Posted on September 21st, 2021 by Elaine Davies
The Lindfield is a small piece of green space we own in Stoke Aldermoor, Coventry that is regularly used for fly-tipping.
The Lift Me Up campaign is part of the Stoke Aldermoor Social Action Partnership (SASAP) which covers several community wide projects and is made up of local people who live and work in our communities in Stoke Aldermoor, Coventry.
The Lift Me Up campaign sprang into action after a piece of broken glass injured one of our customer’s dog and the local community decided they were determined to act and clean up The Lindfield.
Through art workshops local children were asked to share their ideas of how they could improve their local area – including The Lindfield.
The artwork is an interpretation of all the ideas put forward by the children and a graffiti wall was subsequently created and completed by local graffiti artists Andy Clare and Lucy Kenny last month.
SASAP member and Community Organiser lead for local charity Grapevine, Kyla Craig says: “SASAP was created to take action on the things that matter most in our local communities.
“Fly-tipping is an issue we are all extremely passionate about. The Lift Me Up campaign is about raising aspirations and hope for the area as well as making it a safe, clean place to live and work.”
Our Neighbourhood Officer Mandy Lynch said: “Fly-tipping has always been an issue at The Lindfield and it’s great news we’re now working with SASAP to actively do something about it!
“I’m really pleased to say that SASAP were recently successful in applying for a grant of £5,000 from our Citizen Local Fund. The grant will create a long-term solution to the fly-tipping issue at The Lindfield and surrounding areas.
“I look forward to seeing the project progress over the coming months and I’d like to thank Kyla and everyone at SASAP for all their hard work and determination to make a difference.”
The money from our Citizen Local Fund will help SASAP:
Buy equipment including protective wear, so that the community can do regular litter picks in the area
Produce posters and leaflets to raise awareness around community issues and invite the community to get involved in solving them
Host a community event where neighbours can connect
Do a community tidy with skips so that there is a collective time that people can get rid of their rubbish.
Find out more about the Citizen Local Fund here.
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Posted on September 20th, 2021 by Elaine Davies
Today we launch our 2020-21 annual report.
We produce the annual report every year to breakdown our performance and progress during the last financial year. This year’s report explores our performance in the context of the unprecedented challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.
It is the first year we have worked with our Customer Assurance Committee to jointly produce the report and we will be sending it out to customers this week.
Kevin Rodgers, our Chief Executive, said: “As we launch this year’s report we reflect on a year like no other.
“Our customers and colleagues have faced unprecedented challenges during the last 18 months. During this extraordinary time our focus has been on protecting the safety of our customers and teams as we continue to provide high-quality services.
“Despite the many challenges that were thrown our way, we are extremely proud to present our performance for 2020-21.”
Read our 2020-21 annual report flipbook click here.
Struggling with the flipbook? You can download a pdf version by clicking on the download icon beneath it.
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Posted on September 13th, 2021 by Elaine Davies
We’ve partnered with Coventry City Council and West Midlands Fire and Rescue to clear one of the most fly tipped areas in Coventry.
As part of the project at Lillington Road and Wexford Road we also engaged with customers to help cease dumping at the site, which is consistent.
We held an event last month to clear up rubbish at the site, and Coventry City Council’s waste team agreed to provide a skip for bulk waste dumped on our land to then take away to dispose of.
Waste Enforcement at the Council and the fire service also spoke to our customers and door knocked in the area to highlight the problems that arise from dumping waste.
Our Estates Services Manager Claire Tumelty said: “This is a joint initiative as part of our ongoing project with Coventry City Council to tackle fly tipping and the dumping of waste in our communities.
“We are all working together to stop dumping in this area and are educating people living in the area about appropriate disposal of waste. We have also highlighted that this is an offence and can lead to significant fines and actions.
“We want this to be a lovely place to live and we want to support our customers to make this the case.”
We are working with the fire service due to a serious ongoing fire risk from the rubbish, and the Council Street Enforcement team to tackle the dumping of rubbish from people who don’t live in the area.
Claire added: “We’ve seen business vans pulling up and dumping building waste in this area so they can avoid correct disposal and charges. We have liaised with various organisations to progress enforcement action on specific vehicles and companies.
“Our Bulk Removal team and the Council Waste Team did an excellent job of clearing the rubbish at this event, which is really important to our customers and people living in the community.
“We now want to ensure we do not continue to have these issues.”
Our Director of Maintenance Operations Steve Kirk said: “This event was a real team effort, and everyone involved worked really hard to get the area cleared up of rubbish.
“It’s so important that we work together to tackle the fly tipping and dumping of rubbish in the area. When we turned up the car park wasn’t useable, and it was really distressing for local residents.
“We are hoping that this team approach will mean this area is kept tidy and clear for our customers.”
Councillor Pat Seaman from Coventry City Council, a local ward cllr in the neighbourhood, attended the event. She said: “The event went really well, and many residents engaged with us.
“We have all worked together to tidy the area and I am sure everyone is relieved that the area is now clear.
“It’s so important that we all work together on an action plan to make sure the area is kept clear.”
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Posted on September 9th, 2021 by Elaine Davies
The site our customers in Coventry use to search for a home is changing this Monday.
Coventry Homefinder will be upgraded next Monday 13 September to make searching and bidding for properties easier.
The update is being launched alongside changes to priority banding to ensure people are prioritised correctly.
Customers living in Coventry were recently asked to re-register with Coventry Homefinder to ensure that their details are up to date.
The update to the system follows an update to Housing Policy last autumn.
Our Head of Allocations and Lettings Clare Garner said: “We’re pleased that this new system will make the process of applying for homes easier for residents in Coventry.
“We want the process of applying for a home to be as easy as possible for our customers.”
As well as making Homefinder easier to use, the new policy will also see some changes to applicant eligibility and the way people are banded. Those applying for homes must have a local connection (barring some exceptional circumstances) and earn, or have assets, totalling less than £50,000. Customers will also not be able to register if they do not have a housing need recognised in the new policy.
Cllr David Welsh, Coventry City Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, said: “The new system and policy updates will make this process quicker and easier, as well as ensuring that those who are in need are prioritised accordingly.
“As a result, some people’s priority bands may change to make sure that those with the greatest housing need in the city, such as care leavers, are prioritised. New categories such as living with friends or family, or experiencing financial difficulty in current properties, have also been added to the system.
“Our new website will be much easier to use and bid for homes, and our teams have managed to simplify the application system to a single form.”
For more information about the changes click here.
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Posted on September 8th, 2021 by Elaine Davies
Our Communications Team has won the Sales, Comms and Marketing team of the year award at the Housing Heroes awards.
The prestigious national awards, which are the largest awards in the housing sector, were held during the first night of the Housing 2021 conference – the biggest housing event in Europe.
The ceremony, run by inside Housing and the Chartered Institute of Housing, took place last night and the team won in front of an audience of 650 housing professionals.
Our Director of Communications Steve Hayes said: “After a challenging year this award is a fantastic achievement for the Communications Team and we are delighted to put Citizen on the map as an organisation with a sector-leading communication function.
“The Housing Heroes Awards are the biggest team awards in the housing sector and to win in front of a crowd of 650 professionals on the biggest stage in our sector is brilliant for Citizen.
“I want to personally thank each member of the team – Laura, Elaine, Lisa, Donna, Sue and our newest recruit Kate.
“In truth the award recognises not just the excellent work of the Communications Team but a huge amount of work by colleagues across the business who contribute every day in some way to what has become an engaging and dynamic flow of communication. Without your active involvement and constant support this success would simply not be possible.
“Well done to everyone involved.”
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Posted on September 6th, 2021 by Elaine Davies
Our bid for nearly £60m of strategic partnership funding with Homes England has been successful.
We’ve been awarded £59.172m from Homes England Affordable Homes Programme 2021 – 26 to provide 1,050 homes over the next few years.
It will help us build a mixture of social rent, affordable rent, shared ownership and rent to buy homes.
The bid was submitted as part of the Matrix Development Partnership – a group of eight housing associations who manage 100,000 homes across the Midlands.
The partnership, led by Green Square Accord, will be receiving £212.9m funding in total.
Our Executive Director of Development Nick Byrne said: “This is fantastic news and I am delighted that we have been successful with our bid.
“This means that we have funding secured for our business plan development ambitions to 2026/27. At Citizen we want to provide more than a home, we want to provide a foundation for life, and this will help to provide many more affordable homes for our customers.
“I would like to thank everyone in the Development Team for their work in the success of this bid and for delivering our current Homes England programme.”
Our previous strategic partnership funding from Homes England will lead to us having delivered 680 grant funded homes for our customers by March 2022 as part of our overall programme of 2200 affordable homes.
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