b'Together we can achieve moreMany residents have told us that they would like us to be more visible in their neighbourhood. We think thats a great idea, because it gives residents a voice and provides us with important insights. Out and about with residentsWe visit all our neighbourhoods regularly. These walkabouts provide anexcellent opportunity for residents to flag up any problems they are experiencing and to share improvement ideas.The visits also allow us to check the quality of our estate services and tospot issues that need attention, like:Potential health and safety risksDefects, like a broken gate that also needs a lick of paintCan we fix it?Yes we can! Vehicles that are abandoned or illegally parkedGraffiti, vandalism, litter and fly-tippingMaintenance Operative KelvinNeglected gardens.Burrows and new Estate Operative Charles Horsley are always out andWe post the neighbourhood visits schedule on our website, about, sprucing up our neighbourhoodsWWW so do take a look and join us when were next in your area and addressing issues identified duringby visiting www.fgch.co.uk/neighbourhood-visitsour walkabouts with residents.Its good to talk We host meetings with residents at our sheltered schemes twice a year. These discussions help us to keep our finger on the community pulse and to reshape our services to meet resident needs. Recent topics include communal cleaning schedules and landscaping as well as parking, security and communication arrangements. New gardenersHolistic approachto the rescue!to supportWhen one of our grounds maintenance contractors As outlined on page 3, our two new tenancy sustainment officers aretold us out of the blue that they were closing the doing sterling work in our local communities. Although providingbusiness, we acted as swiftly as possible.money advice and helping residents to get their finances back onWe appointed a single contractor to cover our track are a big part of the role, theres actually a lot more to it. supported housing schemes, apartment blocks and estates. Its a more cost-efficient way of working that We look at everything, the whole picture, and then we work outwill also enable us to apply a consistent approach what we can do to help, said Alison Hilton (pictured below right). across all locations. We help many residents who are struggling with their onlineThe RPG helped us to review the tenders and select housing applications, including uploading documents. the best contractor for the job: John OConner. Olivia Towler (left) said: We attend We have drawn up a schedule of works, includingchild welfare meetings so that wereoverdue tasks like cutting grass and hedges, weeding,aware of whats happening and can pruning and leaf blowing. support the family, the best way we Managing Director Matt OConner said: We are can. We also refer our older delighted to be working with First Garden Cities residents to the community Homes to manage their outdoor spaces and engagevisiting service provided by our with residents. Our teams will work hard to make scheme managers. sure that every outdoor space is well maintained.Residents First|Page 4 Residents First|Page 5'