Tenants have their say

Sep 15 2011 by Shirley Bartynek, Hamilton Advertiser

TENANTS throughout South Lanarkshire are being urged to have their say on the rent levels for the next year.

The Tenants Budgeting Conference will take place on Saturday, October 8, in the Banqueting Hall, Council Offices, Almada Street, Hamilton, at 9.30am.

This year’s conference will be overseen by the Budget Scrutiny Group, made up of council officials, tenant representatives from across South Lanarkshire and the Development Officer from South Lanarkshire Tenant Development Support Project.

Many of the tenant representatives on the Budget Scrutiny Group are also members of the Central Liaison Group, who are the group who oversee tenant participation across South Lanarkshire.

The group work closely with the local authority to oversee the Home Happening Programme, to develop a new repairs policy, to develop a new policy for rent arrears and to monitor and develop the Tenant Participation Strategy.

This year’s consultation agreed with the group will have three phases - an opening conference, extended local consultation during October, November and December to gather views and finally a Question Time session.

The main topics to be discussed next month will include important changes to housing benefit being introduced by the UK Government, The Scottish Housing Quality Standard and the steps the council are taking to ensure all council homes meet this standard by 2015, how affordable rents are across Scotland and how South Lanarkshire compares and other budget pressures facing council tenants.

There will be an opportunity for tenants to put questions to the speakers and to discuss matters with other tenants from across South Lanarkshire.

Sam Hewitt, who represents Hamilton tenants, said: “We will have four speakers, all touching on various topics which affect tenants. It is a great opportunity for tenants to come along and hear for themselves about issues which affect them directly.”

There will also be further information on a range of housing-related issues provided on the day.

Reasonable travel expenses will be provided where required and a creche will be available if places are booked in advance.

To book a place, call South Lanarkshire Tenants Development Support Project on 01698 527108 or email SLProject@tis.org.uk before September 30.