Pennine Communities Federation of
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5 Lister Court |
Local Area Agreements
Mark Thompson, Chief Housing Officer, Calderdale MBC attended our April meeting to explain the importance of Local Area Agreements for Calderdale Communities.
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
Improved 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 they 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 the Council know if the LAA is working?
Feedback from local people and community groups
Calderdale Forward will be required 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
For more information about LAA's contact CMBC Chief Exec's Office 01422 393117
Voidguard
Jonathan Howarth attended the April meeting to tell us all about Voidguard. He 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 also 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 a property matters most to new tenants and 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 properties
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 have 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.
Feedback from the Working Groups
Big Picture Working Group - Ruth Rider
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.
They asked Mark to answer questions on the following themes:
Q. What is the Council doing about affordable housing?
Q. What's being done to improve existing homes
Q. What's being done to bring empty premises into use as housing?
Q. What's the Council's view of homelessness in Calderdale?
Q. Security measures and housing
Q. Is progress being made on affordable warmth?
There's not enough space in the newsletter for Mark's answer but if you want a copy ring 01422 284520 and Beverley or Jo will send you one.
Members of the Big Picture Working Group have also recently attended the Chartered Institute of Housing Regional Conference in Rotherham.
They 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 Working Group - Chris Lates
The Training group has really been busy since our February meeting.
Survey Winner
Following on from the fantastic response to the recent training needs survey, we're pleased to announce that the winner of the £20 gift voucher is Doreen Fielding from Headlands House TA.
IT Club
Is now up and running, the first two sessions have been very successful with six tenant group representatives attending each. You don't have to stay for the full two hours - the idea is that 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 -- if you want to find out more get in touch with either Chris, Beverley or Jo.
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. More about this in next newsletter.
TPAS Summer Training Programme
Copies of the TPAS training programme are included with this newsletter - if anyone is interested in attending any course they should contact Tenant Involvement Section.
Involving Young People
The Federation is going to be organising a one day training event all about encouraging young people to become more involved in Tenants Association activities.
There will be more information about this at the June meeting.
TPAS Annual Conference 3 - 5 August 2007 Birmingham
The Federation has agreed to fund the cost of sending 4 representatives to attend this conference. It is a fantastic opportunity to find out more about housing issues, network and to stay in a posh hotel. If anyone is interested in going they should contact the Tenant Involvement Section 01422 284520.
Chartered Institute of Housing Conference and Exhibition Wednesday 20th June 2007 Harrogate
It's that time of the year again and, as usual, we're planning to a send a coach load of Calderdale TA representatives off to the Harrogate Conference to grab as many mugs, pens and other freebies that they can carry! Seriously, this is a great day out where you can see for yourself what other landlords are up to and what products manufacturers are making to improve our homes and lifestyles. There's also a buffet lunch with Pennine's Senior Management staff and Board members. More information to follow.
TARA (Tenant Associations)
Liaison Working Group - Eric Sutcliffe
All Tenants Associations have now been written to asking if they want someone to attend one of their meetings to explain the role of the Federation. So far Eric has been along to a Twin Towers meeting where he had received a very warm welcome and he will also be attending the next Heptonstall meeting.
Unfortunately, Audrey Waterhouse, has had to resign from the TARA Liaison Working Group because her husband's deteriorating health - the Federation want to thank Audrey for all of her hard work over the years.
Why don't you volunteer to get involved with one of the working groups. It shouldn't take up a lot of your time, there's lots of support and it's really interesting.
Federation Website is now 1 year old!
The Federation's website has just had its 1st birthday and, so far, it's had more than 800 visitors from all around the world!
We've had visitors from the USA, Australia, Israel, South Africa, India, Chile, Iceland and lots, lots more.
Some of the visitors have been from other voluntary groups and local government type organisations but others have 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 (!), they were directed to the Federation Website!
If you want to look at the Federation website and have access to the internet simply type in www.penninefederation.org.uk. If you don't have a computer come to the Federation office on a Tuesday morning.
Don't forget the next meeting
The next Federation meeting is 7pm, Wednesday 27th June 2007, venue to be confirmed (probably the Library).
Amanda Garrard is coming to the meeting to give us information about important changes which are being proposed to improve social housing across the country.
Everybody Welcome
Quiz Night
Enthused by the success of our New Year's party, we've decided that we should be providing more opportunities for Tenant Association members to get together, socialise and have fun.
We've decided our next event is going to be a Quiz Night - date, venue, etc, still to be arranged but it's likely to be in September. We're going to asking all TA's to send at least one team and there'll be a trophy for the winning team.
Using the Fed' Office
If you want to use the Federation Office at 5 Lister Court, Halifax please contact the Booking Secretary, Mary Battye on Halifax 01422 205665 to check that it's not already being used on that day. Mary will also be able to sort out for someone to open the office up.
Pennine Communities Federation of Tenants & Residents Association (PCFTRA)
5 Lister Court Halifax HX1 5DR
Tel: 01422 365281
E-mail: federation1@tiscali.co.uk
Website: www.penninefederation.org.uk
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