The Black Achievers Awards on 9th October 2010 at St Georges Hall, Liverpool

The Merseyside Black Achievers Award – a prestigious black tie event held in Liverpool each October which celebrates the achievements of members of the black community and also recognises contributions made by individuals or groups to black communities. The awards presented are sponsored by key public and private sectors partners and the event showcases inspirational role models and helps to raise aspirations of young people across communities.

The Cultural Food Feast on 17th October 2010 at Sefton Park Palm House, Liverpool

The Cultural Food Feast – held in Sefton Park’s historical Palm House, where people from all over Merseyside can sample (free of charge) a variety of cultural cuisines.

Merseyside Black History Month Group (MBHMG) exists to celebrate, inspire and advance understanding of the positive contributions that Black and culturally diverse communities and individuals have made and continue to make on Merseyside.

We’ve had an eventful start to the Summer here at Plus Dane, with a number of big developments taking place across the organisation.

Our mobilisation project, which saw a group of our tenants take the lead in appointing our £32 million repair and maintenance contract for 7,000 properties across Merseyside, is now underway, thanks to the hard work and effort of both out staff and our tenants. Supporting resident involvement is at the heart of everything we do at Plus Dane, and we decided early on that the best people to decide who should provide property services for tenants, were the tenants themselves. Twelve volunteers from the tenants’ repairs and maintenance committee gave up 250 days of their time to make the decision on who will deliver the service, reading the 11 shortlisted tenders, interview the competing teams, visiting worksites and call centres and speaking to existing customers of those firms.

The team decided to award the contract and the majority of the works to Plus Dane’s existing in house trades team in Cheshire. Two local Merseyside companies – Smiths SD and Penny Lane Builders – have also been allocated work. The culmination of all this hard work is that a new Plus Dane trades team – Ni Works – has now been formed in Liverpool and we this month welcomed our new employees to the organisation.

If you have any comments or questions about the new service then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Further information is also included in a special feature in this month’s Unity magazine.

We have also been pleased to announce that Toxteth has been chosen to host a significant national trial for ‘Smart Grid’ technology, which aims to improve the reliability and quality of electricity supplies, and help support energy efficiency in our homes. Plus Dane has been working in partnership with The Mersey Partnership and Liverpool City Council to put forward the bid to host the national trial, and we were delighted when it was confirmed that Toxteth has been selected as one of the areas to trial the technology. We will be working with our partners and Scottish Power, who will be delivering the project, over the coming months to ensure that our tenants and local residents across Toxteth understand what the project means for them, so watch this space!

Our development work has continued to make major progress. We were delighted with the performance of Plus harvest Developments, the partnership of 16 developing housing associations set up to widen the supply and choice of homes in rural and urban environments across the Northwest, which has exceeded all its annual targets and as a result has automatically pre-qualified as ain investment partner for the final year of the programme. This is a great achievement, and shows just what can be achieved when housing associations work in partnership to deliver the best results we can for our neighbourhoods.

There have been many other great stories, ranging from the launch of a new credit union in Cheshire to support those suffering from financial exclusion, to the announcement by our digital inclusion project, Everybody Online, of new competition in Liverpool to encourage schoolchildren across the city to take the lead in developing ICT skills, and much much more.

Finally, we bid a fond farewell to Anne Ward, who stepped down from her role as Chief Integration Officer this month after 43 years of dedicated service to the social housing sector, where, amongst her many achievements, she set up Dane Housing, the first housing transfer organisation in Cheshire in 1998, and oversaw the successful merger of Dane with Merseyside and Lancashire based Plus Housing group of Merseyside in 2008, creating the Plus Dane Group. She will be greatly missed, and we all wish her well in the next stage of her life.

Welcome to the Blog,

Well after the spectacular snowfalls and the severe weather this winter nobody could have guessed that we would then be attacked by volcanic ash. Unlike the snowfall this has not caused any difficulties although we have had staff stranded in various European holiday destinations and sadly some people whose holidays were cancelled.

As it is the end of the financial year we take stock of all our performance information and start to report to the Board and prepare information to share with all tenants on how we have been doing. I will put more information in next months Blog but suffice to say that we have managed to keep to our budgets while keeping satisfaction levels high. 97% of customers rated our repairs service as good or excellent but we always believe there is room to improve and staff are always looking at new ways of delivering even better services to everybody.

Over the past few months we have been conducting a survey to find out more about all of our tenants. We are not just being nosey and we do appreciate the time you have given in answering our questions. The results of our surveys help us make sure that properly plan our future services. For example we know that 39% of tenants are over 65 and 42% report having a disability which either affects their mobility or causes them other difficulties. In terms of numbers this means that nearly 2000 tenants are over retirement age and a similar number report some form of disability.

We have also discovered that 310 people feel there home is under occupied and 89 of these would like to move to a smaller home. By collecting this information we can start to plan how we use our money and staff resources. For example by knowing the  numbers of people who want to move to a smaller home we can start to prioritise them for a move and hopefully offer the larger property to one of a number of families who need greater space for growing families.

By knowing the levels of disability amongst tenants we can budget for more Aids and adaptations and when we are renewing bathrooms and undertaking refurbishment we can make provision for any special requirements.

In the last financial year (up to April 4^th 2010) we spent over £100,000 on fitting accessible showers, ramps , stair lifts and grab rails. We have a great partnership with Cheshire East Council and we have jointly funded the installation of 20 walk in showers which makes plus dane  and the Councils money go further.

Our investment in adaptations is managed by Colin Mountford in our repairs team. Colin has been responsible for ensuring that people receive an appropriate service as well as negotiating with partners for grants to make the money go further. As well as showers we have installed 180 grab rails 12 thermostatic showers; 5 ramps to aid wheelchair access and a number of microphone units for people with hearing impairment whereby strobe lights are activated if the doorbell rings or the fire alarm is triggered.

If you have any comments or questions for us please blog me or contact us through the contact centre or talk to your neighbourhood officer. I look forward to your replies and will be blogging again next month when the election will be over and television returns to some sort of normality!

Hello to all our bloggers—if there are any that is! We have had some technical problems which may have resulted in some people’s responses to the blog not being published . We believe we have now sorted this out so please send us any queries, comments or observations.

Some people may know that an important part of our work is the provision of new homes to meet housing need across Cheshire. We work closely with landowners, the local Councils and house builders to develop quality new homes for single people, families and specialist homes for older people or people with disabilities.

During 2009/2010, Plus Dane Cheshire commenced development work on 350 new affordable homes and completed a total of 151 affordable properties with a construction value of £16.26 million, the majority of which (127) were for affordable rent.

The most notable of these completed projects was Heath View, a 45 bed extra care scheme located in Congleton, offering residents a unique opportunity to combine an independent lifestyle with access to on-site care and support 24/7.

A brief selection of new projects commenced by Plus Dane Cheshire during 2009/2010 are The Clock Tower Building, Macclesfield, a Grade 2 Listed former hospital building which when completed will provide 36 Affordable Rent Apartments and a former YMCA Building, Chester which will see 34 new Rent to Homebuy Apartments constructed behind the imposing retained façade of the old YMCA building. 

As well as our homes for rent we also develop a number of Shared Ownership homes which help people who want to purchase their own homes get a foot on the property ladder.

It has been noticeable that the credit crunch and recession have resulted in many interested purchasers being unable to get a mortgage which caused us to change some of our Shared Homes to Homes for rent.

Each year plus dane in Cheshire spends about £5 million on repairs empty properties and Planned Reinvestment works. Our homes are a our prime asset and we wish to ensure that you have the best possible standards given the amounts of money we have to spend. Our programmes are based on independent surveys of the condition of our homes and negotiation and discussion with the Asset management group which enables tenants to have a major influence on priorities.

In 2009/10 we have spent nearly £1.5 million on reinvestment , £200,000 on painting and £200,000 on Aids and adaptations. The table below shows where the reinvestment money has been spent.

The Planned Investment Programme in Cheshire has been delivered by our own in-house workforce and two local contractors, Mohr & Rowland and GunPoint, as follows:

Total Spend on Planned Reinvestment will be £1.450m

 Cyclical Redecorations

J S Seddons have completed the 2009/10 redecorations programme. Number of properties receiving works – 730 no. Total cost of £195,000

 Aids and Adaptations

Total Spend to date is c. £200,000 in Cheshire. This has been spent on minor adaptions such as hand rails and changes to  ease  access to homes as well as some of the adaptions mentioned below.

£135k Spent so far - 13 Level Entry Showers completed, the rest of the work comprises of - shower over bath, ramps, minors etc if you need the numbers i can pass you these. By the end of the financial year (MARCH) we will have fully spent our budget.

I hope this gives you some idea of some of the ways in which we spend our income. If you would like to get more involved with us in making these decisions please contact us—we are always looking for people to contact us.

We are very proud of our workforce who we know from your feedback provide a first class service and we have many skilled and committed tradesmen and women.

Dee Blake, gas engineer, received a Highly Commended at the recent Direct Works Forum Apprentice Awards in Coventry. Dee completed her apprenticeship a year ahead of schedule. She is also currently on an Institute Leadership Management Course, and also attended the Common Purpose Frontrunners programme.

Previously in 2008 Dee won Stoke-on-Trent College “Colin Pritchard” Award for Highest Achiever & Direct Works Forum 1st year Apprentice of the Year Award.

Dan Turner – electrician - was a previous winner of Direct Works Forum Apprentice of Year Award in 2008, and Lee Saxon (gas engineer) was also nominated this year for the Direct Works Forum Apprentice of Year Award. Lee also recently won an Award from Stoke College.

Well done to all concerned.

Hello Everybody,

Well despite the hopes for an improvement in the weather it continues to be cold and at the time of writing has started to snow again. Please remember all the Beat the Chill advice and do not hesitate to contact us if you require further help or advice.

With this in mind plus dane offer a number of financial advice services amongst which is guidance on reducing fuel bills which is particularly important at this time of year. Do you use a pre-payment meter for your gas and electricity? We might be able to find a cheaper supplier for you, or even arrange for you to go onto a cheaper social tariff. By installing a water meter some families could save on their water bills.  You even have the peace of mind to be able to switch back to the old billing method in the first year if you find a meter is more expensive for you.

Money always seems to be tight after Christmas and here at Plus Dane we have a number of free services to help you make the most of your money!

From opening a bank account to checking if you are getting the best deal for your gas and electricity we can give those pennies a workout and all for free.

Borrowing from a door step lender? We can introduce you to a local credit union that can provide a cheaper alternative to door step lending.

Only have a Post Office Card Account? Well we can open a basic bank account for you with Barclays. This will allow you to pay cheques in along with any benefits and earnings. You can then also gain access to discounts by using the direct debit option and even use your card to make online purchases. 

Home contents insurance specially designed for our customers is available to ensure you are covered from events like, theft, fire or flood. If you suffered a major loss could you afford to replace all the lost items from your own pocket? Home Contents Insurance will even cover some rechargeable repairs such as broken windows and lost keys!

If you do find yourself facing a real problem regarding your debts we can even offer a free confidential service that can help you budget, talk to your creditors and look to negotiate a more affordable repayment scheme.  We are also able to refer to a number of independent free debt services should it be needed. There is no need to pay for debt advice!

If you want to take advantage of these service please give us a call on 0500  026079.

In partnership with local health service providers, we have also been delivering many Health and Wellbeing projects in our neighbourhoods since November 2008. These have included 3 Expert Patients Programmes (for people with long-term health conditions), 2 walking groups (which meet at Holmes Chapel library every Weds and Lightley Close, Sandbach every Thursday), healthy eating projects and a wide range of other activities. There are two social groups which meet every 1^st Monday of the month at the Radway Social Club and every 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday of the month at Bromley Farm CC.

There are many future projects, with many new opportunities presenting themselves all the time. We are working with Cheshire East on the Streetsports project to deliver a programme of weekly evening sports sessions for young people starting every Tuesday. We are also heavily involved in consulting residents of Alsager and Congleton after successfully acquiring funding to develop 2 new adventure play areas opening in autumn ‘10. We are also represented at the LSP Healthy Lifestyles Group and the Mental Health Promotion Group.

If you rquire further information please contact Sam Newton on 01260288262.

Cheshire Homechoice, the new choice based lettings scheme for East Cheshire, is due to go live in April.  It is a partnership between Plus Dane, Cheshire East, Cheshire Peaks & Plains and Wulvern Housing.  All the vacancies across the partnership area will be advertised through the new scheme.  If you are currently on a housing register with one of the partners and have completed the choice based lettings additional questions then your application will automatically transfer over to the new system.  You will receive a letter this month advising you of your new reference number and what band you have been put into.  There are five bands on the new system and which band you are placed in will depend on your housing need.  New applicants to join the housing register will be advised to either complete a form on-line or to send a paper copy to Cheshire East.  For our own transfer applicants we will continue to offer support to complete applications if this is required.

Once the scheme goes live all properties will be advertised weekly and you will have to "bid" for those that you are interested in.  The properties will be advertised on the website, but there will also be property listings available in our reception each week and also in the council’s One Stop Shops and libraries.  There are lots of different ways to bid including directly on the website, by ringing up and placing a bid,  texting a bid or by asking somebody to use any of these methods on your behalf.  Each week we will also give feedback on each property that has been successfully let outlining what band the successful applicant was in, how long they had been on the housing register and how many applicants bid for that home.

We will be offering those residents currently on the housing register/transfer list the opportunity to attend drop-in sessions in a number of locations throughout April to help understand how to access all the information on properties and place bids.

Involvement

We will soon be advertising for people to join the Dane Board to fill the vacancy left by Dorothy Barnett. Tenant Board members are tremendously important to us as they bring a tenant perspective to the Board decision making process which helps us ensure we remain firmly focussed on providing the best possible services to tenants.

The Board is responsible for setting the direction of the organisation and ensuring the managers deliver the services which have been agreed, ensuring that all performance targets are met and that the organisation remains financially viable.

Expressions of interest are welcomed and the final appointments will be made by the Chairman and existing Board members following statements of interest and an interview.

If you would like to find out more please contact me through the blog or on 01260 288217

Well that’s probably enough for now. Please remember we welcome your feedback and ideas .

Regards

Mike Doran

Managing Director, Cheshire

Welcome to the February blog.

Little did I know when writing the last blog and telling you about the Beat the Chill campaign that we would have the Arctic weather we have experienced over the past few weeks.

Despite the difficult conditions we were able to maintain an emergency service during the worst of the weather, and we are told that our phone calls and contact with people on the Beat the Chill initiative were very well received.

While most services are back to normal now, we have obviously been dealing with a backlog of non-urgent repairs and inevitably a high number of bursts following the thaw.

It is important that you do keep warm and use your heating, particularly if you are housebound or have mobility problems. We know that some people have not used heating fully because of concerns over bills. Please contact us to seek advice on benefits and energy tariffs if you are concerned about your heating bills.

We were very saddened to hear of the death of Dorothy Barnett, who has been a Board member and Chair of the Tenants Federation since stock transfer 11 years ago. Dorothy had been very active on behalf of Dane and then plus dane tenants over many years and will be sadly missed. As well as her work with us Dorothy had been Mayoress of Congleton on three occasions  and was a Burgess of Congleton Town.

One of Dorothy’s passions was the development of our services to older people and she was immensely proud of the work we were doing to improve our sheltered accommodation.

In the last blog I told you about Heath View and despite the snow our Neighbourhood Team still managed to get out to sign up 12 tenants for their new home.

Margaret Barlow, a new tenant at Heath View, said: “They are very nice flats, I have been to look.  Plus dane have been very helpful with the move along with my family.  I am really looking forward to sitting outside in the lovely gardens in the summer.”

Although Christmas was a time of celebration for most people we should not forget that it is also a time when things can be difficult. Our  Supported Housing Team were able to swiftly find accommodation to a distressed vulnerable young mother and her children who became homeless on 23rd December. Through brilliant team work, household items and Christmas gifts for the children were found through donations from the local community.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank Eric Alcock Electricals who very generously donated a washing machine to the family.

Another recent achievement has been a partnership with young people from Eaton Bank School, where we helped some of our older people on Bromley Farm to successfully switch over to digital. We made over 20 visits to people’s homes to ensure the switch over went well. This support was welcomed by everyone and the young people enjoyed the opportunity to go out in to the neighbourhood and help people. This is an excellent example of young people making a positive contribution to the neighbourhoods where they live.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank Eaton Bank School, Congleton for their help and support in delivering this initiative.

Please remember that if you have things you want to say to us please contact us. Hopefully for the next Blog I will be writing about the unexpected heatwave we had in February!!