Chance for tenants to have a say

WEST Lancashire Borough Council is working to encourage more tenants to become involved in housing issues to help improve the service.

The council has introduced a new model for tenant involvement, which involves engaging tenants in different ways.

Around 200 tenants are involved in the “Your Voice” consultation group, through which they complete surveys, either by post or online about housing and community issues.

Further work is being planned to increase this number among the council’s more than 6,000 tenants.

Feedback exercises with people living in council accommodation, using surveys and other measures will be carried out to review areas for service improvement.

Digital communication will be used to reach a wider range of people, including younger and working tenants.

Staff will try to forge a closer working relationship with ward councillors and parish councillors to help address more local housing issues.

They will attend council and partner organisations activities, such as events at community centres, to engage with tenants.

The landlord services committee and tenant scrutiny group will continue to operate to scrutinise housing services to maintain standards and make them even better.

Cllr Jenny Patterson, portfolio holder for housing and landlord services, said: “Feedback has shown tenants aren’t interested in attending formal meetings, which is something other providers have experienced, so we’re concentrating on engaging our tenants by methods that suit their needs.

“By making it easier for tenants to engage with us and using this information to drive service improvements and changes, it’s hoped tenants will feel more satisfied with services and how they interact with us.

“Our new approach offers better value in terms of our work involving tenants in housing.”

For more information, visit www.westlancs.gov. uk/housing