Spotlight on Flintshire

FlintshireSpring 2012

Spotlight on

WWHA’s Extra Care scheme in Prestatyn is officially opened by First Minister Carwyn JonesWWHA helps residents TakeCtrlMy Home DVD - ‘Making every penny count’

Award winning residentsPet friendly Sydney Hall Court schemein Cinnamon Trust’s UK top ten

Also in this edition...

More affordable homes for the Flintshire areaAward winning DVD ‘My home - every penny counts’

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Spotlight on Flintshire - Spring 2012

I do not need to say that we are all still facing very challenging economic conditions and now more than ever we recognise the importance of delivering excellent customer service, supporting innovation to meet demand and, quite simply, going the extra mile to help our residents and their communities to help themselves.

We are committed to being green, to helping our residents deal with money-related problems, and to getting as many of them as possible up-and-running online. We’re also working with various partners to help people get into, or get back into, work or training.

Then there are our latest developments within the business,

including news of our £101m development programme, our fi rst subsidiary company, our new RP strategy and how we’re approaching self-assessment.

So I hope you will take fi ve minutes to read this newsletter and that it proves to be useful and informative.

Finally we always value your feedback so don’t hesitate to get in touch and tell us what you think about Spotlight, the news within it, or any other aspect of our business.

Anne HincheyChief Executive

Welcome to the Spring 2012 edition of Spotlight on Flintshire

Jane Styles, Chair of Cwrt Leighton Residents’ Association in Connah’s Quay, is delighted with the murals at their newly renovated play park

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More affordable homes for the Flintshire areaDeveloping more high quality, affordable, sustainable homes for people in Wales is a major priority for WWHA.

WWHA’s current fi ve year £101m development programme includes innovative projects for residents with autism and learning diffi culties, together with general needs housing and extra care facilities. The programme is supported by £15m social housing grant funding from our partner local authorities and the Welsh Government.

Amongst WWHA’s developments currently on site, or shortly to go on site are:

Llys Jasmine, MoldThis £8.5m development, currently on site, will provide a 61 apartment extra care and dementia complex, plus an additional two extra care bungalows. Completion is anticipated in June 2013. The Contractor is Anwyl Construction,

a North Wales based company who play an active role in employment and training for the construction sector. The project will provide all the usual refi nements expected of an extra care scheme, including restaurant, communal rooms, roof terrace, hairdressing, assisted bathing etc. The site was acquired from Flintshire County Council. Llys Y Binwydden learning autism scheme, MoldThis £1m development, which is now fully occupied, is a supported living and independent living project in partnership with Flintshire County Council which provides six specialist units of accommodation, catering for a range of needs and capabilities. The project was constructed as phase 1 of a larger site which will now accommodate the extra care project mentioned above. Four of the dwellings are fully self-contained to provide accommodation for those who require independence but with a level of support.

Llys Y Binwydden

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Other projects planned over the next two years include 60 houses and apartments at Glan Y Don, Greenfield, Flintshire, and we are playing an active role in the creation of plans for the regeneration of Flint.

Nikki Cole, Head of Development at WWHA, says: “While family housing is a major area of strength and expertise for WWHA, we also work in partnership with local authorities across Wales to meet the

needs of local people with learning difficulties and autism. We relish the opportunity to provide housing solutions to meet a wide variety of housing requirements.

Grant funding to assist the development of new social housing is limited however the Association has been successful in securing funding to help develop a range of housing opportunities across our area of operation.”

Continued investment in our properties

During the last six months of 2011 we spent £5.7m on refurbishing our homes across Wales and we are delighted to say that we are on course to achieve the Welsh Housing Quality Standard by 2012.

We’ve renewed the kitchens in over 400 homes (£1.3m) – including sixteen in Flintshire at a cost of £64,000.

Across Wales we’ve spent over £600k refurbishing bathrooms, including £106,000 on 53 in Flintshire, and we’re also investing a further £1.2m in a major window renewal programme which should make our homes more comfortable, warmer, cheaper to heat and less likely to need expensive maintenance work in the near future.

Taking action

We have recently secured possession of a property in the Mold area after the resident had demonstrated antisocial and criminal behaviour caused by severe mental health issues.

The Court recognised that the resident should be placed in a secure hospital and should not remain in the community where he posed a risk both to himself and others around him.

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GROWING your own fruit and veg has now got that little bit easier for many of our residents across the country.

Thanks to our new Environment Fund 29 new resident-led eco-projects are up and running with a big emphasis on helping groups to grow their own produce.

Owen Jones, Environment and Sustainability Offi cer, said: “We know many of our residents enjoy gardening and want to make the most of the areas they have available to them.

“We also know that more and more people are concerned about the environment and want to do what they can to help have a

positive impact on where they live, as well as helping to reduce their carbon footprint.

“We really want to see unproductive land brought back into use by residents, and growing fruit and vegetables is a great way to stay fi t and healthy and keep the food bills down.”

So far the fund has invested nearly £15,000 in 29 projects across Wales, approximately £1000 of which has gone to Sydney Hall Court retirement scheme in Connah’s Quay for environmental improvements and raised beds, in partnership with EON, and to Ystad Goffa Court in Flint, for supplies of plants and vegetables for their gardening club.

Growing their own

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Award winners2011 was an amazing year for Cwrt Leighton Residents’ Association in Connahs Quay.Not only did they launch their new Residents’ Association in style by combining it with a Royal Wedding party, but during their first year they also won significant financial support - £30,000 - from Flintshire County Council to upgrade a local children’s play park, leading to their being shortlisted for a Community Project Award at WWHA’s 2011 Making a Difference Awards.The park, now named by local children as ‘Rainbow’s End’ was formally opened by Carl Sargeant, AM for Alyn & Deeside, last week.

Other partners involved in upgrading the area were Barclays Bank, moneysupermarket.com, Keep Wales Tidy, Deeside College and Groundwork Flintshire.

WWHA’s eco-friendly scheme to refurbish 82 properties in Flintshire was shortlisted for a top UK Housing Award.The £852,000 project at Powell Road and Becketts Lane in Buckley, which was part-funded by the Welsh Government’s ARBED (Strategic Energy Performance Investment Programme), was shortlisted for the Outstanding Achievement in Wales category, beating dozens of other entrants from around the UK.

The 18 week project saw 82 properties benefit from:

• An external wall insulation system;

• old windows and doors have been replaced with new double-glazed energy efficient products;

• repairs and improvements to rooflines;

• the installation of energy efficient heat recovery ventilation units to bathrooms and kitchens;

all of which have made the properties cosier, more energy efficient and more eco-friendly as well as providing a substantial exterior face-lift for the area bringing attendant social, economic and psychological gains to all.

Super Pet-Friendly Sydney HallCourt retirement scheme inConnah’s Quay, has been recognised as one of the top five most pet-friendly retirement schemes in the UK.

In recognition of his achievementsat Sydney Hall Court schememanager Rob Holmes waspresented with a certificate and a cheque for £250 to be spent on pet-related projects for the scheme at a ceremony held by The Cinnamon Trust in London.

For more information go to www.cinnamon.org.uk

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Sydney Hall Court residents walking their pets

SARTH project

In north east Wales the single access to housing project (SARTH) aims to make access to social housing as efficient, consistent and fair as possible.

It is a joint project of Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham local authorities and North Wales Housing, Cymdeithas Tai Clwyd, Clwyd Alyn, Cartrefi Conwy and Wales & West Housing Associations.

All current partnership members have agreed to work together on a common framework for allocations and advice, as well as a set of aims and objectives, in line with Welsh Government advice to local authorities.

The project steering group has since then recruited project development officer, Nicholas Weatherall, jointly funded by all partners and hosted by Wales & West Housing Association, to coordinate the development of a common allocations framework.

The project aims to pilot the common framework in 2013.

Further information can be found on Tai Clwyd’s website:

http://bit.ly/yvK0in

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My home DVD - ‘Making every penny count’

We are proud to be a member of the North Financial Inclusion Partnership which has recently won two prestigious national awards for it’s ‘My Home…making every penny count’ DVD:

1. Promoting Independence Award 2011 – Service User Involvement Award 2011

2. MoneyActionNet Award 2011

The ‘My Home.. making every penny count’ DVD offers an innovative approach to tackling the day to day financial issues that a tenant may run into when first starting a tenancy with a social landlord.

The film explores the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ approach to money handling and highlights the dangers of adopting a ‘careless’ attitude towards household

finances. It also gives practical ideas as to where savings can be made and debt avoided.

It particularly highlights the consequences of borrowing from illegal loan sharks and other sources of high cost borrowing.

The DVD is made available to all new housing association residents in north Wales.

The Partnership has representatives from all of the housing associations in north Wales:

• Cartefi Cymunedol Gwynedd• Cartrefi Conwy• Clwyd Alyn Housing Association• North Wales Housing Association• Cymdeithas Tai Clwyd• Cymdeithas Tai Eryri• Wales & West Housing Association

Self-assessment and planning for the futureLike many other housing associations we conduct rigorous self-assessment exercises to look at how well we are performing and to help us plan for the future.

We always welcome constructive feedback about any aspect of our business, our properties, or the services we deliver.

To find out more about our plans and self assessment process please go to: www.wwha.net/AboutUs/CorporateInformation/Performance/InspectionInformation

Wi-fi broadband access for older residentsWe are committed to providing broadband WiFi access at all our 100 older persons schemes across Wales within the next two years, investing £1m in the project.

We are already working on a pilot scheme at Ty Pontrhun, one of our retirement schemes in Merthyr Tydfil, in partnership with Welsh provider Boynes. Four lines, routers and boosters will be up and running at the scheme from March 2012 providing 1MG download capacity for each resident. The cost to residents will be an affordable £1 per household per week.

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Take Ctrl

Take Ctrl is a digital inclusion initiative that aims to raise awareness of and provide training in the use and application of digital technologies, as a means of tackling financial inclusion across the whole of North Wales.

It is specifically targeted at three of the four priority groups identified for the Communities 2.0 project.

As the title suggests, the project’s aim is to empower people to make informed choices and to better manage their finances. It’s ultimate goal is to ensure that digital, financial and indeed social exclusion are reduced; to dovetail the approach for dealing with all three and to ensure that the reationale for driving digital take-up to eradicate poverty is firmly embedded in the mind-set of the project’s beneficiaries - from the housing associations’ policy development teams, front-line and broader staff base to their tenants and, indeed, the wider community.

The proposal was put together by a consortium of members from seven of the housing associations that serve the North Wales area - between them the associations have housing stock the length and breadth of North Wales and have a proven track record of working

successfully in partnership on similar initiatives.

The project will run across the whole of the North Wales area.

The main component of the project is the proposed employment of a digital inclusion officer for a two-year period, hosted at WWHA, whose time will be shared proportionately between the organisations and their respective tenants. Her role will broadly incorporate the co-ordination (and sometimes delivery) of direct training and awareness raising; garnering and signposting to existing digital information; devising and adhering to marketing and volunteering strategies; forging links and building future partnerships.

Although the proposal is for a two-year initiative, from its very conception partners have been considering its sustainability and see this very much as the first phase of a much more inclusive project that could bring together existing projects in the area, secure new partners from the public, private and third sectors, and create a model for dealing with exclusion that could be replciated elsewhere.

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Eco-friendly initiatives

We are committed to being green across our organisation, as well as supporting our residents to be able to enjoy the many benefi ts of being environmentally friendly. and we have just passed our annual Green Dragon audit, reaching Level 2.

We are undertaking a wide range of projects, led by Owen Jones, our Environment & Sustainability Offi cer.

We have been installing Ground Source Heat Pumps at Clos Pontganol, Llangynidr, together with additional sites at Crickhowell, Llanfair Cereinion and Flint. These literally groundbreaking projects are going to have a huge impact in helping residents to save money on their energy bills.

Some residents in Maes Yr Onnen, Crickhowell are currently

paying £150 to £200 per month on their electricity bills, and they are now going to benefi t from new windows, improved insulation and Ground Source Heat Pumps. Further measures such as removing their electric showers and replacing them with mixer showers will also help to reduce their bills.

Ground Source Heat Pumps are amongst the most sustainable space and domestic hot water heating systems currently available and residents will gain from having greater control of their heating and in most cases it will be cheaper to run.

Picured is the fi rst bore hole being started at Clos Pontganol for the installation of the ground source heat pumps.

One of the 10 bore holes will go nearly 200 meters (aproximately 600 feet) down.

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Other projects include:

• Fuel switching

• Continuing to trial voltage optimisation devices

• Working with the Environment Agency to develop fl ood plans for our properties which may be affected.

We’ve also invested more than £15,000 from our Environment Fund in 29 projects across Wales. These are all resident-led projects which have applied to us for grassroots funding.

Projects include developing biodiversity gardens, installation of raised beds for accessible planting,

to purchase of seeds, tools, greenhouses and other equipment.

We are continually working hard to make sure that, where possible, we use and incorporate environmentally friendly technologies into every aspect of our new developments as well as in our refurbishment programmes.

However, uncertainty around funding has unfortunately resulted in us having to put on hold our plans to install solar PV panels on the roofs of our suitable properties. This was due to factors beyond our control and we are among many other social housing providers across the UK in this position.

Picured is the former bin store at Western Court, Bridgend, which has now been transformed by the residents into a greenhouse, thanks to a £200 contribution from the WWHA Environment Fund.

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Development update

Throughout Wales our £101m five-year development programme is going from strength to strength.

We are now on site, or about to go on site, to start work on more than 250 units in five different local authority areas. These units include general needs housing, extra care, special needs and dementia care accommodation.

We have also recently completed a total of 47 units across Wales including general needs houses and apartments as well as specialist supported housing units.

We’re also piloting our first Try Before You Buy’ initiative with 16 units for affordable rent with the option of purchasing the property, after a year’s successful tenureship.For more information about our development plans please go to:www.wwha.net/ourservices/development

Upskilling with Communities 2.0 and Take CtrlWe’re also working with a number of partners to upskill any of our residents, regardless of age or previous experience, to be able to enjoy the benefits of digital technology.

In Merthyr Tydfil we’re working with Communities 2.0 on the Connect Merthyr Project. This is supporting older people to learn how to use a variety of platforms on the internet inclusing email, Skype, search engines, Twitter and YouTube. It is also helping them to use a variety of other digital equipment including mobile phones, cameras and video cameras.

Welsh Finance minister Jane Hutt visited the project recently to see for herself the incredibly positive impact it is having on its older participants.And in North Wales we are hosting Jen Bailey, co-ordinator of the Take Ctrl Project. This is a partnership between seven housing associations including WWHA. For more details go to: www.takectrl.org

Making a Difference Awards 2012Our fifth annual Making a Difference Awards will take place on October 19th at The Village Hotel, Coryton, Cardiff.

We welcome nominations from anyone for community-spirited individuals or groups at any time.Our only criteria is that nominees must either be WWHA residents, or working together with WWHA residents, and the nomination process itself is quick and easy.

Those who make the shortlist are invited to our red carpet gala evening where community spirit is recognised with a series of awards.

The categories are: Fresh Start, Local Hero, Good Neighbour, Eco Champion, Green Fingers, Community Champion.

For more details and to make a nomination call Sharon Buckley on 029 20 415363 or email [email protected]

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Mortgage rescueOur mortgage rescue scheme is continuing to have a positive impact on the lives of many householders at risk of repossession.

We are one of the few associations to operate a self-funded scheme now that the grant funding from the Welsh Government has stopped.

We are still experiencing considerable demand and are committed to continuing the mortgage rescue scheme in order to help reduce homelessness.

So far we’ve invested more than £2m in the scheme.

To date WWHA has:

• Purchased 31 properties outright – where the residents have now become our tenants. This includes 3 properties which have been purchased without grant as part of the Associations self funded scheme. A further 4 households have accepted offers of assistance as part of this scheme.

• Completed 26 loans to enable the occupiers to remain in their properties as owners

To fi nd out more our mortgage rescue scheme call freephone 0800 052 2526Or go to: www.wwha.net/OurServicesMortgageRescue/

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The Association has just closed another strong year of fi nancial performance.

Firstly, as part of the new WG regulatory framework, we received a pass for fi nancial viability judgement which is the highest rating awarded and demonstrates that we are adequately resourced to meet current and future business and fi nancial commitments.

Secondly, our results for the year show both a surplus and a positive free cash fl ow. This has allowed us to invest over £30m in the last three years in our existing properties to improve the quality

of our homes.

With a further £10m investment planned this year, we are well on track to meeting the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) by the target date of 2012.

We already have £35m of funding in place to fund future development. Having brought into management 165 newly developed properties this year alone, we have plans to bring in a further 600 over the next 5 years. To do this will require further funding and we are well placed to do this, with low gearing and a large portfolio of unsecured high quality properties on our books.

Strong fi nancial performance for WWHA

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Awards round-upSince our last edition of Spotlight we’ve gained the following recognition:

• 2012 Sunday Times Best Companies. In 2012 WWHA has been named the top not-for-profit organisation in Wales and ranked 8th, up from 14th in 2011.

We are also the only Welsh housing association to be awarded the coveted three stars award by Best Companies.

“I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ve been recognised as the top not-for-profit organisation in Wales, and, that we’ve made the top ten NFP organisations to work for in the UK. And to have been awarded the highest rating of three stars is fantastic,” says Anne Hinchey.

“We pride ourselves on being a values-driven company – to be fair, open, supportive, efficient and responsible – to our staff as well as everyone with whom, and for whom, we work.

• WWHA were delighted to be named in the Top 30 Family Friendly Firms in the UK by Working Families, an organisation which campaigns for work-life balance. We were one of only two Welsh organisations to make the list which is dominated by blue chip firms.

• Our Stoneleigh Manor More Options Homelessness Project in partnership with Powys County Council won the Cymorth Cymru Promoting Independence

2011 Good Commissioning Award. This project was also shortlisted for a CIH Welsh Housing Award ‘Making Best Use of Stock.”

• North Wales Financial Inclusion Forum, of which we are a member organisation, won the 2011 Promoting Independence Award 2011 Service User Involvement Award for it’s ‘My Home… Making Every Penny Count’ DVD. The DVD has since won a second award – the MoneyActionNet Award 2011 by social action information provider Lemos & Crane.

• WWHA residents have scooped two TPAS Cymru awards. The groups from the Garw Valley, Bridgend, and Barracksfield estate in Wrexham, beat off stiff competition from other social landlords’ groups in Wales.

• Our Powell Road Eco-Friendly Regeneration Project in Flintshire was shortlisted for an Outstanding Achievement in Wales CIH UK Housing Award.

• Our retirement scheme Sydney Hall Court in Connah’s Quay, run by scheme manager Rob Holmes, was shortlisted for The Cinnamon Trust’s Pet Friendly Care Home of the Year Award.

• We’ve achieved the Gold Standard in RSPCA Housing Footprint.

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Employment and training opportunitiesWe are continuing to work in partnership with our contractors and others to provide work and training to people within many of the communities where we work.

Donna Samuel, one of two returners to work who have secured permanent jobs with WWHA thanks to JobMatch, Bridgend. Donna recently met First Minister Carwyn Jones (pictured beloew) at a local Health and Wellbeing event, and she took the opportunity to explain how fi nding a full-time job had transformed her life.

Many of our contractors have taken on apprentices as a result of the work we commission them to do. Some other example of how we are supporting people to get back into work, include:

• Working with JobMatch to train two dedicated Energy Advisers who will spread the word among residents as to how to get the best fuel deals and how best to cut costs.

• Supporting our contractors and suppliers to create apprenticeships in electrics and window fi tting.

• Creating work placements through JobCentre Plus and the Department of Work and Pensions’Work Programme.

• And we’re exploring what job opportunities we may be able to create through recycling.

New Resident Participation Strategy

We’ve updated our resident Participation strategy. If you’d like to fi nd out more please go to: www.wwha.net/NR/rdonlyres/6C6733C0-FA83-4302-912C-F846D2D3C68F/0/InTouchWinter20112.pdf

Or you can read the strategy in full at: www.wwha.net/NR/rdonlyres/10FD0DC5-E4DD-4B9C-9FC0-EF0F5A83AA1B/0/WHALTPS2011.pdf

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Wales & West Housing Association is registered as a charitableassociation under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 No. 21114R

Key

Contacts

Cate Porter, Housing Manager (Gen. Needs) 01352 [email protected]

Head Office 3 Alexandra Gate, Ffordd Pengam,

Tremorfa, Cardiff CF24 2UD

Tel: 0800 052 2526Fax: 029 2041 5380

Email: [email protected]: 0800 052 5205

Website: www.wwha.net Follow us on @WWHA

Flint OfficeUnit 2 Acorn Business Park Aber Road, Flint, Flintshire CH6 5YN

Anne Hinchey, Chief Executive029 2041 5335

[email protected]

Tony Wilson, Finance Director029 2041 [email protected]

Shayne Hembrow, Operations Director029 2041 5362

[email protected]

STRATEGIC

Lynnette Glover, Head of Housing029 2041 5365

[email protected]

Anne Caloe, Housing Manager (Retirement/Supported Housing)01352 736323

[email protected]

Nikki Cole, Head of Development029 2041 4093

[email protected]

Steve Porter, Head of Property Services029 2041 [email protected]

D E V E LO P M E N T P R O P E RT Y S E R V I C E S

Shayne Hembrow, Operations Director029 2041 5362

[email protected]

HOUSING

Documents

Spotlight on Flintshire