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Word on the Street! Cirencester Housing
Summer 2015
RURAL HOUSING WEEK
Each year we take part in National Rural Housing Week. The aim of the week is to highlight rural housing issues
and spotlight successful projects that offer a lifeline to local people in market towns and villages. Last year we held
a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party as part of Cirencester’s Hare Festival. Our Hare was painted by the children at a local
school and moved to its resting place before being auctioned. This year, along with another Housing Association,
English Rural, we organised a bus tour for local Parish Councillors visiting new developments in the Stroud and
Cotswold area. It was a beautiful hot sunny day when the bus arrived at Bibury and the tour was completed with a
visit to Arlington Fields where visitors could treat themselves to an ice cream from the Winstones Ice Cream Van.
The week was completed with Lynne and one of the Bibury residents being interviewed by Radio 4’s Farming Today
programme.
If you want to listen to the interview check out the blog on our website- www.cirencesterhs.org.uk.
Government Changes 2015 One of the consequences of
these changes in Government
legislation is that our repair
budget is going to be severely
reduced.
In all tenancy agreements
there is a section which out-
lines what repairs we will do
and what repairs are the re-
sponsibility of our residents. In
the past we have been able to
be flexible in our approach but
unfortunately we cannot con-
tinue to do this.
When you report a repair in
the future you may be asked
more questions than you ex-
pect as we try to ascertain if
the repair is necessary, if it is
our responsibility or if it is
something that we would ex-
pect you to do.
We are proud of the way that
our repairs service has been
operated and the standard
that the majority of our homes
are in, and we will do our best
to ensure that this is main-
tained, but there are certain
jobs that we can no longer do.
If you cannot carry out a re-
pair and have no-one who can
assist you, we may help, but
you may also be charged.
Election and Budget 2015:
Following on from the election and
the recent summer Budget, the
Chancellor announced various
changes which will have a big impact
on residents of housing associations.
Rents:
Rents will reduce by 1% per year
over the next four years. It is ex-
pected that rents will be about 14%
less by 2021 than they are today.
While this is very good news for cur-
rent residents, it does mean that
housing associations will have less
money to build new homes in the
future which will affect future gen-
erations, who will also struggle to
buy their own homes.
Welfare and Work:
The household benefit cap will be
reduced to £20,000 (for people who
live outside London). This places the
limit at £385 per week for a two par-
ent family and £258 for a single per-
son.
The benefit cap sets a limit on the
total amount in benefits that most
people of working-age can claim.
You may be exempt from the bene-
fits cap for example if you are of
pension age or if you receive work-
ing tax credits.
Pay to Stay:
One of the biggest changes for both
landlords and residents is the ‘pay to
stay’ idea. Under this scheme resi-
dents who have a joint household
income of over £30,000 a year will be
charged a market rent.
It is not anticipated that this change
will affect too many of our residents,
however when it does come into
effect in April 2017, there will be an
incremental increase in rents for resi-
dents who earn just over the thresh-
old with their rents rising gradually as
their income increases.
Housing benefit for under-21s:
The automatic entitlement to housing
benefit for 18 to 21-year-olds will be
scrapped for new claimants from April
2017. Exceptions will be made for
vulnerable young people, those una-
ble to return to the family home and
those who were in work for the six
months prior to making a claim.
Right-to-Buy:
In the election manifesto the Govern-
ment promised an extension of the
right to buy legislation.
At the current time there is no further
information on how this will work.
We will let you know when we
receive more information.
Repairs
Coffee Morning!
Friday 25th September
11.00am-2.00pm
Social activities Residents have asked us if we
would start up some of the
social activities that we used
to hold, particularly during
the winter months when it’s
more difficult to get out and
about.
These were stopped, mainly
due to dwindling numbers,
however we would love to
hold them again if we receive
enough support.
If you would like to get
involved in these groups and
have some ideas for activities
that would interest you, let us
know.
If enough people show an
interest we will be happy to
help get things moving!
Don’t forget we also have a
book exchange in the office.
Everyone is welcome to pop
in and see what there is to
read!
We have recently had reports of foxes and
badgers being seen in some of our communal
gardens! While we all like to see nature at such
close quarters, can we please remind residents
that these are wild animals and we should not be
feeding them.
Foxes in particular can become a real problem if
they get used to food being in one place, not only
do they start scavenging in bins and rubbish
bags, but there have been occasions where ur-
ban foxes have entered houses through open
windows and patio doors.
Bird watching and attracting birds
to your garden and communal ar-
eas is something that we all like to
do and there is now an array of
different bird feeders available to
buy, including sunflower seeds and suet balls,
each designed to attract different species of birds.
If you are used to using stale bread and food
scraps to attract birds, please remember that they
also attract vermin and should only be used on
bird tables or somewhere raised off the ground.
We are holding our annual coffee and cake morning in aid of
Macmillan. Come and join us in the office at any time between
11.00am and 2.00pm and bring your friends and family with
you! All welcome!
If you need a lift please contact us and we will arrange this for
you.
There will also be a raffle with prizes donated by local
businesses including Costa Coffee, Rose the Flower
Shop, Whiddetts Bakery, The Bakehouse and Crown
Electrical
Wonders of Nature!
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Shredding
If you have a lot of private paperwork,
bank statements, or utility bills which have accumulated over the years, we now
have the facility to dispose of these securely. Just call into our reception area
and you will see a ‘shred-it’ box, where you can ‘post’ your papers and they will
be collected by uniformed, security checked staff from the ‘shred-it’ company.
These boxes are locked until they are collected and then the contents are shred-
ded off site in a secure environment.
This service is free for all our residents. Please contact Dawn at the office for any
further information.
Charlotte
Innes
Charlotte has
been with us
all summer
and will have already spoken
to many of you on the phone
or in reception.
Having completed her A levels
this year and passing with
2A’s and a B, she is now off to
university. Thank you for all
your help Charlotte!
Car Parking
Once again the issue of car parking has arisen and we have received a num-
ber of complaints about inconsiderate and unauthorised parking.
Quite simply there is not enough car parking on any of our estates to accom-
modate all the cars that our residents own. Although there are conditions
within the Tenancy Agreement these are difficult to police, and would be
costly to pursue. We do therefore depend on the goodwill, co-operation and
common-sense of the community.
The basic ‘rules’ are: One car parking space per property, no commercial
vehicles in the car parks, and visitors should not park in our car parks.
We would hope that in the interests of neighbourliness you will bear these
conditions in mind, especially where you have two or more cars in your
household, or where you have a car and a works van. No-one has a ’right’ to a
car parking space even if they have been using it for a long time and it is out-
side their front door.
The exception to this is Vyners Close where there is the additional car park
for use by visitors and for commercial vehicles.
Sharon Savage
Many of you have already met
our Maintenance Officer, Sha-
ron Savage. Sharon has joined
us on a temporary basis and will
be looking after the day-to-day
maintenance issues.
Sharon is your first point of con-
tact for any repair queries that
you have and works full-time, 9-
5 Monday to Friday.
Steve will be in the office con-
centrating on maintenance and
asset management projects.
Update of information
Before she left, Charlotte contacted many of you to update the information we hold. A big thank you
to everyone who responded! If anyone has not been called and would like to make sure their contact
details are correct please give us a ring.
Some of the information we ask for is used for statistical purposes. It is up to you if you want to pro-
vide this more personal information, you do not have to do so.
We do however, need up-to-date contact information in order that we can raise job tickets, and it is
helpful to have details of an emergency contact number in case the unexpected happens to your
home, or there are any concerns for your safety.
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