Green day

New George Street residents won Hull in Bloom with best community garden

Have you ever looked at a patch of untidy waste land in your neighbourhood and wished that someone would do something about it?
Well the answer to the problem could lie in your own hands.
If you contact your local area committee or housing estate office, you can discuss forming your own gardening team to move in and change an eyesore into a Garden of Eden.
New George Street Residents' Association did just that – and ended up winning Hull in Bloom!
They won the category for best community garden after forming a team of gardeners (of all ages and nationalities) and cultivating a patch of land at the back of their maisonette block.
Sculcoates residents did it too - when they cleaned up Sculcoates Park and the local green belt areas surrounding Barmston Drain.
And at the same time they formed a new residents' association - the Sculcoates Neighbourhood Association.
"Eighteen months ago Sculcoates Park was in a sorry state with run down facilities.
It was a target for antisocial behaviour, " says neighbourhood manager, Tony Saxby, who worked with the residents. "But the park now has a floodlit sports pitch which is used for children's sporting activities, and the Sculcoates Neighbourhood Association held their first summer fair there in August."
"It's been done with some amazing good-will from everybody," said association chair Fran McStay. "It just snowballed from being community-led to everybody pitching in - from SureStart, to area officers to councillors.
A real joint effort!"

Cut to the chase

Council tenants and officers from the other side of the country paid a visit to Hull to see a fine example of housing practice.
Tenants and officers from Cannock Chase District Council in Staffordshire came to see how Hull tenants carry out random spot check inspections of empty council properties.
In Hull, before any property can be handed over to a new tenant it must meet the council's 'lettable standard' which has been developed by tenants and officers who make up the Empty Homes and Lettings Service Improvement Group.
"We wanted to see what we can take away with us and use back in Cannock Chase," said Anne Ames, chair of Chase Tenants' and Residents' Federation.
Meanwhile, a film of the visit will be shown at a future meeting of the Tenants' Forum.
"I have hopes that the film can also be used to advertise what tenants can do when they get involved," said Kath Tong, chair of the group.
For more information call 300300.

Start spreading the news...

Despite their nerves, Hull City Council tenants are speaking at conferences as far afield as Leeds, Manchester and Maidenhead and spreading the word about the success of tenant involvement in the Hull Housing service.

Tenants involved in Hull Housing (clockwise L - R): Betty Peck, Penny Rodmell, Paul Reynolds and John Cartwright

The successes are many. There's the Tenants' Housing Academy, where members learn from expert tutors about the city's housing service, in subjects ranging from housing law and equalities to customer care practices.
Then there are the tenants' Service Improvement Groups (or SIGS for short) which look at a wide range of issues including, repairs and maintenance, the re-letting of empty properties and antisocial behaviour.
And there are the tenants who have joined Area Housing Boards, set up to give local people a leading role in the control of their neighbourhoods.
"Everyone wants to hear about what we're doing in Hull, and what we've accomplished," says vice-chair of Hull's Tenants' Forum, Betty Peck, who spoke about Hull tenant involvement at a regional performance meeting in Leeds recently.
At least Betty had moral support from Penny Rodmell, the chair of Hull's Tenants' Forum, at the Leeds meeting, which was organised by HouseMark, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving housing standards across the country.
"From the moment we walked through the door we were descended on by the other delegates who were eager to hear what we were going to be talking about," Betty continued.
"It can be quite nerve-wracking doing these presentations, but I quite enjoy it now."
Betty and Penny are becoming used to travelling together.
Back in June they delivered the same presentation to a meeting in Maidenhead, Berkshire, organised by the Housing Quality Network, another organisation dedicated to improving housing service nationally.
"Other councils want to see if they can put into practice our model of involvement with their tenants," said Penny.
"Our aim is to spread the word as far as possible about the success of tenant involvement in Hull."
Hull Housing tenants John Cartwright and Paul Reynolds set the standard when they were the only tenants to deliver a presentation at a Housing Quality Network meeting in Manchester in June.
"We talked about Hull Housings' menu of involvement, how it is empowering tenants, and how we publicise what tenants are doing for tenants, on our two pages in Hull in print each month," said John, who is chair of the Tenant Involvement SIG.
"We also spoke about how tenant involvement in Hull had increased and about how this has been reflected in the high tenant satisfaction figures.
"Being the only tenants to speak at a meeting where all the other speakers were council officers gave me a great feeling that we were paving the way for tenant involvement."

For more information about any of the above or to get involved in Hull Housing call 300300 or pick up a 'Tenant Involvement in Hull' form from any customer service centre or housing estate office.