I hope you enjoyed the warmer weather and longer summer days.  

I’m pleased to share this latest update, which covers the key discussions from our most recent Community Voice meeting here in Fitton Hill.  

Our group is made up of myself and other tenants who live in the area. We work closely with ForHousing to take action on the things that matter most to us and to signpost issues to the right partners when needed.  

Together, we understand how important it is to listen to tenants — people like me and you — and to learn from each other about the challenges and opportunities in our neighbourhoods.  

We want to make sure our voices are heard and that we have a real say in what happens in our homes and communities.  

Please read on for all the essential updates from our last Community Voice meeting. 

Helen Wild, Chair of Community Voice

Flytipping continues to be a problem, especially when unlicensed skip hire is involved. It’s costly and takes resources away from other services. We’re raising awareness to help tackle this, and we encourage everyone to report any issues to your Neighbourhood Officer. 

Keeping communal areas clean is something tenants are regularly asked about in satisfaction surveys — and ForHousing reassured us they working hard to improve in this area. 

We looked at repair satisfaction across Fitton Hill. Tenants in the North of Fitton Hill are generally more satisfied than those in the South. This may be down to tenants having strong relationships with local operatives. 

Working jointly with Wates, ForHousing has now moved to a fully regional based model of repairs and maintenance service delivery. This means localised supervisors, operatives and planners will have control of all trades in an area, which in turn should improve multi-trade repairs co-ordination and communication. It’s also helping improve consistency with repairs having the same engineers in the same region and is reducing fuel costs. 

TSM perception surveys are a set of measures introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing to make it really easy for social housing tenants to see how their landlord is performing, whereas transactional surveys gather immediate feedback from customers about specific, singular interactions. 

We also discussed the difference between transactional surveys (after a service) and TSM perception surveys — with transactional feedback often being more positive.  

Some tenants raised concerns about boilers being switched off during repairs. While this can happen in emergencies, it should only be temporary. If your boiler is turned off, temporary heating should be provided automatically — you shouldn’t need to ask. 

We’re investigating this further and setting up a Scrutiny group to look into it. If you have medical needs, please let ForHousing know so they can prioritise your repair. 

We heard updates on Play Streets and youth clubs. SPARK is now the main provider in Fitton Hill following the Salvation Army’s departure. 

Play Streets is especially valuable for children with special educational needs, and 90% of SPARK’s staff are young people from the neighbourhood — a great example of local investment. 

Together with ForHousing, we are working on a new way to better capture the impact of these activities, so we can show how they benefit the community and secure more funding. 

We reviewed the three main funding pots: 

• Local Improvement Fund (LIF) – fully spent 
• Community Fund – partially spent 
• Community Group Grant – no applications yet from Fitton Hill 

Some great case studies were shared, to find out the difference funding streams have made to local communities, click here. If you’ve got a project idea, now’s a great time to apply! To submit your application, click here. 

Recent Scrutiny reviews looked at pest control and repairs that are tenants’ responsibility. A scrutiny review is when a group of tenants will look at a specific service that ForHousing offers and then make recommendations for improvements – influencing what happens to your home and community, and putting you at the heart of our decision making. We were told that the action plan for the Pest Control Scrutiny Exercise is being produced, so we look forward to hearing about that in our next meeting. As for the Scrutiny on repairs that are tenant’s responsibility,  Improvements are being made, including clearer guidance on what tenants are responsible for and how recharges are handled. 

A mystery shop of the Customer Connect Hub showed that the connect hub officers had a good understanding of what repairs tenants are responsible for, but ForHousing is still working to make information easier to find online— especially with different tenancy agreements in place. 

Plans for the park are moving forward, and a fun day is coming up to gather more feedback. The sandpit has been raised as a concern, but removing it would take up most of the budget. More feedback will help guide decisions and strengthen funding bids. 

Other issues like off-road bikes, traffic congestion, and parking were discussed. We’re working with partners and councillors to find solutions, and this will be reported back at the next meeting.  

If you’d like to help shape your community, apply for funding, or just find out more, visit ForHousing’s website www.forhousing.co.uk/getinvolved or speak to your Community Development Officer. 

Thanks again to everyone who came along and shared their thoughts — your voice really does make a difference.