Tenant Participation has links with many of Stroud District Council's Key priorities. Empowering tenants and giving them a strong, united voice allows groups and individuals to take ownership of the area in which they live.
Working together as a community, you really can make a difference. In a recent benchmarking exercise, Stroud had one of the highest percentages of tenants involved in housing, putting participation at the heart of our service.
The National Tenant Voice is an independent body that is being set up by Government to enable social housing tenants to influence key national policy areas. We want tenants throughout England to volunteer to be involved in the nation Tenant Voice.
The Stroud District Council Housing Partnership (Tenant Participation Compact) is an Agreement between Council tenants, Councillors and Council Officers that was first signed on 17 August 2000. It is based on a shared vision of "Improving the quality of life for all our tenants and leaseholders across the whole District and promoting a sense of Community." In July 2008 a new Compact covering the next 3 years was launched and issued to all tenants and leaseholders. Specific targets and their results are now reported in each issue of Keynotes.
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Tenant Participation Compact 2008 - 2011 (PDF 1,458 KB)
The tenants' newsletter, Keynotes is sent out to all tenants 3 times a year. Articles within Keynotes give information on new policies and practices, staff changes and news from all our tenants' groups. It is edited by a panel of tenants and is available on CD for all sheltered schemes and tenants who request it.
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Keynotes 2011 (PDF 2,294 KB)
You can also listen to an audio version of the latest edition of Keynotes. Please note: The audio uses Windows Media Player. No audio? Download Windows Media Player here
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There are many ways for tenants to voice their opinions and tell us their views. This can be something quick and easy such as filling in a questionnaire or something more involved and in depth such as forming a Tenants' and Residents' Association.
Other opportunities for tenants to have their say in how the housing service is run include responding to surveys and filling in repairs satisfaction cards. Although it would be difficult and costly for us to reply to every survey we receive, you can be sure that all of your comments, complaints and queries are given individual attention.
There are a number of options for tenants who would like a bigger input into their housing service and get more involved. Tenants have the opportunity to -
We currently have around 41% of tenants represented by an association or an elected individuals. We provide yearly grants for all these groups to meet their running costs and give training opportunities to help them carry out their role. This year we aim to sustain this high level of participation and expand individual involvement in focus groups and in streets and villages.
There are active associations in the following areas that local tenants are encouraged to show their support for and get involved with.
Interactive Tenant Representation Map (recommended for broadband users only)
Three of these associations have developed local partnership working through Estate Agreements and Neighbourhood Agreements or local Compacts. LKMC first entered into an Estate Agreement with the Council in October 1996 to run its own office, order repairs on the Council's behalf and monitor parts of the service such as the communal cleaning and grounds maintenance. Its agreement is updated yearly and is now in its 13th edition.
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Lower Kingshill Estate Agreement (PDF 789 KB)
Hampton Waves' Neighbourhood Agreement is with the residents, Minchinhampton Parish Council, County and District Councillor for Minchinhampton and the officers of Stroud District Council. Their shared vision is "to work together in partnership to involve the whole community in helping improve the environment and the safety and general welfare of those living in the area". The agreement was first published in September 2002 to tackle local issues and regularly reviewed and updated.
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Hampton Waves Neighbourhood Agreement (PDF 1,537 KB)
Stroud MoTHs' Neighbourhood Agreement includes the residents, officers of Stroud District Council, Stroud Town Council, District and local County Councillors as well as the local Police, Neighbourhood Watch and Adult Education Consortium, Stroud College. Their first agreement was published in August 2003 and is regularly reviewed and updated.
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Stroud MoTH Neighbourhood Agreement (PDF 1,956 KB)
As well as the above Associations, there are also 3 Tenants' Village Voices and 8 Tenants' Street Reps. These are individuals who represent a small local area. Some represent a small number of tenants in the area where they live, others are happy to represent their whole street depending on the number of tenants. Representatives can choose to work with a friend or neighbour or take on a smaller area. The Tenants' Street Representatives and Tenants' Village Voices meet regularly throughout the year. We are always happy for tenants to come forward so if you would like to find out more about becoming a local representative please contact Tenant Services at Stroud District Council on 01453 754151. We already have representatives in the following areas
A large contributor to the success of tenant participation in Stroud is the United Sheltered Accommodation Panel, USAP.
This has grown steadily over the past few years to represent 87% of sheltered housing tenants or 26 out of the 29 sheltered schemes. Pauline Simpson, Chair of USAP has made it her aim to reach 100% representation and plans to visit the schemes currently not included in USAP to promote the benefits and inspire them to form a group of their own or join one of the already established Sheltered Accommodation Panels (SAPs) listed below.
On 15 April 2008, a new special interest agreement - the Sheltered Housing Partnership Agreement (Compact) was launched.
This Agreement between sheltered tenants, Councillors and officers aims to achieve a shared vision of:-
"Working with the community and service providers to provide excellent homes and services for all sheltered housing tenants in the Stroud District and improve their quality of life through participation and consultation"
The Agreement recognises the level of participation sheltered tenants have in their housing service and reflects issues tenants themselves have identified as important to them. Examples of issues identified are their Scheme Manager service, security and safety, use and cleaning of communal facilities, and mobility scooter storage.
There is a panel which meets quarterly to monitor and oversee this agreement which will be updated each year.
It is hoped that it will encourage more tenants to be involved in their service and an improved service with increased tenant satisfaction.
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Tenant Participation Compact 2008 - 2011 (PDF 1,458 KB)
Tenants also participate in certain parts of the housing service through volunteering to be on focus groups or working groups with Council officers and in some cases Councillors. Groups can run for a set period of time for specific reasons or be one -off events. They may be for particular user groups such as disabled tenants and their carers or sheltered tenants. The following groups meet regularly to focus on particular aspects of the housing service:
We now carry out a standardised tenant satisfaction survey (Status survey) of a random sample of our tenants every 2 years. The last survey was carried out between September and November 2008 by BMG Research on our behalf. 1,700 tenants were sent questionnaires of which 811 were returned. The survey showed that 78% of general needs tenants were satisfied with the overall housing service Stroud District Council provides. For more details see the Research Report below.
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Research Report (PDF 2,259 KB)
If you would like any more information on any of the items you have read about, or wish to be involved more please contact Tenant Participation on (01453) 754151/ 754174 and speak to Lucy Biddle / Stuart Strathearn, Tenant Participation Officers or email: tenant.participation@stroud.gov.uk
