Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Written Evidence


Memorandum by Strategic Housing Services, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (EMP 04)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  With a high proportion of housing that is at worst obsolete and best in need of significant improvement, there is scope to see clearance and redevelopment as means to regenerate areas and to ensure that the targets for building on brownfield land are met before the properties become empty and targeted by vandals. There are other potential tools available for the improvement of empty properties such as eg Empty Property Management Orders. However, the effectiveness of such powers is dimensioned by the fact that many Local Authorities do not necessarily have the resources to use such tools to the potential effectiveness in which they were originally conceived.

  Furthermore, the Government has not found effective ways of tackling rogue and incompetent landlords, which can lead to and perpetuate the problems found and associated with empty homes. Greater monitoring, more community empowerment and a better sustained housing market can lead to tackling the underlying causes of empty homes.

  Housing Market Renewal (HMR) has acted as a catalyst for Rochdale to develop a Boroughwide Masterplan, which sets out our seven key priorities for transforming the physical form of the borough. This includes creating sustainable neighbourhoods for our HMR areas. These neighbourhoods have substantial plans for demolition and redevelopment of housing. HMR is also fundamental in impacting and delivering change on a local and regional level and therefore is a key priority in the local as well as regional strategy.

 (a)   The scope and scale of the initiatives proposed and underway in the Government's Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder areas and other areas with problems of empty homes

  Rochdale in common with many neighbouring authorities has a significant problem of poor quality housing stock, some of which is obsolete. For many homes, investment is required either in the property or the environment to stop them becoming unpopular and possibly empty, otherwise they may have little future value or use.

  The problems faced in Rochdale are very different from areas such as Southern England where there is a chronic housing need, where the older stock has under gone gentrification (eg the South East) and where obsolete housing doesn't exist. Although empty homes are not a significant problem yet, Rochdale does not always find it easy to attract end uses for its empty properties in the private sector. For instance, Registered Social Landlords are reluctant to invest in older stock because there is a risk of property values decreasing and the possibility of the property being difficult to let.

  In some inner urban neighbourhoods close to Rochdale town centre there are large numbers of old, small terraced houses that don't meet modern needs. At the same time and often in the same areas, there is a shortage of affordable larger properties with gardens and parking. Some of the poorer inner urban areas of Rochdale are home to people of Asian heritage. Some of which are original immigrants, with increasing numbers of second and third generation descendants. Demand for homes in these areas is artificially maintained by the desire for communities with a common heritage to stay together. Adding to this pressure is the increase in the size of this section of the community and the increase in the number of new households being formed. Often these neighbourhoods are overcrowded and densely populated. Whilst nearby there are other neighbourhoods with relatively high levels of empty homes. The problem is the lack of the right type and mix of housing in the right places.

  In areas of low demand initiatives have been developed to provide community cohesion work. A good example of this is the Community Induction Project which has been quite successful in terms of re-housing BME groups in non traditional areas of Rochdale by providing support before and during re-housing and by carrying out a lot of preparatory work within the established neighbourhoods.

HOUSING MARKET RENEWAL (HMR)

  Oldham and Rochdale were chosen as a Pathfinder area for Housing Market Renewal (HMR) because both boroughs include neighbourhoods where demand for homes is poor and could collapse if no action is taken. In other areas of the country where the housing market has collapsed, owners have been unable to sell their homes and many properties have been abandoned, leading to further decline.

  The challenge for Pathfinders is to match the supply of homes to the needs of local people now and in the future. At the same time, we need to improve the quality of life in local neighbourhoods to make them places where people choose to live and stay, rather than having no other option.

  Our aim is that in addition to high quality housing and living conditions, local people will have access, for example, to high quality jobs, to the education and training that will enable them to get the jobs, and to high quality healthcare and leisure opportunities. Everything we do needs to be aimed at bringing communities together, building on what unites people and breaking down barriers between them.

  Our initiatives are based on careful research and consideration of local information. They have been produced in consultation and partnership with the communities whose lives they will change. They fit in with other local, regional and national strategies for improving communities. Our track record of partnership for regeneration shows we can achieve our aims.

  Rochdale, in partnership with Oldham has demonstrated the ability to improve the boroughs by using the more than £6 million already made available to start acquiring sites, to involve the community in the development process, and to bring about practical improvements to the environment and to the security of empty homes.

  The scale of change we are proposing is huge. For example, over the next 15 years we will clear some 6,000 homes and replace them with 7,000 modern new homes. Achieving this major transformation will require a huge amount of investment, not only Housing Market Renewal funds but also of funding from other public agencies and from the private sector, much of it prompted by the catalyst of Housing Market Renewal action.

  Within Rochdale the areas of East Central Rochdale and Langley have been identified as areas suffering from low demand, abandonment, over crowding and poor quality housing. The scale and scope of initiatives through HMR renewal pathfinder areas will be as follows:

East Central Rochdale

  The East Central Rochdale HMR neighbourhood includes the distinct neighbourhoods of Wardleworth, Hamer, Mayfield, Cloverhall and Bellshill.

  The area is predominantly residential, with a population of approximately 9,500, housed in 2,820 properties. However, there is also a significant proportion of land in industrial/manufacturing use—a legacy of Rochdale's industrial past.

  Proposals for transformation include:

    —  Clearing outdated homes.

    —  Providing high quality, modern housing for sale and rent.

    —  Improving Council properties and refurbishing other homes.

    —  Making fundamental changes to the land use patterns in the area, including relocating some industry.

    —  Using the River Roch as a feature for more housing development, including the Dale Mill site.

    —  Promoting high quality design standards.

    —  Linking developments in the neighbourhood to the town centre.

    —  Improving the local environment, especially public spaces and the provision for people and vehicles.

    —  Transport Links.

Langley

  Langley is an estate of some 5,000 homes on the south-western periphery of Rochdale borough in the Middleton Township. It was built as an over spill estate by Manchester City Council in the 1950s on garden city principles, with open spaces and trees.

Originally all the homes were Council-owned but under the Right to Buy some have transferred to private ownership. In 2002, ownership of the Council homes transferred to Bowlee Park Housing Association.

  The estate is isolated from the wider borough and the township of Middleton both physically and in the perceptions of many local people.

  The problems faced by the area include low house prices and a very high proportion of empty homes, a poor environment, lack of housing choice and quality, an ageing population, high levels of benefit dependency, and negative external perception of the area.

  Proposals for transformation include:

    —  Clearing housing association and private homes.

    —  Building new high quality, modern homes for sale.

    —  Improving housing association homes.

    —  A range of inter-connected measures to raise quality of life, such as environmental and leisure improvements.

    —  Improving Langley's connections with the rest of the Rochdale borough.

CORPORATE EMPTY PROPERTY GROUP (CEPG)

  The problems that empty properties cause the local authority are broad and reach across planning and building control, environmental management, regeneration and renewal, private sector standards and enforcement and beyond this the police, fire brigade, youth service and quite possibly other services. Moreover the bringing back of empty properties into use feeds in to a national PI and enhances the councils Comprehensive Performance Assessment.

  An initiative set up by Strategic Housing Services has been to establish a group known as the Corporate Empty Property Group (CEPG). The groups membership is open and includes representatives from the Private Sector Team, Building Control, Environmental Health, Planning and Regeneration, Housing Advice, the Renewal Area managers, the Council's Legal Team, Rochdale Housing Initiative and a consultant inspector.

  Without a clear focus for work with empty properties, the possibility of many parts of the council taking disparate and uncoordinated action increases, conversely the opposite problem occurs as parts of the authority assume some one else is dealing with a property and nothing gets done. Empty properties are brought to the group and a decision about what actions are to be taken, and who will take those actions, is agreed upon. The group aims to develop and use the full array of options for dealing with empty properties. Working as a group the team has already managed the resolution of the problems associated with some empty properties.

 (b)   The commitment and contribution of all Government departments and other agencies to tackling the underlying causes of empty homes

    —  The Government has introduced VAT incentives to help with the renovation of empty properties. In 2001, zero-rated VAT on refurbishment of properties empty for more than 10 years and 5% on those empties for more than three years was introduced.

  Although these incentives are welcomed, the do not go far enough in terms of bringing empty properties back into use more immediately as housing markets can change at a more rapid rate than the timelines given.

    —  The ODPM has introduced a Best Value Performance Indicator for Local Authorities on the re-use of empty properties (BVPI 64). The number of private sector vacant dwellings that are returned into occupation or demolished during 2003-04 as a direct result of action by the local authority.

  Although this is an annual measure, we believe that quarterly monitoring will help identify empty properties quicker and allow positive action on such properties to be taken before some properties become blighted.

    —  The ODPM has issued "Guidance on bringing empty properties back into use" and the guidance document "Empty Property: Unlocking the Potential-A Case for Action". This is a comprehensive guidance on bringing empty properties back into use.

  There is currently no duty on local authorities (LAs) to produce an empty property strategy. A dedicated empty property officer and an empty property strategy should be set as a requirement using the guidance document quoted above.

  Within Rochdale Council and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (ALMO), we have managed to contain the low demand problem in relation to the local authority stock via a number of initiatives. These include the Intensive Housing Project and the Select-A-Home Project which fast tracked applications for low demand properties where no points were required. These initiatives have kept the number of empty properties to reasonable levels and contained abandonment.

    —  Local Government Act 2003, Section 85 allows authorities to use information obtained for Council Tax purposes to be used for the purpose of identifying vacant dwellings and for taking steps to bring empty homes back into use.

  Rochdale currently utilises council tax data to monitor empty properties within the borough. Although such a data set is not 100% conclusive, it is useful in helping to maintain and monitor long-term empty properties within the borough and highlights such properties in HMR areas were there is a need of such properties.

    —  A discretionary power for councils to change the discount on second homes and long term empty properties became available from 18 December 2003 (Local Government Act 2003). The power is now available for councils to decide whether to reduce the council tax discount currently offered to second homes and long term empty properties. Some councils have from April 2004 imposed homeowners to pay above 50% Council Tax on their second homes.

  Rochdale has a relatively small percentage of long-term (over six months) empty homes and vacant dwellings within the borough. This borough is one of 88 areas in the country identified as experiencing multiple deprivation and qualifying for Neighbourhood Renewal. Given the low percentage of empty properties coupled with income streams being below national averages it was decided that imposing Council Tax rates above 50% for second homes was not worthwhile in terms of bringing those properties back into use or long term financial gain for the council.

    —  The new Housing Act has seen the introduction of Empty Homes Management Orders. The intention would be to allow local authorities to purchase a lease on a property where the owner will not co-operate in bringing the property back into use voluntarily. The property would then be let for social housing.

  Rochdale acknowledges and welcomes the new Housing Act and the CEPG are continually looking at ways of effectively using such powers.

    —  A Private Sector Leasing Scheme is a facility for a housing association (HA) to be funded to buy a lease (for a period of two to 29 years) on a private property. LA Empty Property Officer will identify an empty property, contact the owner to tell them of the scheme and, if they are interested, will notify the HA. The HA will purchase a lease and use the property to house tenants from the council waiting list. The HA will pay the owner a guaranteed rent throughout the period of the lease. The property is used to house tenants from the HA's or LA's waiting list.

  The North is not traditionally good at dealing with leasing deals as the South, it is perceived to be too risky. In order to promote such a scheme within Rochdale and the North West, the leasing agreement needs to be underpinned by a public sector management agreement underwritten by a loss subsidy scheme. Rochdale has been invited by the LGA to nominate a representative to take part in LGA steering group on this issue.

    —  Each LA should have written a new Empty Property Grant policy. A LA has the ability to give grants, loans and even mortgages to owners of empty properties to enable them to refurbish them and bring them back into use.

  Historically, Rochdale Council has intervened in the private sector housing market and up until the Regulatory Reform Order 2002 had incrementally developed a private sector policy based on the needs of that sector. The Council's approach in this respect was to implement progressive, innovative and sustainable strategies, including substantial clearance programmes; area based action and individual grants policies, which played an important role in protecting the local housing market.

  With the introduction of the Regulatory Reform Order in 2002 Rochdale Council reviewed its Private Sector Housing policies in order to gain full advantage from the freedoms and flexibility's it introduced. Staff from all sections of Private Sector Housing carried out a review of the options in relation to the private sector housing policy. The review included debates on the need to move away from a grants policy and to develop products like equity release, which helps people to help themselves and ultimately allow funds to be recycled

    —  The Housing Bill introduces the mandatory licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMO's). The aim of the licensing regime is to provide greater protection to the health, safety and welfare of the occupants of this type of property.

  Rochdale MBC welcomes the introduction of mandatory landlord licensing and is working towards integrating this part of the Act with other initiatives already in place at RMBC such as our Landlord Accreditation Scheme.

 (c)   The availability of resources outside the pathfinder areas and the development of strategies to deal with weak housing markets

  There are insufficient resources available outside the pathfinder areas to deal with the scale of low demand interventions or to develop strategies to combat weak housing markets.

  Clear commitment and working protocols are needed amongst local and regional bodies in order to deal with effective regional strategies to stabilise and strengthen weak housing markets.

  Regional Planning and Housing Boards should develop a more robust Regional Housing Strategy, linking planning and economic strategies with clear geographical priorities focused on City Regions supported by consistent housing need and affordability studies and sustainability models.

  Through the development of national and regional strategies, clearly a more structured approach outside the remit of local governance is required in order to improve the accessibility of resources being made available to pathfinder areas.

  RMBC is also trying to maximise what small resources we have through our CEPG.

 (d)   The dissemination of good practice, innovation and co-ordinated interventions within and outside pathfinder areas

  Within the pathfinder areas, establishing cross-networked teams such as the CEP group has allowed a more co-ordinated corporate approach to be made by RMBC. With a single approach and vision from all teams involved, a more established, organised and structured advance to the problem of empty properties has been established. RMBC has been generally good at innovation and co-ordination. For example, the Heywood Partnership has lead to successful community empowerment, the Dale Mill Project is innovative with cutting edge and high design specs, supported by ground breaking research which has allowed RMBC to make good, informed decisions which have worked well within the borough. Bringing together these principles and carrying forward such good practice in all we do will only serve to continue to build upon Rochdale's success.

  So far, RMBC has not seen any projects, which disseminate good practice, or co-ordination outside the pathfinder areas.

 (e)   Whether Councils have sufficient powers to tackle the problem of empty homes in their areas

  Local councils do have effective powers to tackle the problem of empty properties. This has further been strengthened by the new Housing Act, which has given LA's the powers to obtain Empty Property Management Orders. However, there is limited money and resources available within the council to use such powers. More incentives directed at the council are needed. For example, financial benefits wielded from CPO properties going directly back into the area rather than the treasury would allow the council to employ dedicated empty property officers who could use the powers given to them more effectively.

 (f)   The priority given to the demolition of homes and the consideration given to effective methods of refurbishment

  Housing Market Renewal has acted as a catalyst for the borough to develop a boroughwide masterplan, which sets out our seven key priorities for transforming the physical form of the borough. This includes creating sustainability neighbourhoods of which ECR and Langley are two. Both neighbourhoods have substantial plans for demolition and redevelopment of housing.

  Specific and detailed delivery plans for 2004-05 have been developed for neighbourhoods in Rochdale which aim in general terms to:

    —  Improve property values;

    —  Reduce turnover;

    —  Improve satisfaction with neighbourhoods;

    —  Reduce segregation;

    —  Improve Quality of Life.

  These aims will be achieved by:

    —  Clearing surplus and obsolete housing;

    —  Making environmental improvements;

    —  Refurbishing existing properties;

    —  Funding new developments.

  East Central Rochdale (ECR) is currently a mixed area adjacent to the town centre consisting of private terraced housing, medium sized social rented estates and buildings used for retail, leisure, commerce and industry. The local housing market is typified by the enigma of some unpopular social rented estates existing next door to high-demand, but poor quality private sector housing areas. The latter housing market being sustained by the largely Asian BME population that first settled in the town in the 1950's and 60's to work in the textile industry.

  Over the last 25 years the Council has invested in the area via its area based renewal strategies and prevented the collapse of the housing market. However, there has never been sufficient funds to bring about the structural change required to create an urban neighbourhood sustainable in the long term.

  The Council recognises that the clearance of individual's homes is a particularly sensitive issue for those individuals involved and has adopted inclusive strategies to deal with these issues. Meetings have and will be held to all residents affected by clearance and a property adviser has been appointed to assist those residents affected to access alternative housing that most appropriately meets their needs.

  Whilst this is a difficult process it is important to note that it will not be possible to achieve the fundamental changes to transform neighbourhoods without a programme of strategic housing clearance which will inevitably include some individual properties that are not in poor condition.

  Another major part of the ECR proposals is the review of land-use patterns in the area. Large parts of ECR are currently occupied by industrial businesses that are operating from apparently outdated and outworn properties and creating amenity problems for nearby residents. The intention is to assist these businesses to find alternative, modern premises which would relieve these problems. Also, when linked with the housing clearance programme this project will help assemble large sites for residential development.

  Since it is no longer feasible to refurbish such properties, priorities are placed on demolishing, and new build. A key strategic site has already been acquired for new housing, the Dale Mill site and work is taking place to acquire the Arkwright Mill site. A masterplan has been developed for approximately 80 new homes on these sites. This provides layout plans and house types for the proposed new housing development. It is intended that the housing development will be a mixed tenure site with the majority of housing being available for owner occupiers to meet the aspiration of local people identified through to consultation process.

  Langley is an estate of some 5,000 homes in Middleton Township. It was developed as an overspill estate for the clearance programme in Manchester in the 1950s. The stock was predominantly three bedroom houses to rent. By the 1980s demand for rented family accommodation had reduced and by 2000 the estate had almost 1,000 empty properties. A variety of options to address this problem were considered by Manchester City Council with the favoured option being stock transfer which following a successful ballot in 2001, took place in 2002 with ownership transferred to Bowlee Park Housing Association. The vision for the neighbourhood is "To Change Langley Forever".

  This will be achieved by:

    —  Clearance of 971 HA and private homes;

    —  Bringing the retained HA stock up to the decent standard;

    —  Building 1,302 new high quality, modern homes for sale;

    —  Introducing a range of connected measures to raise the quality of life, such as environmental and leisure improvements;

    —  Improve Langley's connections with the rest of the Borough.

 (g)   The availability of the necessary skills and training to support staff promoting projects to tackle the needs of areas with weak housing markets

  Within the northwest, it has long been established that there is a shortage of staff with the necessary skills and expertise required to tackle such projects. Unfortunately there are not enough suitably skilled people to take forward such tasks, as there is a scarcity of people who have a diverse range of housing skills required. One way RMBC is trying to combat this shortage is by delivering training programmes to staff which will enable them to obtain the necessary skills to carry out and promote work within this field in the very near future. For example, we have employed a empty property support officer who will eventually work themselves up to become an empty property officer. Traditionally this post has been hard to fill due to not being able to find people with necessary skills to carry out the objectives of the post.

 (h)   How housing market renewal is addressed in other strategies including local and regional plans and other regeneration programmes

  RMBC acknowledges the fact that HMR is fundamental in impacting and delivering change on a local and regional level and therefore requires being integrated in strategies developed within Rochdale and the Northwest. Housing market renewal is addressed in the following strategies.

NEIGHBOURHOOD RENEWAL STRATEGY

  The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy (NRS) forms an integral part of HMR in focusing on key issues in HMR pathfinder areas.

  The NRS sets out a long-term vision for changing the borough of Rochdale, enabling residents to take greater control of their neighbourhoods and creating greater opportunities across the borough. It is built upon the development of neighbourhood action plans across the borough which link in to key objectives within HMR areas.

  The Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy acknowledges there is a fundamental danger that if economic regeneration and housing market renewal do not take place then housing low demand problems will increase. Therefore in line with the visions enlisted in Oldham and Rochdale's HMR prospectus, the NRS works upon and details key action points which link back to the HMR strategy.

NEW DEAL FOR COMMUNITIES

  Our New Deal for Communities strategy promotes cohesion within and between our most deprived neighbourhoods. This is achieved through promoting better understanding of cultural diversity whilst trying to increase cross-cultural activities. Community cohesion, acceptance, tolerance and understanding form the bases of integrating different communities across the borough through working with different groups in Rochdale. This links in well with work on transformation and cohesion, which is a key aim addressed within our HMR strategy.

HMR STRATEGY

  Oldham and Rochdale were chosen as a Pathfinder area for housing market renewal because both boroughs included neighbourhoods where demand for homes is poor and could collapse if no action is taken. The challenge for Pathfinders is to match the supply of homes to the needs of local people now and in the future.

  The HMR strategy focuses upon bringing communities together, building on what unites people and breaking down barriers between them.

  The strength of the strategy lies in enabling to bring about wide-ranging changes. This is being run by the Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) for Oldham and Rochdale, working together as "Partners in Action" and representing the whole community, rather than solely including organisations concerned with housing.

  Proposals are based on careful research and consideration of local information. They have been produced in partnership with the communities whose lives they will change. They fit in with other local, regional and national strategies for improving communities.

COUNCIL'S HOUSING STRATEGY

  Rochdale's Housing Strategy for 2004-07 sets out the key issues in relation to housing in the town, what action has been taken to address these issues so far and the priorities for future action to enable the above vision to be realised.

  Rochdale's Housing Strategy has been developed within the complex range of housing issues that are apparent within the borough. It is important to acknowledge that Rochdale's Housing Strategy is closely integrated with the HMR prospectus because the latter outlines the problem areas of housing market weakness within the borough that need to be addressed. It also provides one of the funding streams to enable the transformation required in these neighbourhoods to achieve a balanced housing market in the borough as a whole. There will, therefore, be a certain amount of overlap between the two documents and it is important to remember that the work carried out in the HMR neighbourhoods ultimately contributes to the achievement of the aims and vision of the housing strategy.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES PLAN

  The sustainable communities plan is integral part of RMBC core strategy. We aim to deliver a transformation in the housing market renewal areas that will create sustainable communities and lead to greater community cohesion. This again will be delivered through HMR nested and linked inherently to RMBC's service and corporate strategies.

NORTH WEST REGIONAL HOUSING STRATEGY (NWRHS)

  Housing Market Renewal is one of the key priorities of the NWRHS. It promotes the understanding of housing markets, and the development of strategies to prevent and/or deal with the occurrence of low demand.

 (i)   How Pathfinders are seeking to involve the private sector in their long term planning and programmes.

  We have a range of programmes in which we will involve the private sector on long term planning programmes. Below are a list of ways in which we are involving the private sector.

    —  Rochdale Housing Initiative

    RHI represents the interests of housing organisations in both the private and public sectors.

    —  Public Private Partnership—Procurement of Strategic Partnership

    The council has approved progress towards a large-scale partnership between Rochdale Council and a private company and preparations are well advanced with three short-listed bidders. Once the public/private partnership process is finalised a very high priority for the partnership will be the regeneration of the borough.

    —  HMR Procurement

    The Council in partnership with HMR is well advanced in procuring a neighbourhood development partner. Seven major development consortia have been short-listed to enter into a seven year development framework agreement to deliver all major redevelopment work in ECR. This will include the development of the Dale Mill site mentioned earlier. The partner is expected to develop a long term relationship and contribute fully to the future planning of the neighbourhood. The Langley neighbourhood partnership has already procured a major housing partner; Lovells who are currently developing new housing for sale, leading to an estimated input of over £30 million.

    —  Landlord Accreditation Programme

    Landlords will qualify to join the scheme if each of their properties is of a decent standard, is in a reasonable state of repair, has a gas safety certificate, and is subject to a tenancy agreement. The scheme is based on a successful pilot project that was started in the Derker neighbourhood of Oldham last year. This again will raise the quality and standard of homes within Rochdale. This is a way of involving the Private Sector in contributing to making Rochdale a better place to live.

    —  Private Sector Forum

    The Private Sector Forum undertakes empty property surveys and there has also been major surveys on tenant satisfaction. The Private Sector Forum has structures in place for regular consultation with local interest groups. These include residents groups on regeneration schemes, the private sector forum with landlords; estate based tenants groups and compacts.

 (j)   Any Other Comments—Community Involvement

  The process of developing our proposals for action to improve the housing market in our neighbourhoods has involved wide consultation with local residents and other stakeholders through a variety of processes integrated with other regeneration initiatives.

  Formal decisions on what action to take have been made by the Pathfinder Executive, made up of representatives of the Oldham and Rochdale Local Strategic Partnerships, taking into account the outcome of this extensive public involvement.

  Examples of how the community has contributed to the process include:

    —  Every household in the two boroughs was given the opportunity, through a MORI survey, to feed their views and wishes into the process. The information gathered through that process will be used not only to help with decision-making on Housing Market Renewal but also to help local organisations make decisions on other spending.

    —  Local people in the first neighbourhoods for action have been involved in extensive consultation. Their views have been taken into account in developing proposals for action. Consultation events and "planning for real" type exercises, using maps and simple three-dimensional models, have been held in places where communities already meet and feel at ease, including mosques, schools, shops and pubs.

    —  Computer technology has been used to show how a neighbourhood could change for the better. For example, a virtual reality tour of the ECR neighbourhood in Rochdale included examples of how outdated terraced homes to be demolished could be replaced with modern homes in a variety of possible layouts.

    —  Local people have been on visits to other areas to see successful schemes (eg for housing, traffic management etc) that might be applicable locally.

    —  Local councillors have contributed to the development of the proposals, representing the views of the community.

COMMUNITY REPRESENTATION ON TOWNSHIP COMMITTEES

  Rochdale has a well-established democratic process based upon the our Townships of Heywood, Middleton, Pennines and Rochdale, which make up the borough of Rochdale and fall under the remit of RMBC. Since 1992 the Council has had Township Committees for each area, with wide decision-making responsibilities. They also form the focus for community engagement. Within each Township there is a variety of groups dealing with many important issues. Several partner organisations—such as the Police and Primary Care Trusts—also base their structures on Township boundaries.

  Our Cabinet and Township structures enable us to balance priorities between geographical areas within the borough and between key service areas, a key factor in maintaining community cohesion. We are further developing our Township structures to ensure that local issues are considered and agreed at an appropriate local level.

  The Council uses a variety of ways of understanding the needs, priorities and aspirations of local people. We have many consultation mechanisms but are always trying to improve these to make sure that we understand what matters most to local people.

TENANT EMPOWERMENT

  Within the Arms Length Management Organisation, the Tenant Participation Unit is responsible for promoting and supporting tenant participation generally and also, for consulting tenants on the capital programme and capital works on individual estates. Ways in which we to involve and empower tenants are by:

    1.  developing, agreeing and supporting housing compacts with individuals;

    2.  providing advice, information, funding, training and other support to new and existing tenants;

    3.  support for establishing and developing community bases and centres for tenants groups;

    4.  formal liaison and recognition of tenant group to support them in meetings;

    5.  consult with tenants to seek agreement and understanding on housing policy;

    6.  dissemination of other related information;

    7.  work on policy issues relating to raising the quality and standard of life;

    8.  support to the voluntary sector, including involvement in funding agreements.

  We are committed to involving local people in its work throughout the borough through effective consultation on a continual basis.


 
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