East area walkabouts January 2008

The second wettest January on record in the last 94 years contributed to a lower than average attendance from tenants.  The walkabouts were advertised here on YHN’s website, in Homes and People, and at various locations in the relevant neighbourhoods.

The walkabouts built on existing working relationships with Newcastle City Council and other partner agencies working in the area. 

Overall, few grounds maintenance issues were raised, and most of the issues referred to Envirocall were unconnected to this sort of problem.

Byker

There were four separate walkabouts in Byker, all of which were carried out on the 10th of January 2008.  Tenants had attended previous walkabouts but on this particular day only YHN and Newcastle City Council staff were present.  This may have been because the weather was extremely poor with strong winds and heavy rain.

The walkabouts highlighted a number of issues:

• There were 23 repair related issues, many of which were to tenanted properties. The majority of repair issues to communal areas had already been picked up and reported by YHN staff.
• There were 10 issues which were referred to Envirocall - these were mainly related to rubbish in communal areas.
• There were 4 issues for YHN to take forward.  These ranged from putting together a proposal for an Area Project Fund scheme to tenancy enforcement action on the condition of a garden.

Shieldfield

There were seven separate walkabouts in the Shieldfield area spread over a period of just over a week, at the beginning of January 2008.  23 tenants joined the walkabouts in total but this was probably affected by poor weather.  This is also shown by the fact that most people attended deck access and multi storey properties.

• There were 10 repair related issues, most of which were to tenanted properties.
• There were 16 issues which were referred to Envirocall - these were mainly related to rubbish in communal areas.
• There were 14 issues for YHN to take forward.  These ranged from planned maintenance work and remedial work to communal areas after Modern Homes Work, through to tenancy enforcement action on the condition of individual gardens. The planned maintenance and remedial work had already been picked up and reported by YHN staff.

St Anthony's

There were six separate walkabouts in the St Anthonys area spread over a period of three days in January 2008  The poor weather may have been the reason why only YHN and Newcastle City Council officers and one owner occupier were present

• There were 36 repair related issues, most of which were to tenanted properties. There were also some repairs to private rented and owner occupied properties.
• There were 12 issues which were referred to Envirocall -  these were mainly related to rubbish in communal areas.
• There were 24 issues for YHN to take forward.  These ranged from planned maintenance work, proposals for Area Project Fund schemes, and referrals for action by the Private Landlords Project, through to tenancy enforcement action on the condition of individual gardens, unauthorised hard standings etc. The planned maintenance work had already been picked up and reported by YHN staff.

Walker

There were 10 separate walkabouts in Walker spread over a two week period, from the middle of January to the end of January 2008. The bad weather continued to effect attendance with high winds, snow and driving rain putting off all but 11 tenants.

• There were 7 repair related issues, most of which were passed to outside agencies as they related to non YHN properties.
• There were 28 issues which were referred to Envirocall - these mainly related to rubbish in communal areas.
• There were 24 issues for YHN to take forward.  These ranged from planned maintenance work, proposals for Area Project Fund schemes, through to tenancy enforcement action on the condition of individual gardens, some which had already been picked up by YHN staff