North Dudley Area Housing Panel

 

The North Dudley Area Panel representatives have been elected to depict the views of all Tenants & Residents within the North Dudley Area.  If you require further information about your Area Panel members, please contact Janet Hand on 01384 818283 or at janet.hand@dudley.gov.uk

 

The Area Panel meeting on 24 July 2008 was attended by 5 Councillors, 5 Tenant Representatives and 4 Council Officers.  The following items were discussed:

 

 

The elections took place and the following were re-elected for another year:

 

Cllr George Davies – Chair

Mr Peter Hartshorne – Vice Chair

 

The Chair gave a brief report on North Dudley Area Panel’s achievements during the last year and said it had been a very busy year for the North Dudley Area Panel.  During this time the panel had discussed at length the following:

 

The Borough Housing Strategy 2007/10

Neighbourhood Policing

Grounds Maintenance

The Tree Strategy

Choice Based Lettings project

Community Safety Budget

Garage Repairs Programme

 

In conclusion, he thanked all members of the Panel for their contributions and support over the past 12 months, and said he hoped the next 12 months would be equally as challenging and enjoyable.

 

 

A report was presented to the panel on the Gardening Initiative pilot scheme, which is currently taking place in the North Dudley Area.  The scheme, which has been undertaken in partnership with Age Concern, will apply to tenants aged over 60 or registered disabled or in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.

 

It was explained that it is anticipated that there will be sufficient funding for 50 properties, to include an initial clearance and regular maintenance, and that to date 23 properties have been identified for inclusion in the pilot.  Letters have been sent out to all the tenants identified by their housing managers, advising them of the scheme, the charge rate of £5.50 per visit (with a maximum visit of 2 per month) and application forms.

 

At the end of the pilot the scheme will be evaluated to determine if the pilot should be extended to other areas.

 

 

An update was given to the panel on the ‘Dudley at Home’ Choice Based Lettings pilot scheme, which was launched on 13^th December 2007, for properties in the Halesowen and Stourbridge areas.

 

Cabinet, at their meeting on 19^th March, approved the roll out of ‘Dudley at Home’ to the rest of the borough during October 2008 as follows:

 

Stourbridge Area Officer 9^th October 2008

Dudley Council Plus 10^th October 2008

Halesowen Area Office 13^th October 2008

Brierley Hill Area Office 16^th October 2008

North Dudley Area Office 17^th October 2008

 

This will coincide with the launch of our Housing Options Service, which will provide customers with advice and information on a range of housing options in addition to ‘Dudley at Home’.

 

Further information on ‘Dudley at Home’ is available from area Lettings staff and the ‘Dudley at Home’ team tel. 01384 814183, email dudleyathome@dudley.gov.uk.

 

 

The area panel members were asked to complete questionnaires on how they felt the panel has been working.  The conclusions from this consultation will be available at the next meeting.  A discussion also took place, when all the panel members agreed that they were happy that The North Dudley Area Panel was working well and that it reflects local issues and local needs.      

 

 

A report was handed out to Area Panel on the Construction Section Performance Review 2008/09.  It was pointed out that the figures showed that the ‘Dudley at Home’ Choice Based Lettings scheme had helped to reduce the void turn around time.

 

 

Housing Management Services are currently undertaking a refocus of their service, in order to improve the service they provide for their customers.  More details will be released as they become available.