Tenant Newsletter Issue 1 (November 2023)
Hello and welcome to our tenant newsletter, we hope you find it interesting and useful.
MAINTAINING YOUR HOMES
We've invested £4.5 million in improving homes as part of our Home Improvement Programme, including:
- 142 kitchens
- 91 bathrooms
- 176 roofs
- £321k was spent on installing disabled adaptations to tenant's homes.
- £12k was spent on our environmental works programme.
- £425k was spent on installing new windows in 92 homes.
- £400k was spent on installing new heating to 146 homes.
How to keep your home free from damp and condensation
Condensation is one of the causes of damp and mould in homes. We have created an easy read guide on our website on how to reduce condensation. westlancs.gov.uk/housing/i-am-a-council-tenant/repairs-and-improvements/damp-and-condensation.aspx. We would encourage any tenant who discovers signs of damp and mould in their homes to contact our Customer Services team, so that we can treat the problem and carry out any repairs required.
How to report damp and mould
If you see signs of damp and mould in your home, get in touch by calling Customer Services on 01695 577177.
Last year, we spent £3.87 million carrying out 22,802 responsive repairs to your homes and communal areas, this includes heating breakdowns and other various works.
- 3% of customers were satisfied with the repairs service against a target of 95%.
- 9% of our homes had a valid Gas Safety Certificate and 94% of our homes have a valid electrical safety check completed within the last 5 years. Our aim is to achieve 100% safety checks and we ask that you work with us to ensure we reach this by providing access to your home when we contact you to arrange an appointment.
Keeping your apartment blocks CLEAN and TIDY
We have cleaned 4017 blocks of flats across Skelmersdale and Ormskirk,
The Caretaking Service has responded to 796 requests from tenants including clearance of fly tipping.
The new mould wash team have attended 283 properties to carry out mould washes.
Investing £1 MILLION in apartment blocks
We have started a housing investment programme in our apartment blocks in Skelmersdale.
The refurbishment of the blocks includes:
- Replacement roofs
- Fascias and soffits
- Insulation to the outside of the blocks
- Gutters & drainpipes
- Window replacement
- Rendering
- Refurbishing internal stair wells
The refurbishment programme is due to be completed in December 2023.
Tenant Satisfaction Measures Survey
Every year, West Lancashire Borough Council will carry out a survey called the 'Tenant Satisfaction Measures' survey.
This helps us understand what you think about the quality of your home and the services we provide. We will use the results to improve our services.
You can participate in the next Tenant Satisfaction survey via our tenant hub on our engagement platform, Your Voice…West Lancashire later in the Autumn, keep an eye out for it launching on our social media channels/website and have your say. More information on how you can get involved and tell us what you think is contained on page 8.
We're Here to help.
Struggling financially? We can help you…
We have a highly skilled Money Advice team who help to support tenants and residents with issues relating to benefit take up, debt issues, poverty, and charitable support.
We recognise that some of our tenants may face financial pressures. We want to ensure that all residents are aware of the support they are entitled to and how they can access it.
Last year, we helped 197 tenants to complete Household Support Fund applications, which resulted in over £42k in payments and support.
The Household Support fund gives a cash payment to those in financial hardship and is available to all tenants and residents of the Borough. For more information visit our Household Support Fund Page
"Thank you for your help. Your support helped take away the stress and worry of losing our home and paying our bills" – a relieved customer.
With help from our Money Advice Service, 465 tenants were prevented from facing court proceedings.
If you are experiencing financial hardship, you can contact the Money Advice Team by email at moneyadvice@westlancs.gov.uk
Community Fun - Staying Healthy
Our Community Connectors team run a wide range of activities to keep our communities happy and healthy.
Whether it's line dancing, Nordic walking or healthy eating advice, our team are there for you if you’d like to make some lifestyle changes or improve your mental health. They also work closely with our local community heroes to help with access to things like foodbanks.
Greenhill Growing Grub Club
The Community Connectors launched the Greenhill Growing Grub Club in August to help encourage people to get outdoors, interact with others, stay active and bring communities together. The club is now on its winter break but will be ready to go again in the spring!
For more information on our community volunteer activities, please get in touch with communityconnectors@westlancs.gov.uk
Supporting people into employment
This year, 27 of our residents and tenants who were involved with the More Positive Together Team at West Lancashire Borough Council have reached their 6-month milestone in employment, thanks to the wrap around support and guidance provided by the team. The team works closely with the Council's Money Advice Team receiving referrals to the programme.
The team have also been busy supporting local people into volunteering. In the last few months, volunteer groups within the Council racked up over 400 hours in voluntary activity.
After volunteering at the Beacon Forest School, one participant secured a temporary teaching assistant role at a local high school and has now secured a permanent role with the school starting in September!
For more information and how to apply contact Carly Morris by email MPT@westlancs.gov.uk
Love your Neighbourhood Community Action Days - caring for our neighbourhoods.
At our recent Community Action Days (Skip Programmes) staff from Environmental Enforcement, Repairs, Neighbourhood, Facilities and Financial Inclusion were all on hand to provide advice and support to our tenants.
The Action Days during the summer were a huge success, with tenants and residents having access to free skips and support from staff across different council services.
A door-to- door survey was also carried out, capturing feedback from tenants on what was working well in the neighbourhoods and what we could improve. Where we can, we will put in place plans to make the changes you asked for.
The team removed 133 tons of waste, including TVs, bikes and furniture that could have ended up on our streets.
Residents also donated a host of small electrical items for the Reuse and Recycle scheme to be recycled and redistributed to people in need.
Cobbs Brow Primary School's Got Talent
The Community Connector and Wellbeing Team organised a day of fun and games by arranging a visit from Cobbs Brow Primary School in Skelmersdale to Marlborough Court Independent Living Scheme.
Both the tenants and the children enjoyed playing games, with some great paintings produced by the children for the tenants. There was some amazing dancing and singing performed by the talented children.
The school have promised to come back to the scheme to perform a nativity play in December which the tenants are all looking forward to.
Building Quality New Homes for our Community
Tawd Valley Developments is our council-owned home-building company, working hard to deliver new homes across the Borough.
In Fairlie, new residents have started to move into the first of fifty new, affordable rent and rent-to-buy homes in Birch Green. The rent-to-buy homes are the first of their type offered by us as the Council embark on an ambitious journey to vary the range of housing we have across the Borough.
Four of the new homes are built using the most advanced low-carbon methods and will be available as part of a future phase completion. The scheme was shortlisted for two national housing awards.
This is an exciting time for our new residents!
Your Voice…West Lancashire
The Council would like to talk to all tenants about the services we provide. We want to know what we do well and what we can improve.
We want to be certain that all tenants have the opportunity, to be part of how we make decisions, and we have different ways for you to do this.
We will be coming out to the local community centres, Independent Living Schemes, and attending community events to listen to what you have to say.
We will continue to use the Tenant Hub Your Voice…West Lancashire online service, so if you are passionate about sharing your views and providing feedback to help improve the services we provide, please visit our Tenant Hub on our engagement platform Your Voice… West Lancashire Your Voice West Lancashire (engagementhq.com) or email us at tenantvoice@westlancs.gov.uk
Housing Annual Report
Want to know more about how we're doing?
Each year we publish a Housing Annual Report to show tenants what we've achieved over the previous 12 months and how we meet the national standards. You can read our 2022-2023 report on our Housing Annual Report webpage.
Customer Feedback Policy
We are committed to consistently providing an excellent service to all our customers and your feedback helps us learn, adapt, and improve, so you can have confidence in us to deliver a quality standard of service.
Our customer feedback policy sets out how we handle comments, compliments, and complaints.
You can read more information about our Customer Feedback policy on our website: Customer Feedback - West Lancashire Borough Council (westlancs.gov.uk)
Notice: How we handle your data
West Lancashire Borough Council takes your privacy very seriously and will keep your personal data secure at all times. We will only use your personal data for the purpose for which it was provided and ensure that it is destroyed when it is no longer required.
For further information about your privacy, please see our website. If you would like to discuss your privacy in more detail, you can email dpo@westlancs.gov.uk.
If you have any ideas about this newsletter or what you want to see in future newsletters, we would love to hear from you – email us at tenantvoice@westlancs.gov.uk
Opting Out
Your views matter to us and are at the heart of our decision making. We may contact you from time to time to ask your views about the housing services you receive and how we can improve.
If you do not wish to be contacted about housing services, you can opt out by sending an email to unsubscribehousing@westlancs.gov.uk Please mark your email ‘Unsubscribe: Housing Contact List’ and include your name and address.
If you have any ideas about this newsletter or what you would like to see in future newsletters. We would love to hear from you. Please email us at tenantvoice@westlancs.gov.uk
