Crawley tenants get their say

Crawley Homes’ tenants took their opportunity to get involved in their service at the tenants’ festival last week.

The festival, in Queens Square on Tuesday (August 10), gave tenants a chance to have their say about Crawley Homes and council housing in Cabcam, a converted London taxi.

The event also promoted tenant involvement to a wider audience, showing tenants how they can get involved with different panels and groups so they can have their say on how services are run.

The council also registered five potential new customers for its Lifeline alarm service and there was lots of interest in the Neighbourhood Improvement Panel.

Other stalls held prize draws, mini DIY courses, crime prevention advice, fire safety, recycling and environmental information, arts and crafts for kids and all round family fun.

The council’s Decent Homes and responsive repairs contractors – Apollo, Mears, MITIE and Wates – also attended to answer questions from tenants.

Councillor Lee Gilroy, Cabinet member for Housing, said: “The tenants’ festival gave residents living in the council’s 8,000 properties a great chance to have their say on the service they receive.

“It was a chance for them to get involved on a more regular basis by joining a panel or forum. Thanks also to the Hindu Mandir in Ifield, the Sheltered Housing Forum and MITIE for providing some fantastic food.”

Tenant Cary Buckham said: “Even though the weather wasn’t great the festival was!

“We got to talk to lots of people and shared experiences. We wanted to let them know what the tenants of Crawley Homes can get involved with and I think we did in a far more fun way than in previous years.

“I hope that next year’s event will be bigger and better and fingers crossed the weather will be better too!”

For more information contact the Resident Involvement Team on 01293 438434.
SOURCE: CBC

Crawley Happy Times went along and spoke to Michelle Fitzgerald-Lees and Carrie Buckham about why this event is held and the hopeful outcome.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 18:02 and is filed under Community, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.