Other ways to get involved
Including:
Introduction
If you are already part of a resident group, you could become further involved by setting up Good Neighbour or Garden Tool Loan Schemes or becoming involved in tenant compact task groups (follow the links in the Find Out More panel).
If you're not already in a resident group, there are a variety of ways that you can get involved. Manchester City Council recognises that your views are important in helping to shape the services you receive and it aims to provide opportunities for everyone to have their say.
Whether you are an individual tenant, or a member of a resident or community group, you can choose how you wish to get involved and at what level. Some of the ways are described below:
Focus Groups
Focus groups are used by the Council to involve tenants and residents in one off consultation, usually on specific issues, to look at particular areas of service to help meet challenges in improving the services that they provide. Participants are usually selected from users of the service and incentives to participate can be the reimbursement of travel expenses, provision of refreshments or a gift voucher or other small gift of gratitude.
Focus groups generally last between one and two hours and are popular with tenants who can’t commit to regular involvement but welcome the opportunity to express their views and influence policy.
Steering Groups
Steering groups are often set up in areas where the Council is carrying out improvement works, or consulting residents about changes to the management or ownership of their homes, such as the Housing Investment Options process.
Steering groups are usually made up of tenants, councillors, council officers and other relevant agencies. They help oversee projects to a satisfactory conclusion and help ensure local views are part of decision making. You don't have to be involved in a resident group to be part of a local steering group.
To find out if there is a steering group where you live, contact the TPU
Garden Tool Loan Schemes
Part of Manchester Housing's Gardening Strategy aims to encourage residents to set up garden tool loan schemes in their area, with the backing and involvement of their local housing team. The Tenant Participation Unit (TPU) has produced a guidance booklet called "Setting Up A Garden Tool Loan Scheme" which is available to resident groups from TPU on request. (See Find Out More panel)
Surveys
Housing Services carries out regular postal surveys to find out what customers think of our complaints procedure and also has an online questionnaire to tell us what you think of our response to your complaint.
Local Action Partnerships (LAPs)
LAPs are a way of area working by the Crime and Disorder Partnership. Crime and Disorder is a key problem that affects the city and a series of Local Action Partnerships allow concentrated work in neighbourhoods. Follow the above link for more information (links to a PDF file on the Council's main website).
PDF files
To view files in PDF format you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available for a number of different computers and in various different languages. Download it from Adobe. Access.adobe.com provides tools and information to help make Adobe PDF files accessible to visually impaired users.
(Adobe's websites are external sites and Manchester City Council is not responsible for their content)
