently let properties and what are the most important things for tenants. They found that the cleanliness of property matters most to new tenants and that decorations and state of the garden matter the least. They also found that tenants need a lot more information about their new properties and their estate.

The project team has identified:

• That there is a lot of duplication of effort

• Pennine are not using resources as well as they could be

• New tenants are struggling with utilities (gas/electricity)

• There is no consistent view on lettable standards

Pennine is undertaking this review as part of its' preparation for the introduction of Choice Based Lettings. They are anticipating that Choice Based Lettings will lead to a greater demand for properties and Pennine needs to ensure it is able to cope with the demand.

The Voidguard team has identified that by improving efficiency and getting consistency across Calderdale they will be able to reduce the amount of money lost on empty properties.

They are proposing to:

• Set up a specialist void team which will deal with all empty

• Start to inspect properties prior to tenants moving out in order to know in advance what work will need doing

• Prioritise which properties they put resources into by focussing on properties most in demand

• Reach a stage where tenants move out in the morning and new tenants move in by the afternoon - obviously this will not always happen but in some cases it might be possible to carry out basic works around the new tenant once they moved in.

• Revise and improve the end of tenancy reward scheme

• Revise and improve the current decorations allowance - Pennine are planning to run some workshops so that they can involve tenants in improving the decoration allowance.

7. Local Area Agreements (LAA's) -
Mark Thompson, Chief Housing Officer, Calderdale MBC

What is the Calderdale Local Area Agreement (LAA)?

It's a three year contract and a commitment between the Government and Calderdale partners (Council, Pennine Housing 2000, Police, Health, voluntary sector, private sector, Calderdale College, etc.) The LAA is being led by Calderdale Forward the local Strategic Partnership which brings all of the partners together. The LAA seeks to ensure that by working together they can:

• Safeguard Calderdale's future

• Foster economic prosperity and bring more Government money into Calderdale

• Narrow the gap between the less well off and the more prosperous communities and areas in Calderdale

Mark explained that ¾ of the Council's funding came from Government plus additional funding for projects such as the Ovenden & Mixenden Initiatives.

What improvements will the LAA help to bring about over the next three years?

Achieving the LAA targets will deliver the following outcomes for local people:

Economy and Enterprise

• Better employment opportunities for all

• More successful businesses

• Vibrant town centres which people enjoy visiting

Environment

• Cleaner, safer, greener public spaces

• More recycling

• Improve public transport

Safer & Stronger Communities

• Less crime and less fear of crime

• Better services which meet the needs of neighbourhoods

• Stronger communities that thrive on respect and are empowered to have a greater voice and influence over local decision making

Healthier Communities

• People helped to live longer and healthier

• Encouragement of healthier lifestyles

• Better oral health

Older People

• Older people helped to live healthier and longer

• Older people helped to live independently with better homes and home services

• Older people recognised for the positive contribution the make to the District

Children & Young People

• A reduction in teenage pregnancy

• Better mental health services for children and young people

• Measures in place to ensure that vulnerable children and young people are safe and looked after

• Children and young people helped to achieve their potential through learning and education

How will Council know if the LAA is working?

• Feedback from local people and community groups

• Calderdale Forward will be require by the Regional Government Office to produce progress reports every six months

• Each delivery theme will be reviewing their progress quarterly to ensure that targets are being met

• The whole LAA will be reviewed and refreshed

8. Feedback from the Board Observers and the Working Groups.

Board Observers Report

Bert Swaine was not present at the meeting but his report from the last board meeting had been circulated along with the agenda. It was noted that Bert had done a good job of reporting on what was obviously a complex and lengthy meeting.

Big Picture Working Group

Ruth informed the meeting that the Big Picture Working Group had recently met with Mark Thompson, Chief Housing Officer, Calderdale MBC to talk about what the Council was doing on housing issues following the launch of the Council's Housing Strategy.

The had asked Mark to answer questions on the following themes:

   1. What is the Council doing about affordable housing?

   2. What's being done to improve existing homes?

   3. What's being done to bring empty premises into use as housing?

   4. What's the Council's view of homelessness in Calderdale?

   5. Security measures and housing

   6. Is progress being made on affordable warmth?

Ruth circulated a separate information sheet with Mark's response to these questions.

Members of the Big Picture Working Group had also recently attended the Chartered Institute of Housing Regional Conference in Rotherham.

They had attended a number of workshops including:

• A seminar on service excellence - encouraging better customer care

• The Respect Standard for Housing Management - information about how they have reduced the number of ASBO's issued in Sheffield

• A talk given by John Bird, Founder of the Big Issue

Training Group

Chris Lates brought everyone up to date with the working groups progress:

Survey Winner

Following on from the fantastic response to the recent training needs survey Mary Battye was asked to draw the name of the winner of the £20 gift voucher - the winner was Doreen Fields from Headlands House TA.

IT Club

Is now up and running, the first two sessions have very successful with six tenants group representatives attending each. Chris Lates explain that you don't have to stay for the full two hours - this idea is you can just drop in sometime during the session to do your piece of work. The club runs on Tuesday mornings 10.00 - 12.00noon at the Federation office.

Committee Skills

A new Committee Skills course has been arranged to start in the New Year, the course will run for 12 weeks with an extra 2 weeks of IT/computer tuition.

Taster Sessions

The training group is planning to run a number of taster sessions, each one will cover a different theme e.g. producing publicity, flyers and newsletters, fundraising, etc.

TPAS Summer Training Programme

Copies of the training programme were circulated - if anyone is interested in attending any course they should contact Tenant Involvement Section.

There was a discussion about the Involving Young People Course and how it would be of benefit to quite a lot of Tenants Associations. It was decided that rather than send delegates to this event that the Training Group should organise a one day course in Calderdale open to all TA's.

TPAS Annual Conference 3 - 5 August 2007 Birmingham

Information was circulated about this event, cost £419 + vat per person plus transport.

Agreed to make available funding to send 4 representatives - not the same ones who attended last year. If anyone is interested in going they should contact the Tenant Involvement Section

Chartered Institute of Housing Conference and Exhibition Wednesday 20^th June 2007 Harrogate

Agreed to organise a coach to attend this event, Tenant Involvement section will contact TA secretaries.

TARA Support Working Group

Eric informed the meeting that all Tenants association had now been written to asking if they want someone to attend one of their meetings to explain the role of the Federation.

So far he has been along to a Twin Towers meeting where he had received a very warm welcome. He is also going to be attending the next Heptonstall meeting.

Unfortunately, Audrey Waterhouse, has had to resign from the TARA Support Working Group because her husbands deteriorating health - the meeting extended its thanks to Audrey for all of her hard work over the years.

More volunteers are needed for all of the working groups

9. Quiz Night

Further to the discussion at February's meeting about the Federation organising more social events the Management Team had approached Peter Dawson from Pennine to ask if he would be prepared to run a Quiz Night for the Federation. The meeting agreed that this would be an excellent idea, it was suggested that it should take place in September and a possible venue might be the NALGO bar underneath Northgate House.

Once the Management Team has sorted out a date and venue all TA's will be contacted asking if they would like to enter a team. It was suggested that there should be a trophy presented to the winning team.

10. Haley Court issues

There appeared to be some confusion about why this item was on the agenda as both Iris O'Donnell and Eric Sutcliffe stated that Haley Court didn't have any issues with the Federation.

11. Who's your Neighbour Website

Information was circulated about this new website. The meeting decided not to invite a speaker to a future meeting.

12. Any Other Business

Federation Website

Mike Morris had produced an information sheet for the meeting giving some facts and figure about the number of 'visitors' the website had so far had and where these 'visitors' had come from.

Since it was set up in April 2006 there have been 817 visitors, these visitors are from more than 18 countries around the world and Mike is able to analyse how the visitors had arrived at the site. Some of the visitors have been from other voluntary groups and local government type organisations but others had clearly arrived by mistake, like the person from Barcelona who had typed into the Google search engine 'appropriate knickers for elderly ladies' and, because somewhere in the Federation website reports there's mention of Iris's knickers at a New Year Party (!), had been directed to the Federation Website!

Members commented on the excellence of the website and the fact that it was always kept up to date.

13. Issues and venue of next meeting

Amanda Garrard to be invited to discuss the Hill Review and also an item about Choice Based Lettings. Venue, it was decided that the next meeting would be in the Library - if available - Sue Molineux to book.

14. Date of Next Meeting - Wednesday 27^th June 2007 - venue to be confirmed

The meeting closed at 8.35pm