Getting Involved

Tenants taking part in a local workshop

Do you want to have a say in how we run things?

South Cambridgeshire District Council is committed to working with residents to help improve the quality of life for all. We are serious about involving, consulting and informing you about the management of your homes and communities and want to provide lots different ways for you to get involved and have your say.

You can get a lot out of being involved. You can learn new skills, meet new people, and help shape and form strategies and policies that have a direct effect on the way your services are run.

We have adopted a new Resident Involvement Strategy in 2010 which you can look at here. This Strategy will shape our current and future resident involvement.

We intend to update this Strategy in 2012/13 so it better reflects the provisions of the Localism Act 2011. The Localism Act looks to social landlords to create tenant scrutiny panels (or similar) to look closely at how services are run. This is reflected in the Council's Long Term Vision. We will also create systems to make sure tenants are at the heart of resolving complaints about the housing service in a process named in the Act as the democratic filter.

Ways to get involved

Getting involved does not have to mean attending meetings in a formal setting. The 2009 Residents Survey showed that you would prefer a basket of ways to get involved including telephone meetings, internet discussion groups, mystery shopping, estate or scheme walkabouts, surveys and much more. Indeed completing surveys and questionnaires was the choice of 81% of residents as a way of being involved, followed by annual residents conference. We will provide as many means of involvement as we can over the coming years.

One of the key findings of the survey was that 69% of respondents would prefer South Cambs magazine to keep them up to date on how South Cambridge District Council are performing on both national and local targets. We will continue to provide information to all SCDC residents via the quarterly magazine and the resident led "Key Issues" section.

South Cambs Magazine

Below is a list of ways you can get involved as a tenant or leaseholder:

Or follow the link for a simple Quick View Menu on ways to get involved.

The Tenant Participation Group

The Tenant Participation Group (TPG) is a group which meets formally every month and it has a more strategic role. It is responsible for monitoring and developing tenant participation and getting more involved in the decisions made by the council that affect homes and services. TPG contribute to new SCDC Strategies and Policies. TPG members also attend Editorial Panels to contribute to the content of South Cambs magazine. TPG is a friendly and vibrant group with 15 members elected in a ballot of all our tenants and leaseholders in November 2011. TPG welcomes new co-opted members to help in various project groups and any tenants who are interested in getting involved to make a difference are always welcome at meetings. Elections are intended to be held every 2 years. Please contact the Resident Involvement Officer Gill Anderton on 01954 713377 for details of meeting dates and venues.

Your newly elected Tenant Participation Group

The Sheltered Housing Forum

The Sheltered Housing Forum comprises three groups that will consider issues directly affecting the sheltered housing service. The groups represent the sheltered housing in the north, east and west areas of the district as each scheme nominates a representative to sit on the appropriate group within the forum and they provide feedback to other tenants and leaseholders on their scheme. Each of the 3 sheltered housing forums can elect one member to represent their views on the TPG.

The Leaseholder Forum

The Leaseholder Forum considers issues relating specifically to leaseholders, which includes Equity Share owners. Members of Leaseholder Forum can elect one member onto TPG to represent their views.

Tenant and residents groups & Residents Associations

The Council has some tenants and residents groups already established in some of its villages. Help can also be provided to set up new groups in areas where there are none at present. These groups look at issues relating to the estate/community where they live.

Village voices

We are committed to getting all our communities involved in shaping their housing service. Where there are villages of less than 30 properties or where there is not yet an established tenant and resident's group we encourage a tenant or leaseholder to put themselves forward as the Village Voice.

Disability Forum Group

The Disability Forum was set up after we discovered that 41% of our tenants consider themselves to be disabled (the most recent tenants survey in 2009).

Tenant e-say group
If you would like to be contacted by email for your opinions on aspects of our service, then you may wish to join our Tenant e-say group.

Or if you just want to tell us about something or share an idea with us then simply get in touch either via the contact centre on 03450 450 051or by email at duty.housing@scambs.gov.uk (This link will open in a new window)

How we can help you help us?

To assist you where you might need it, to enable you to get involved, we will:

Provide transport costs to attend meetings
Provide reasonable and unavoidable childcare costs
Resident Group set up costs
Training - to grow your skills and confidence in making your views known
Guidance/assistance on newsletter production
Funding advice
Telephone support

For more information please contact Gill Anderton, Resident Involvement Officer on 01954 713377 or email at gill.anderton@scambs.gov.uk (This link will open in a new window)

Useful external website links:

Tenant Services Authority (This link will open in a new window)

(TSA)[please note this Quango will be dissolved and absorbed into the Homes & Communities Agency by 2012 as part of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review October 2010.]

Tenant Participation Advisory Service (This link will open in a new window) (TPAS)

Tenants and Residents Organisations of England (TAROE) (This link will open in a new window)