Smoothing the Hard Edges – community event in Arbroath

An event designed around the Hard Edges report released in June 2019 will take place in  St Andrew’s Church Arbroath on 28 October 2019.

Hard Edges Scotland was commissioned by Lankelly Chase and The Robertson Trust and authored by Heriot-Watt University. The research highlights the complexity of the lives of people facing multiple disadvantage in Scotland.

It also details the challenges that charitable services and the public sector are facing. In particular, the report illustrates the mismatch between the multiple disadvantages people face, and the fact that services are often set up to address ‘single issues’. The event is aimed at both service users and service providers to discuss how we can deliver services differently around the 5 key workshop themes of Offending, Homelessness, Substance Abuse, Mental Health and Domestic Abuse.

Each of the workshops will have a facilitator to lead discussions and participants will have the opportunity to attend all five. There will also be a cartoonist on the day to capture feedback and provide a lasting and unique educational recording of the agreed actions.

The Arbroath event will be repeated in a further two events to be held in Brechin and Forfar, dates and venues are yet to be confirmed, so that a large audience across Angus will have the opportunity to take part.

Places are limited – secure your place by booking on Eventbrite Website

The event will run from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

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Kitchen Replacement Programme

We are continuing our Kitchen Replacement Programme across our housing stock and working closely with our main contractor MPS Housing Ltd.

MPS Housing Ltd are holding drop-in sessions to give you an opportunity to meet the team, see the products and ask any questions you may have.

Details of this event are below –

Where? – Montrose Road Centre, Montrose Road, Forfar

When? – Wednesday 2 October 2019

Times – 12.45pm to 2.45pm and 4pm to 6pm

 

 

Even if you have not been notified of a kitchen replacement in your area please feel free to come along and see what will be available to you in the future.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Our Annual Assurance Statement for 2019/20

Under the Regulatory Framework, we must submit an Annual Assurance Statement to the Scottish Housing Regulator by 31 October every year. We also must publish it so tenants and service users can see it.

Our statement was approved at Communities Committee this week and states that the Committee, which is our governing body, is assured we meet all statutory requirements.

 

Rent Rise Consultation – Last Few Days!

Calling all Council tenants! The consultation on the rent rise for 2020/21 only runs until Monday 30 September, so you’ve still got time to register your vote.

To vote, click on the survey link and choose one of the 3 options.

Angus Tenant & Community Engagement Strategy 2019-2022

 

On Thursday our committee approved our newest tenant participation strategy, which will now be known as the Angus Tenant and Community Engagement Strategy. This strategy has been written in conjunction with our Angus Tenant Steering Group, who were involved in the whole process. Our strategy sets out clearly how we plan to support tenants to make a difference wherever they live, improving services and ensuring tenants have a voice in how housing services are delivered.

Tenant participation is a two way process and we need people to become involved to drive forward improvements in services and share ideas and information to influence decision-making in the housing services we deliver. We are focussed on the needs of all our customers and we have tried to show this throughout our new strategy, looking a different ways of getting people involved in a way that suits them.

In the past, tenant participation has been interpreted as something a tenant has to go to  become involved. This is no longer the case and we have looked at many difference ways for tenants to become involved. These are new ways of working and will take time to establish but we have the basis of making tenant participation fully integrated into our day to day services, not something we do as an extra.

Our strategy covers a three year period, which includes a live action plan which we will monitor, review and update with tenants throughout its lifetime to ensure we meet all the priorities highlighted in this new strategy.

See the full strategy document here.

If you wish to become involved in a way that suits you, please contact us at tenantparticipation@angus.gov.uk or contact any of our locality offices in:-

Arbroath Carnoustie, Monifieth & Sidlaw

Forfar & Kirriemuir

Brechin & Montrose

By calling ACCESSLine on 03452 777 778

Under One Roof – advice for flat owners

Under One Roof is an online resource providing impartial advice on repairs and maintenance for flat owners in Scotland.

If you live in any kind of building containing flats, you have rights and responsibilities, along with your co-owners, to maintain and manage your building. Under one Roof gives advice on how to work with your neighbours to maintain the building, pay for repairs, and how to deal with owners who won’t pay.

Some flat owners employ property factors, also known as property managers, to manage the common parts of the building. Property factors are governed by the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 which has defined minimum factoring standards. The Act also requires Factors to register and work to a Code of Conduct which sets out how they should deal with owners and repairs.

Further information about owners’ rights and responsibilities, as well as factoring, can be found on the Under One Roof website

Rent Rise Vote Now Open – Have Your Say!*

Are you an Angus Council tenant? We need your views on what the rent increase should be in 2020/21 and how your rent money should be spent.

The three options outlined below will continue to keep your rent amongst the lowest in Scotland.

Why are we proposing to increase the rent? 

We need to make sure the rent money we receive is enough to pay for existing services, such as repairs, but also to pay for larger improvements needed for tenants’ homes and to help build new homes.

Rent increases allow us to invest in our homes to continue to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. and to meet the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing by 2020.

The rent rise is partly based on the inflation measure of CPI (Consumer Price Index), as well as an additional set percentage of 1% which has been agreed between us and the Tenant Rent Setting Group. CPI+1% is the minimum rent increase required to allow us to deliver our current plans and manage inflationary cost rises. We need to increase the rent at least by inflation because that’s what it costs us to deliver existing services. If we were to increase by more than 1% we could also increase investment in tenant homes.

How we decide on the Increase

We’re carrying out a consultation to help tenants consider the rent increase options and clearly see how the rent money will be spent.

The results of this survey will be presented at the Communities Committee in February 2020, where the final decision on a rent increase for 2020/21 will be made.

Rent Increase – the options

The Tenant Rent Setting Group has agreed three options which the members feel will bring benefits to tenants while keeping rents affordable.

The three options are:

 

	Option 1 – Recommended by the Rent Setting Group	Option 2	Option 3
Rent Level	3.1%	3.2%	3.3%
Capital spend (this is money invested to buy or upgrade fixed, physical, non-consumable assets, such as buildings and equipment)	£18 million capital spend over the year	Additional £340,000 capital to spend in addition to Option 1	Additional £680,000 capital to spend in addition to Option 1
How many new builds?	70 new homes over the year	70 new homes – any additional funds will be used to improve existing stock	70 new homes – any additional funds will be used to improve existing stock
What stock improvements can tenants expect?	450 Gas & Electric Heating installations; 600 properties receiving external wall insulation & energy efficiency measures; 700 bathrooms.	In addition to planned improvements listed in Option 1, for example: 20 Gas Heating installation (including loft insulation); 20 Electric Heating installations (including loft insulation); 10 External Wall Insulation; 11 Window & Door Replacements.	In addition to planned improvements listed in Option 1, for example: 40 Gas Heating installation (including loft insulation); 40 Electric Heating installations (including loft insulation); 20 External Wall Insulation; 22 Window & Door Replacements.

The tenant representatives recommend that tenants choose Option 1 (the lowest option), which would mean a rent rise of 3.1 %. This option is the minimum rise needed to deliver the current Business Plan. It, along with Scottish Government grant funding, would enable us to build 70 new homes in 2020-21, as well as these improvements to existing stock: 450 Gas & Electric Heating installations, 600 properties receiving external wall insulation & energy efficiency measures, 700 bathrooms.

The graph below shows the average weekly rents of Angus Council over the past five years compared to other neighbouring local authorities (figures from the Scottish Housing Regulator).

How a rent increase of 3.1% would affect average Angus Council weekly rents

	Average weekly rent 2018/19	Average weekly rent 2019/20	Average weekly rent 2020/21
Bedsit	£53.25	£55.11	£56.82
1 Bedroom	£61.79	£63.95	£65.94
2 Bedrooms	£69.48	£71.91	£74.14
3 Bedrooms	£78.56	£81.31	£83.83
4+ bedrooms	£96.60	£99.98	£103.08
Angus Average	£67.99	£70.37	£72.55

 

To have your say on the rent options,

please complete the survey online by 30 September*.

*Please note this consultation is open to current Angus Council tenants only

 

Improving Below Tolerable Standard Properties in Angus

We have developed a Below Tolerable Standard (BTS) strategy to help improve the condition of properties in Angus. The strategy is part of the current Local Housing Strategy 2017-22

The Tolerable Standard is the basic level of repair a property must meet to make it fit for a person to live in. The basic level of repair is measured against 12 criteria and failure against any of these makes a property below the tolerable standard. A property that falls below the tolerable standard is not acceptable as living accommodation.

By implementing our strategy we want to:

• Raise awareness of, identify and address poor housing
• Gather localised data relating to BTS housing characteristics
• Reduce the number of homes that are below the tolerable standard
• Prevent more homes from falling below the tolerable standard by encouraging homeowners to repair, maintain and improve their homes

If you are aware of a property that you believe to be below the tolerable standard and if, after the owner/landlord has been notified of the problem:

• it is not attended to satisfactorily, or
• if there is disagreement about whether there is a problem

please contact our Environmental Health Team. You can report your concerns using our General Enquiry Form

For more information see our website.

 

 

 

Join Your Local Community Group in Forfar

The Forfar Community Network is open to anyone living in Forfar and brings together all Tenant Participation and Action groups in the area, including the Lordburn, Restenneth and Pitreuchie Action Group.

If you’d like to get involved in local issues, activities or just meet people and try something new, come along to your local community group.

Two forthcoming meetings are:

• Forfar Community Network: 7 pm on Tuesday 17 September 2019 at Montrose Road Centre, Montrose Road, Forfar; and
• Lordburn, Restenneth and Pitreuchie Action Group: 7 pm on Wednesday 25 September 2019 at Montrose Road Centre, Montrose Road, Forfar

 

 

Viewmount Estate Walkabout

Viewmount Voices community group held an Estate Walkabout this week which attracted many local residents. The group is supported by the local community officer and they invited Council officers to answer lots of questions from local people. There were many concerns, issues and ideas for future development raised which the Viewmount Voices group will consider at their next meeting on Tuesday 16 October at 6.30pm at the Glensview Community Flat.

Below are photographs of some the Viewmount walkabout:

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