| Hello,
We know that strong communities happen when people are economically active. Supporting people into work is one of the priority strands of our Community Investment programme. Our Careers Clubs (running at our Westwood Community Hub, South Bretton Family and Community Centre and Hampton Library) are great places for anyone looking to get into work or access training to build their skills. We have also added a new careers club aimed specifically at parents, who need that extra help to find work that fits around their family commitments, and their options for childcare. The added bonus is, they can bring their young children to the sessions, where we’ll have someone on hand to look after them while mum or dad get the help they need.
We are also working with local training providers to put on specialist training at our Westwood Hub: Coming up we have certified courses in Customer Service and Support Work in Schools, along with a basic and higher level IT course. We welcome training providers who would like to use our facilities to deliver training in our communities. If this is you, please get in touch!
As we head into the colder months and towards Christmas, many of our residents will be starting to feel the financial pinch more acutely again. We are here for our residents, with our Money Adviser on hand to support residents through tough financial times, as well as our Income Management team to help those struggling to pay their rent. If you are talking to any of our residents and they indicate they are having financial difficulties, please do encourage them to get in touch with us as soon as possible. The sooner we know of their plight – the sooner we can get the wheels in motion to help them.
Our Neighbourhood Managers are out and about in our communities with a programme of surgeries, and we welcome people from across our communities to drop in to discuss any improvements we could make to our neighbourhoods.
We know this cold and damp weather can lead to an increase in condensation and ultimately mould growth in people’s homes. We do not want anyone to have to live in a damp home and encourage anyone who feels their home is damp to get in touch with us as soon as possible. Even very small spots of mould are a cause for concern and we will act immediately on any reports. Please urge residents to call our Repairs team on 01733 385030, or to report through MyCKH on our website, as soon as they notice damp or mould. We will be visiting every home again in the new year, to conduct our annual property condition checks, but residents should still contact us in the meantime.
I really do want to reinforce that we are here to listen to our residents. We learn and improve thanks to their feedback. From our Residents Board through to the feedback we receive on a daily basis, we are always listening. We want to provide the very best services and the highest quality homes for all our residents and we want to know when we are not achieving that. Please encourage residents to talk to us, to let us know when we could do better, or when they feel they are not getting the service they deserve. We will listen and we will act. There are many ways people can contact us, and we encourage them to do so through the channel that suits them best.
We are always looking at innovative ways to make our neighbourhoods better places to live in for everyone – and to make them greener. So, I am really pleased to share with you that we have now planted 1,000 trees and shrubs in partnership with our repairs contractors, Mears. Over the past few months, our Estate Rangers team together with the Mears’ team have jointly completed planting in five neighbourhood areas, bringing raised beds to life and creating green canopies close to the city centre with varieties including cherry trees, conifers, rose bushes and begonias.
As always, if you would like further information about our service provision, or have suggestions for partnership working, please do not hesitate to contact me and do not forget to follow us on our Facebook, Twitter and Linked In channels, to keep up to date with all our services and events or visit our website.
Best wishes
Claire Higgins MBE
Chief Executive, Cross Keys Homes |