At New Forest District Council we believe in working together: tenants, Officers and Councillors, to ensure that our housing services both meet the requirements of all tenants and are of a consistently high standard.
To help us do this we have a Resident Involvement Agreement which details exactly what options for involvement we provide and what standards we aim to achieve. This Agreement is available on request and below in Related Documents.
Keeping you informed
Resident Involvement work together with tenants to produce a quarterly magazine 'Hometalk'. In this you will find information about:
· Changes or developments in housing services
· What other local resident groups or focus groups have been doing
· Events and meetings that are taking place that you can go to
You can download your copy of Hometalk or Hometalk Update here.
Different options for involvement
We understand that everyone is different, so we aim to provide as many different ways as possible, just some of these are:
· Local resident groups in your area
· Focus groups where you can discuss and work together with officers in areas that interest you, for example grounds maintenance, estate inspections, maintenance and repairs
· Special Interest Groups, where you can meet with other tenants who share the same interests as you, for example the New Forest Gardeners Group
· Specific Issue Groups, to work together with Officers to resolve a particular issue, for example anti-social behaviour
· Resident Forums, where you can attend presentations from different departments in housing and ask your questions directly to those responsible for delivering that service.
Meetings and Groups
We try to publicise all events as far as possible in advance to allow you to plan for them. We have 'standards' for meetings, some of which are:
· A Code of Conduct
· A time limit to the length of meetings
· Assistance with transport and mileage expenses
· Refreshments
· Assistance with childcare/ carer costs
NEW RESIDENT INVOLVEMENT AGREEMENT AND STRATEGY
On the 19th August 2008 the new edition of the Resident Involvement Agreement and Strategy were launched at Appletree Court, Lyndhurst.
Both of these documents form the foundation of the Resident Involvement service, and help shape the way forward for the next 3 years.
A focus group of tenants, Councillors and NFDC Officers worked together over several months to produce the Agreement (sometimes known as a Compact) and the Strategy was produced by a small group of tenants and Officers.
The Resident Involvement Agreement comprises of 3 keys documents:
The Resident Involvement Agreement is a working document and will be reviewed and monitored regularly over the next 3 years. If you would like to be a part of this focus group, please contact the Resident Involvement team
A paper copy or large print version of any document can be requested by contacting the Resident Involvement team on the details below.
Tel: 02380 285459 or 02380 285372
E-mail resident.involvement@nfdc.gov.uk
For further information on Focus Groups you may wish to look at the following;
Code of Conduct Summary
Resident Expenses Policy
RI Strategy 2008-2011
