What can you do to support tenant and resident participation?
There are many reasons for becoming more active in your local community and many ways of doing it.
Customer Services Panel
Your contribution will allow us to get a feel of your views, as a local resident, on specific issues and working with you more easily identify and prioritise local need. Responses from the Panel will also enable us to improve services based on your ideas and preferences. We will also provide regular feedback to all Panel members on progress in implementing your ideas.
There are different ways to contribute depending on the level or type of commitment you might like to make, for example:
- Mailing of basic information for you to respond to in a freepost envelope.
- Being asked for your views by telephone or by questionnaire.
- Being part of a small mixed group of tenants, residents and V2C staff to discuss specific issues. Sometimes called Focus Groups these meetings are not about reaching agreement or influencing you, but are aimed at finding out what you as a customer think, feel and believe about our services.
As a Panel member you will also have a say in the subjects for discussion.
Tenant and Resident Associations (TRA’s) and Community Associations
These Associations consist of a group of people living in an area, block, or street who come together to take up issues of common concern in relation to their housing, community and general environment. They are a voluntary body of tenants or residents, or both representing the views of its membership and local residents to their landlord and any other relevant agencies.
There are many reasons why people living in one area may decide to get together to form an Association:
- To campaign for something such as a better repairs service.
- To campaign against something such as the closure of local facilities.
- To meet our officers and other service providers face to face on a regular basis and to have a greater voice than you do as an individual when talking to them about things you would like to see changed.
- To have a representative voice with us on consultative committees and to use the group to talk through ideas and plans with us.
- To organise outings and other events.
- To increase the sense of belonging in your community
- To keep the people in the area informed of all the issues that affect them.
- To improve the opportunity for getting funding for projects from various community grants schemes.
If you ask an active member of a TRA or Community Association they will probably tell you that they have learnt more skills, met new people and become more confident since getting involved. They may also tell you that they have managed to bring about improvements in their area.
There are six TRA’s in Bettws, Bryntirion, Lewistown and Pantyrawel, Maesteg Park, Tudor Estate and Wildmill. At the request of local residents two Community Associations are being set up in Caerau Park and Oakwood.
If you would like more information or you live in an area not represented by a TRA or Community Association and are interested in setting one up, contact our Customer Services Centre where one of our staff will be able to help.
Customer Service Questionnaires
When you have accessed one of our services, such as a repair or an improvement to your home, you may be asked to complete a customer service questionnaire. Please take the time to complete and return the questionnaire as it is an important means by which we can better understand, adapt and improve our services to meet the needs of our customers.