Welcome to ‘Housing Services’ second e-bulletin!
We are now well in to a new - and exciting - year for us here at South Derbyshire
District Council. There are lots of opportunities coming up for you to get involved
and have your say – and lots of changes afoot to the way we deliver our services to
you.
If you would like to be involved in any area of Housing, please contact Sharon Cole
or Laurie Devitt on 01283 595803 or email [email protected]
Highlights of 2016
Dreamscheme, August 2016
Our summer Dreamscheme was a great success. We completed activities in
Swadlincote Town Centre, Woodville Sk8 Park and Midway Allotment. Our young
volunteers also took part in a Ready, Steady, Cook challenge to prepare, cook and
serve food to adults accessing Swadlincote charity, Bank House.
Housing Services’ Annual Report, September 2016
The Publications Panel worked with us yet again to produce an excellent quality
Annual Report, which was published in September 2016. We are now looking to
recruit more members to this Panel, so if you have a flair for writing and/or
design and would like to get involved, call us now!
Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH), September 2016
Two tenants, a member of the Performance & Scrutiny Panel and the Tenant
Participation Officer attended the ARCH Tenants’ Conference in Leamington Spa in
September 2016. Focus topics were Welfare Reform, lifetime tenancies, Pay to
Stay, right of sale of high value assets, the Housing Act and the digital world. This
is also a great opportunity for both tenants and officers to network and exchange
good practice to improve services.
TPAS Regional Event, October 2016
Four tenant volunteers and the Tenant Participation Officer had a fantastic time at
the Tpas (Tenant Participation Advisory Service) Midlands Regional Forum, in
Coalville. They joined 50 other delegates from social housing providers across the
Midlands at North West Leicestershire District Council to discuss topics including
Tenant Inspectors and how tenants can work together to improve services. The
event was a great opportunity to network with other organisations, find out how
others are doing it and share ideas - and lunch was thrown in for good measure. If
you would like to attend the next event, which is FREE for all our Council
tenants, call 01283 595803 or send us a message on Facebook: SDDC-HousingServices.
Development of the Year Award, November 2016
South Derbyshire District Council was handed the Development of the Year Award
by the Chartered Institute of Housing at its Midlands regional awards ceremony.
The prize was given for the collaborative approach to delivering 22 family homes
and bungalows across two sites in Swadlincote and Overseal in 2015-16. The £2.4m
project saw energy efficient family homes and bungalows built on areas of disused
land. Funded by the Council and delivered by Woodhead Ltd’s specialist housing
team, Woodhead Living, the Council-owned homes have been designed to meet a
local housing need.
At Pennine Way in Swadlincote, eight semi-detached houses and two semidetached bungalows were built on disused waste land adjacent to the existing
road. In Lullington Road, Overseal, 12 semi-detached family homes were built to
regenerate an area previously occupied by prefabricated post-war housing. The
development not only delivered brand new homes but it also gave other
opportunities to local people, with 10 apprentices getting the chance to gain
experience on the site. Through design development meetings, Woodhead Ltd’s
project team identified areas to make efficiencies, including finding a more costeffective way to lay the foundations, saving the council £20,000.
Other recent council developments include 23 newly built houses at Coton Croft in
Coton Park, Linton, and 11 refurbished houses at Rowley Court in Swadlincote
behind the fire station.
Building Communities Tenant of the Year Award, December 2016
Congratulations to Etwall tenant Dave Bown for being shortlisted for a prestigious
Tenant of the Year award! The Building Communities Awards recognise the
professionalism, excellence and innovation of construction in the East Midlands'
public and private housing sectors. Dave, who has been actively involved in
improving Council housing here for over 10 years, will come up against entrants
from Nottingham City Homes and Derby Homes to try and secure the coveted title.
He will attend a glitzy awards ceremony in Nottingham on Friday, February 24,
where the winners will be announced. We wish Dave the best of luck!
Coming Up in 2017
Housing youth project is shortlisted for prestigious industry award
The Dreamscheme project has been shortlisted for the Tpas Central Regional
Award for Excellence in Youth Involvement. Tpas, which is the UK’s leading best
practice organisation for tenant involvement, has shortlisted the Dreamscheme
Midway Allotment Project and Cookery School for the award. Tenant Participation
Officers Laurie Devitt and Sharon Cole, and Hartshorne tenant, Dave Bonner, who
designed and delivered the cookery school, will attend the awards ceremony, in
Solihull, on March 3.
Supported Housing Project Group
In November 2016, a group of five tenants began looking at our Supported Housing
Service with the Housing Operations Manager, Supported Housing Manager and an
external consultant to explore how we can save money and generate income when
funding cuts happen in 2018. The group is looking at services and how we can
market facilities available including community room hire, telecare services, and
how we can set up sustainable tenant groups at each of our supported housing
schemes to reduce social isolation and boost community cohesion. We will update
you in the next e-bulletin.
Go Grow! Community Allotment
We are starting a Community Gardening Club at our allotment plot, in Chestnut
Avenue, in Midway. People of all ages, and living anywhere in South Derbyshire,
can get involved. We will be advertising dates and times for various sessions, from
April, 2017. Contact us on 01283 595803 to find out more.
Tenant Participation Review Group
Four of our tenants are helping the Tenant Participation Officers to review the
service to see what improvements can be made for the benefit of all our tenants.
They will be reviewing the Tenant Participation Strategy, which sets out our threeyear vision for the service, will help set our 2017-18 priorities in our Action Plan,
and will work with us and the Performance and Policy Manager to set our Key
Performance Indicators for the year. The indicators will measure the success of our
performance, and the group will also help to assess the impact we are making
within communities. Members will also consult with tenants to find out what they
want from the Tenant Participation Service. The review is due to finish by April
2017.
Performance and Scrutiny Panel
We are currently looking for new members to join this Panel. This is an exciting
opportunity to become involved in playing an important role in regulating the work
of Housing Services. You will scrutinise performance and policies to ensure Housing
Services offers the best value for money services in keeping with tenant
aspirations.
Its aims are to:
o Improve tenant satisfaction
o Improve performance of day to day services
o Influence our decisions
o Achieve the best possible value for money
o Hold us to account for our performance
Panel members Glynn Lacey and Bex Cox met with key Housing staff in January
2017 to explain the role of Scrutiny, and then took part in a two-week work
shadowing plan to learn more about the roles of officers and how the different
service areas within Housing operate. The Panel will scope its first review in April
2017 and will aim to complete one other review by March 2018. They will meet
regularly and work closely with senior managers, their feedback being used to
influence both future performance and policy changes.
If you would like to find out more, call us or text your details to 07891 071980.
Full training will be given.
Tenant Area Representatives
Would you like to be your community voice? We are looking for Area Tenant
Representatives in the following areas: Findern, Linton, Repton, Shardlow, Walton
on Trent and Willington. We would also like additional Area Representatives in
Swadlincote and Newhall.
The role of a Tenant Area Representative is to be a point of call for other tenants
in their community and signpost them to the appropriate Housing service area or
partner agencies. All Tenant Area Representatives will meet quarterly with the
Housing Officer for their area/s to discuss any community issues and will also be
expected to undertake estate inspections, survey tenants in their area/s and
support any community events in their area/s. Full support and training will be
given.
Safer Homes Plus
This pilot scheme is underway and is supporting over 15 tenants across the district.
It currently delivers support to elderly and vulnerable tenants to help them to
remain in their own homes. This support includes gardening and the upkeep of
outside areas along with low level maintenance tasks and support to keep their
property in good order. South Derbyshire CVS are delivering this scheme with
support from the Council’s officers and are monitoring the impact on the lives of
those accessing this service through a steering group.The group, which meets
monthly, consists of Housing staff, Community Safety Partnership officers and
South Derbyshire CVS. Tenants are represented at this meeting by Swadlincote
tenant Eric Lummis. If you know of a tenant who may need this service then
speak to your housing officer or contact Tenant Participation.
More new homes come to South Derbyshire
Housing Services has recently bought the former mother and baby care unit in
Alexandra Road, Swadlincote. Comprising of eight one-bedroom flats, three will be
used as temporary accommodation and the other five will be used as permanent
single person accommodation. We are in the process of refurbishing the flats which
we expect to be ready for occupation early February. There is also an office at the
side of the block which will be converted to a bedsit later in the year, for use as
emergency accommodation. As part of the refurbishment and rejuvenation of the
flats, we have decided to name the block Carnegie House because Swadlincote’s
first library, which was situated directly opposite the block of flats on Alexandra
Road, was called Carnegie Library.
Mouldy Matter
We have many enquiries each year from tenants about problems of condensation
and mould and who blame the problem on defects to the fabric of the property.
More often than not, it is small aspects of their lifestyle which is the underlying
cause of the problem and by making minor lifestyle adjustments they can solve the
problem. In collaboration with Derbyshire County Council Public Health we have
produced a short, five minute animated film to help tenants identify what those
minor lifestyle adjustments should be. Find it at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIO8RTLQHeY
Don’t get bitten by a loan shark
Have you or anyone you know
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Been offered a cash loan without paperwork?
Been threatened when you couldn’t pay?
Had your benefit or bank card taken from you?
Had a loan which keeps growing even though you are making payments?
If you can answer yes to the above you may have been bitten by a Loan Shark. For
confidential help and advice contact Illegal Money Lending Team 03005 552222
(charged at local rate, including inclusive minutes from mobile) Email:
[email protected] or text us on 07860 022116.
If you would like to get involved or want to find out more about anything
mentioned in this e-bulletin, you can contact us in the following ways:
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Telephone – 01283 595803 or 07891 071980
Email – [email protected]
Come in to our offices, in Civic Way, Swadlincote
You can also ‘like’ our Housing Facebook page
SDDC-Housing-Services to keep up to date with what’s going on.