ARCH tenant representatives from Lincoln recently visited tenant
representatives in Rotherham to talk about how they could learn
from each other.
One of the advantages of ARCH membership and participation in
the ARCH Tenants' Group is the opportunity to "network" with other
councils: to learn what other councils are doing and share best
practice to help improve the services that councils provide to
their tenants and residents.
Following discussions at the ARCH Tenants' Group between City of
Lincoln Council, representatives on the Group John Ranshaw and
Stella Parkin Rotherham MBC's representative on the Group, the two
arranged for John and Mick Barber, another representative from the
Lincoln Tenants' Panel (LTP), to attend a meeting of the RotherFed
Tenants Group to see how the two groups could learn from each
other.
John Ranshaw, LTP member and representative on the ARCH
Tenant Group said after the visit:
"The purpose of the visit was to carry out networking
between the Lincoln Tenants' Panel and RotherFed tenants group. We
explained how LTP and its sub groups operate. The members from
RotherFed were impressed by the resident involvement structure at
Lincoln and how this involved a range of tenants. They were also
very impressed with the "Home" magazine (Lincoln's Tenant
Newsletter) for its quality and detail, even going as far to say it
was one of the best they had seen."
We were impressed by the detail, range and level of subjects
discussed at the RotherFed meeting. In particular, it was noticed
how members were very knowledgeable about the subjects and
committed towards the tenants they represent. We were taken aback
by the sheer number of tenants represented by the group, this was
around 20,000 tenants."
Going forward both groups agreed that contact should be
maintained and we are currently planning for a representative from
RotherFed to attend an LTP meeting."
"I would like to thank RotherFed group for inviting us and
in particular I would like to thank Steve Ruffle (facilitator of
the group) and Stella Parkin (member of the group and ARCH
representative)"
Do you think that your Tenant Panel or Tenant Federation could
learn from what others are doing or share some of the things you
are doing in your council to improve tenant engagement and
encourage tenant participation? If so, please email Carole
Halfacre, ARCH Tenants' Group facilitator, at carole.halfacre@arch-housing.org.uk.