Minutes of the Full Federation Meeting
held on 30th April 2008
at the White Swan Hotel, Halifax

1a. Attendance

Nora Greenfield	Barker Close	Norma Marriott	Barker Close
Leslie Godfrey	Beechwood TARA	Susan Montey	Elland Lane
Angie Gallagher	Elland Lane	Joan Coyne	Elphin Court
James Hutchison	Elphin Court	Grace Paradise	Fall Spring Gardens
Pat Gomersall	Fall Spring Gardens	Bert Swaine	Haley Court TA
Iris O'Donnell	Haley Court TA	Mary Battye (Chair)	Headlands House TA
Rita McWhirter	Heptonstall TARA	Margaret Coupe	Heptonstall TARA
Don McLean	Ling Bob	Bill Stafford	Kershaw TARA
Heather Terry	Mixenden	Chris Lates	Pollit Fields TA
Esther Richardson	Pollit Fields TA	Val Bennett	Pollit Fields TA
Rita Egdell	Pollit Fields TA	George Cameron	Shaw Lodge RA
Janette Wilson	St James Court TA	Barbara Gunshon	St James Court TA
Ethel Grinberg	St James Court	Henry Jenner	Stansfield Crossley
Margaret Jenner	Stansfield Crossley	George Cameron	Shaw Lodge RA
Heather Stacey	Thorn Hill Hey TA	Audrey Waterhouse	Towngate TARA
David Church	Towngate TARA	Jon Morton	Travis House TA
Marilyn Webb	Travis House TA	Ruth Rider	Twin Towers TA
Sheila Gilmore	Twin Towers TA	Betty Booth	Upper Brig Royd TA
Marguerite Sutcliffe	Upper Brig Royd TA	Val Morris	Pennine Housing
Tom Miskell	Trans-Pennine Housing	Sue Lewis	Pennine Housing
Janette Dunne	Pennine Housing	Irene Ledsham	Green Vale Homes

1b. Apologies

Brian Battye	Headlands House TA	Val O'Leary	Kershaw TARA
Rita McWhirter	Heptonstall TARA	Mick Stacey	Thorn Hill TA
Val Barker	Middle Mixenden TARA

2. Minutes of previous meetings

Agreed proposed by Audrey Waterhouse, seconded by Bill Stafford

3. Matters arising

None

4. Resignation of Secretary

Sue Molineux has now moved to Kirklees, whilst no resignation letter has been received it is assumed that she will no longer be continuing in the role of Secretary. Nominations were invited for the vacant position but none were received. This item will be raised at the June Federation meeting

5. Correspondence

TPAS conference information to be discussed as part of training update

6. Treasurer's Report

Agreed - £2950.15 in General Account, £80.11 Cash in Hand and £8206.23 in Premium Account

7. Pennine Housing Issues

Elland Lane Bungalows

Tom Miskell explained that he had come to the meeting to discuss how Pennine moves forward with the issue of Elland Lane bungalows. He felt it was important to build on the trust built up over the past 6 years between tenants and Pennine Housing.

He explained that Pennine were currently developing a consultation protocol to provide guidance for any future developments but, in this case (Elland Lane bungalows) it was difficult to know how to make things right. The first reaction is to talk to individuals and to learn from the situation but sometimes you can't do right for doing wrong. Tom explained that in the case of the refurbishment of Mytholm Close, where Pennine involved tenants from the outset, relatives complained that distress had been cause to elderly residents as a result of consulting too early. As a result of this criticism, Pennine decided to consult Valley View tenants later in the process and were criticised for leaving it too late.

Tom felt that Pennine was not always brave enough in making decisions about future developments. He quoted Clement Court as an example of where they could have produced a better end product if they had made some tough decisions at the outset.

In terms of investment, Pennine should only invest money into properties which have a future of 10, 15 or 20years. It is easy to invest money and then still have to make hard decisions because there is no demand or the properties are not fit for purpose.

With regard to Elland Lane, Tom stated that the only decision taken so far was not to invest in the properties. Pennine were currently consulting tenants individually and it was then proposed to meet collectively with tenants to discuss outcomes.

Tenants from Elland Lane who were present at the meeting were invited to comment on what Tom Miskell has said and to ask questions. The following questions and comments were asked:

• When was the decisions about the bungalows made?

• When the community centre was demolished Pennine had been asked for a copy of the report which showed why the demolition decision had been taken but had never received this information

• Tenants are angry that they don't get visits from the Response Team and had been told they were now off the list.

• It was felt that Pennine was in breach of the Compact because they had not involved tenants early enough

• Tenants didn't want the one-to-one consultations as they felt threatened. Tenants should also be able to have a representative/relative present during any interview

• Tenants could not understand why Pennine was investing into other properties on the estate which were older and in a worse condition

• Tenants told they were going to get like-for-like but could not see how this could work as similar properties did not exist in the area

• Tenants could not understand why Pennine had allowed tenants to move in if they knew what was being planned - better to leave properties empty

Tom responded to the comments and questions, he felt that the properties were increasingly difficult to let, whilst he accepted that there had been 28 bids the last time a property had been advertised through Choice Based Lettings, it had to be offered 10 times before someone agreed to signup for it. He defended the work Pennine has done over the past few years demolishing poor quality housing and replacing it with something better. He said he held his hands up and accepted that Pennine had not got it right in this instance but felt it was important to carry on having discussions with individual tenants as there was a need to discuss personal information and details which it was not appropriate to discuss in a meeting.

A wider discussion followed. Tom was asked about the value of the Elland Lane land and if Pennine was putting land over people? He responded by explaining that any homes built would be for social housing and that the land would only be really valuable if sold on the open market which was not the case. He also strongly refuted the suggestion that Pennine valued land over people. A former Pennine Tenant Board member (name withheld) had asked for a statement to be read out criticising both the Federation and the Pennine Board. There was concern that other tenants living in bungalows in other areas of Calderdale were now worried about the future for their properties as a result of the press coverage and needed reassurance from Pennine. Comments were also made that Elland Councillors had been shown plans of a future development on the bungalows site, Tom responded by stating that he was not aware of any such plans but promised to look into this.

Travis House Issues

Tenants from this block of flats which had extensive damp/condensation issues raised concern about how long it was taking to get answers about exactly when their flats would be put right. They had received information from the Operations Manager about the investigation work Pennine was currently doing but tenants want to know when the remedial work will be done. Tom promised to investigate and report back.

It was agreed to organise a View Day to visit both the Elland Lane and Travis House sites in order to help Federation members understand the issues. The Federation would also be writing to PH2K to find out which other sites had been earmarked for redevelopment and requesting information about exactly how tenants had been involved in the proposals.

Gender Equality Action Plan

Copies of the draft Trans-Pennine Gender Equality plan had been circulated to members along with the agenda. It is a requirement of the Housing Corporation that Housing Associations have such a plan in place by April 2008. It is one of six equality and diversity themes. The plan must show what actions are being taken with regard to ensuring that services do not discriminate against men or women. Within the plan actions have been grouped under headings which make sense of what is happening across the Trans-Pennine group.

These deal with:

• Domestic Violence

• Harassment

• Anti-social behaviour

• Impact on employment

• Dealing with homelessness

• Access to affordable housing

• Resident involvement

Iris suggested that if anyone had comments about the Action Plan they should contact her in her capacity of Diversity Champion and she would pass them on (telephone 01422 348041)

Developing a Mystery Shopping Team

Mystery shopping is an effective method of testing the working practices of an organisation from the viewpoint of the customers. It involves a group of trained individuals posing as customers who run through pre-determined scenarios, either face-to-face, by telephone or e-mail, to test if the landlord's services are being delivered to the required standard.

Mystery shopping is different from customer satisfaction surveys in that it explores the actual customer experience at a snapshot in time (rather than asking customers for their views retrospectively) and records specific details of that particular experience.

Pennine Housing already has some experience of Mystery Shopping, the Federation carried out some un-announced exercises in receptions and Housing Offices but the Tenant Involvement Team want to develop Mystery Shopping further and set up a project group, involving tenants, to manage the project.

The Tenant Involvement Section will shortly be advertising and recruiting tenants who are unknown to front line housing staff. Potential 'Mystery Shoppers' will be assessed and training will be given to successful candidates.

Initially it is proposed to recruit a pool of tenants from Calderdale, Rossendale and Sheffield by advertising the opportunity to all Trans Pennine tenants. Tenants would not normally be expected to mystery shop their own local housing service, therefore it will be easier for them to be impartial and their anonymity should be protected. Longer term it might be possible to broaden the scope of the mystery shopping project by pooling resources with other landlords, e.g. through Synergy.

Prior to formally advertising for 'mystery shoppers' a number of pilot 'mystery shops' will be carried out by known activists from Calderdale and Sheffield. They will be looking at Green Vale Homes services to help them prepare for their forthcoming Audit Commission inspection.

Mystery Shopping is not about catching anyone out but about raising standards and identifying any issues which can then be tackled through training.

Active Learning for Residents (ALfR)

This is a new Chartered Institute of Housing initiative designed to recognise the achievements of tenants & residents who are actively engaged in community activities. It acknowledges that by working in their community, people acquire skills, knowledge and competence which remain largely unacknowledged. ALfR seeks to redress this by creating a qualification framework which awards NVQ's at levels 2, 3 & 4 in recognition for skills and knowledge gained. Housing/Tenant Involvement staff will be trained to become 'recognisers' and they will be able to assess when people have reached a certain skills level. This means that the scheme participants don't have to go on lengthy training courses to have their efforts recognised. Trans-Pennine Housing is going to be signing up for the scheme and they will be able to train up to ten members of staff to act as recognisers.

8. Community Development Training - Marilyn Sutcliffe Adult Learning, Calderdale Council

Marilyn provided the meeting with information about three new Community Development courses they are now running.

• Community Development Skills

Accredited course lasting 10 hours which helps develop an understanding of community development work

• Certificate in Community Development

Much more intensive course lasting one or two years (1 or 2 mornings per week). The course covers: Practice and Principles in Community Development Work, Social Justice, Identifying Needs in Communities, Organising and Managing Projects, Community Development Monitoring & Evaluation

• There is also a short 5 hour non-accredited course which covers setting up and growing your group, Knowing Your Community, Making It Work, Support & Resources for groups

• Additionally, there is also a wide range of other courses available

For more information contact Marilyn Sutcliffe on 01422 392820

9. Involving Young People Conference

Mary Battye informed the meeting that the event scheduled to take place on the 19^th April 2008 had had to be cancelled because of lack of support from Federation member TARA's. Members were reminded of the need to consider whether they really think something is a good idea or appropriate before voting in favour of a proposal. A lot of time, money and effort had gone into organising the event and it was really disappointing when delegates who had voted in favour of the proposal did not commit to attending the event. There have been a number of other occasions when delegates have committed to doing something and then backed out at the last minute, this is a considerable waste of rent money.

10. TARA Support Group

Bert Swaine informed the meeting that they had been in contact with West Yorkshire Fire Service who had confirmed that they had advised Pennine Housing to remove items (including door mats, Christmas decorations, etc) from communal areas in blocks of flats in order to protect tenants in the event of fire. Jack Riley, Fire Safety Officer is happy to come along to Tenants Association meetings to discuss any concerns tenants have with the advice.

Bert also informed the meeting that there were three new Tenants Associations and another three in the pipeline.

11. Any Other Business

All Tenants Associations should have received a letter from Pennine Housing explaining that they have a number of other companies currently working for them to help deal with the voids problem. The companies are ROK, Green Vale Homes and Wakefield and District Housing. Questions were asked about how Pennine had got into this situation and how much was it costing in loss of rent and using contactors. Mary to raise at meeting with Amanda Garrard.

TPAS Conference in August - Margaret Coupe, Ruth Rider, Audrey Waterhouse, Marilyn Webb and Jon Morton to go. A question was asked about why someone whose been before was going? It was explained that agreement was that preference should be given to people who have not been before but if there were spaces then anyone else could attend (need to remember that it is essential that Federation members with greater responsibilities need to keep abreast with what is happening nationally).

12. Date of Next Meeting - Wednesday 25^th June 2007 - venue to be confirmed

The meeting closed at 9.05pm