An Evolving Framework
The Council is proud of its tenant involvement structure and is investing significant resources through its Customer Services Team to ensure that this service continues to improve. Involving tenants and leaseholders in the repairs and maintenance decisions that affect peoples homes, makes a significant contribution to the overall management of the Council housing stock.
The Housing Forum is the central focus for tenant and leaseholder consultation in the Borough of Gosport. Membership to the Forum is derived from 2 representatives from each residents association in the Borough that has received formal recognition from the Housing Committee. Together these groups and the Forum form the Tenant and Leaseholder Consultation Structure (TLC). In Gosport there are currently 12 resident associations involving tenants and leaseholders. On a Borough wide basis this provides 80% representation.
The Council prides itself on the range of opportunities for involvement and the way in which it carries out consultation with tenants and leaseholders. The Council carries out many individual consultation exercises in addition to using the more structured consultation framework that has developed since 1995.
Following the Best Value pilot of housing services and the introduction of Tenant Participation Compacts, many tenants and leaseholders voiced their wishes to become involved in the housing services that the Council provides, but did not want to be involved in the formal consultation structure, the TLC.
The Council has responded by setting up a monitoring panel so that these tenants and leaseholders can become involved in monitoring service delivery and quality in a way that is flexible enough to meet all residents needs. The Council believes that this evolving framework will meet the consultation and participation needs of all tenants and leaseholders (see background paper: Resident Involvement in Gosport*).
Involvement in the Repairs and Planned Maintenance Service
The TLC is involved in the provision of housing services in Gosport in many ways. One example of this is its involvement in the formulation of a ten-year renovation programme introducing:
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choice in styles of window and door replacement;
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options to buy additional matching items;
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choice of colour for external works;
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choice over positioning of radiators, boilers etc.;
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choice in style and colour of replacement roofs;
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involvement in interview process to select contractor for stock conditions survey;
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involvement in selection of the planned maintenance "partner".
Housing Management
Tenants and leaseholders have a variety of opportunities to be involved in the continuous improvement of the housing management service. TLC framework members have helped improve the service by:
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designing a revised Tenants handbook;
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improving all Housing Services public information leaflets;
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developing the 'Decoration Discount Vouchers Scheme - discounts have been negotiated with local retailers to give discounts to new tenants; a project that originated from tenant suggestions.
Involving Tenants and Leaseholders in the Business Planning Process
In order to ensure that the aspirations of the Business Plan are achieved, the Council will continue to ensure that Tenants and Leaseholders are empowered and have an opportunity to influence:
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service development;
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policy development;
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investment and maintenance decisions/policy;
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financial issues and rent increases;
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local delivery of services including the design and delivery of major investment and repair programmes.
As the Council will not know the greatest investment priorities until the production of a detailed stock condition survey, recognition has to be given that this survey may have significant impact on the way tenants and leaseholders are involved in the Business Planning process. As the stock condition survey outcome may result in a change of investment priorities, the Council therefore maintains an open mind on the future use/allocation of the MRA and acknowledges that it may not be appropriate in the future, to allocate all available MRA in each year.
The Business Plan as currently provided reflects the current known information with regard to the housing stock. Details of the work to be carried out are given elsewhere.
The Consultation Process for Options Appraisal
The consultation process was agreed at the beginning of the options study and a plan was established to ensure that staff, tenants and Members all had the opportunity to be involved in the process. Although each would be treated slightly differently, to reflect their concerns, interests and viewpoint, the overwhelming message was the same - to ensure that they were given sufficient information for them to develop their own views on the potential options and to give them the opportunity to express those views.
Working with Tenants and Leaseholders
The Council has a recognised successful history of tenant consultation and participation. The Audit Commission report quoted the Government Office for the South East as saying "Gosport is a high performing local authority with a genuine commitment to tenant participation and a recent history of continual improvement".
Tenants and leaseholders were included within this process in two ways. From the very start of the process, there were representatives from the Housing Forum on the Working Group responsible for establishing the direction and the priorities of the appraisal process. That group, who also addressed issues as diverse as rent restructuring, and the role of the Housing Corporation, considered all decisions that have been made on the appraisal process.
Additionally, independent consultants have addressed the Housing Forum on three occasions. This has included an explanation of the options that were being appraised and the process that was taking place.
Working with Members
Similarly to the tenants, Councillors were represented on the Working Group, considered the same issues and were able to play their part in guiding the process. Additionally, time was set aside for individual members to meet with the consultants should they so wish.
Working with Staff
Staff have a key role to play in the delivery of the decisions that are made by members, and have a legitimate part to play in any discussion of the options available.
Effectively, this happened on two levels. Key staff were involved in the Working Group. They were subject to the same process as the tenants and members on that group and were obviously included in all the discussions and debates.
The Working Group worked closely on the gathering of information necessary for the option appraisal, and provided a reference point for the study.
In addition, briefing meetings were held with remaining staff, in both small and large groups. The process of the options study was explained to all staff, including those based on site. Additionally, there were other opportunities set aside for individual staff members, or small groups of staff to meet the consultants, if they so wished.
Impact of the Consultation
It was not envisaged that the consultation process would be used to make any firm decisions, but was simply to inform the process. Overwhelmingly, the general view expressed was one of openness to ideas.
It was never the intention to test the overall findings by asking the different groups to indicate a preference. It is not claimed that the different people who attended the working group were in any way representative of their constituent groups.
The Housing Forum meeting where the options available were talked through was particularly interesting. After a short presentation, a considerable number of direct and obviously informed questions were asked, which displayed both support for the services provided by the Council and a desire for the provision of those services to be able to continue, though potentially through a different route.
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