Spring 2019 | Issue 61 TENANTS & RESIDENTS MAGAZINE

Meet your Neighbourhood Services Team, who will be managing your area? . . . see pages 4 & 5

Cynthia is saving up, find out what for and how the credit union can help you. . . . see page 3

Our offices will close at 5pm on Thursday 18th April and re-open on Tuesday 23rd April at 8.30am.Out of hours emergency contact number: 01726 874450

Our Easter Opening Hours...

Happy Easter from us all at Ocean Housing

Meet Katie who is very much looking forward to Easter along with her rabbit, Coco. Katie and her family are grateful for the help and support

of our together for families worker Jo, find out more on page six.

Street

This is Margy, one of our first virtual internet panel members, find out why she signed up . . . see page 2

T E N A N T S & R E S I D E N T S M A G A Z I N E

2

Street

Tenants and leaseholders safety comes first at Park House, St AustellAlthough there is no legal requirement for a sprinkler system at Park House, the Board at Ocean Housing unanimously agreed to support an increased level of fire safety at our block of flats in St Austell. Park House is Cornwall’s only high-rise block of flats, and last June work started with the fitting of a sprinkler system to increase safety even further. Built in 1968, the block of concrete construction has 12 floors and 67 flats.

We met Betty who is a leaseholder at Park House and has lived in her flat almost 40 years. “I wasn’t sure what affect the works would have on the flat visually, however I was pleasantly surprised how small the sprinklers were; you can hardly notice them,” Betty told us.

The investment of £260,000 is almost complete with the last remaining flats being finished in April. Ocean has paid for the installation work at no cost to tenants or leaseholders, who have been consulted with throughout the process.

“I’m thrilled to bits now everything is finished, I’d rather get wet than get burnt,” laughed Betty, “I feel as safe as houses now!”

Ralph Garth, Head of Health, Safety & Environment said “The sprinkler system is a sizeable investment that provides the highest standard of fire protection for our tenants and properties and is fully supported by Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.”

For those who sign up to be a VIP, we will communicate with you at least four times a year on individual topics from repairs to

customer engagement. We’ve already started on our first area, our complaints procedure, and

your views will re-shape this service.

If you’d like to be VIP member, email us at help@oceanhousing.com with your name and contact details, or call the tenant involvement team on 01726 874450 and we’ll be in touch.

We launched our virtual internet panel (VIP) back in December and we are still waiting to reach our target of 100 members. The first 100 to sign up will automatically be entered into a £50 prize draw.

The virtual internet panel is for you to have a greater say in what we do, how we do it and what difference your input can make on the services we provide. We want to be the best at what we do and your feedback is so important to us. We understand that time is precious and that few of us have enough of it to get involved. The virtual internet panel gives you the freedom to have a say from the comfort of your own home and is done online either by email or through Facebook.

Margy has been a tenant for five years and was one of our first members to sign up, “I thought it was an excellent idea as I spend a lot of time on the computer.” Margy lives in Newquay and cannot commit to meetings. “I’m keen to help Ocean as a landlord to improve services so the VIP is perfect for my lifestyle and I know I can have my say and make a difference,” Margy told us.

We need you to be a VIP!

Margy from Newquay

Betty at Park House

Spring 2019 | Issue 61

3

Westcountry Savings and Loans is the largest credit union in the South West with 2,500 members.

Ocean tenant, Cynthia from St Stephen tells us why she joined:

“There are always items you need to save for and I didn’t want to go into debt and the credit union offered me the best options so I signed up last year. I’m saving £20 a month towards a light weight mobility scooter and once I’ve saved so much I can borrow the remainder.”

• We charge daily interest rather than front-load it

• There are no early repayment charges and

• Members with savings benefit from a discounted loan interest rate. We’re currently offering free membership, visit www.westcountry.org.uk/Join

A credit union is a community savings and loan provider, owned by their members (savers/borrowers) and are regulated just like a bank. Savings are protected under the Financial Services Compensation scheme so customer’s money is safe. There are two credit unions in Cornwall:

KERNOW CREDIT UNION provide credit at competitive rates of interest and encourage saving. Members take control of their money to save from as little as £1 a week or more by cash, cheque or standing order. They borrow only what they can afford to repay for Christmas, birthdays, household bills etc.

• Friendly face to face contact at our service points throughout the county and our main office at Redruth.

• A contactless pre-paid debit card to use online, in-store & a budgeting tool to pay those all-important bills with no credit checks

• Loans available to members at fair rates of interest.

There is a small membership joining fee and a payable annual fee each October.

For more information and membership, call 01209 314449 or contact your

Local Service Point at Barclays Bank St Austell Saturdays 9.15am – 12 noon

Visit www.kernowcreditunion.co.uk or email: enquiries@kernowcreditunion.co.uk

Credit Unions, a safe alternative to door step lending

Service Standard Workshops

Back in January we hosted two workshops with tenants and residents to review our Service Standards. Following feedback from over 50

tenants and residents we have revised our standards taking into consideration your thoughts and views on what you expect from us as your landlord. If you are a tenant, you will find a copy of our standards included with this edition of Street Talk so that you can see what our promise is to you, about the services that we deliver.

Further information can also be found on our website at www.oceanhousing.com/service-standards

Service StandardsOur commitment to you to maintain high standards of service

Ocean Housing Ltd Stennack House Stennack Road St Austell PL25 3SW

T: 01726 874450 www.oceanhousing.com

The Tenancy Standard

The Neighbourhood & Community Standard

The Resident Involvement & Empowerment Standard

The Home Standard

Cynthia from St Stephen

T E N A N T S & R E S I D E N T S M A G A Z I N E

4

Street

Becky Martin Patch One

Blackwater Carharrack Carnon Downs Connor Downs Crantock Cubert Falmouth Four Lanes Grampound Grampound Road Hayle Indian Queens Mount Ambrose Mount Hawke Mount Joy

Penryn Perranwell Pool Porthtowan Praze-an-Beeble Scorrier Shortlanesend St Day St Agnes St Columb Road St Columb Major St Erth St Newlyn East Summercourt Threemilestone Trispen

Susie Wootten Patch Two

Newquay St Columb Minor St Mawgan

Ann-Marie Rogers Neighbourhood Services Manager

Meet your Neighbourhood Services Team

We are pleased to introduce you to your new Neighbourhood Services Officer and this will take effect from the 1st May 2019.

Ann-Marie, our Neighbourhood Services Manager told us,

“ The feedback we have received is that you would like to see more of your officer out and about, meeting tenants and residents and checking on the estates. We have listened to this and in order to free up our officer’s time in the office, our Customer Service Advisors are trained to deal with a lot more enquiries. ”

If you have a question about your tenancy or where you live, you can contact us by email, live chat or call our Customer Service Team who will be able to deal with your enquiry at the first point of contact. In addition, one of our Neighbourhood Services Officer will be available as a

duty officer if the Customer Service Advisors are not able to deal fully with your enquiry. The new system means you don’t need to speak to your Neighbourhood Services Officer on every occasion and will hopefully speed up the process for you.

It’s an exciting time for us a team as we are now using tablets for mobile working and this helps us to be more visible to you in the community.

Our team look forward to meeting you.

Hayle

PenrynFalmouth

CubertSt Newlyn East

St Agnes

Shortlanesend

Grampound

Fraddon

Mevagissey

Gorran HavenCarharrack

Pool

St Day

St Erth

Praze-an-Beeble

TRURO

Newquay

Foxhole

CarnonDowns

St Columb Major

St Austell

Lostwithiel

Boscastle

Egloskerry

Delabole

Camelford

Wadebridge

Rock

BugleRoche

St DennisIndian Queens

Fowey

St Blazey

Bodmin

A30

A30

Liskeard

Looe

St Mawgan

Spring 2019 | Issue 61

5

James Carter Patch Three

Burngullow Bugle Coombe Foxhole Fraddon Gorran Haven Luxulyan Nanpean Pentewan

Roche Ruddlemoor St Dennis St Stephen Stenalees Sticker Trelowth Trethowel Trewoon Whitemoor

Paul Wakefield-Smith Patch Four

St Austell Central(Polkyth, Mount Charles & Tregonissey) Mevagissey

Robert Carnon Patch Five

Biscovey Fowey Lostwithiel Par Penpillick

St Austell East (Carclaze, Bethel, Boscoppa, Sandy & Scredda) St Blazey St Blazey Gate Tywardreath

Laura Hobday Patch Six

Bodmin Boscastle Camelford Delabole Dobwalls East Taphouse Egloskerry Lanlivery Lockengate Lanreath Liskeard

Looe Mount Rock St Austell West(Gover & Park House) Pensilva Trelights Trevone Wadebridge Week St Mary

T E N A N T S & R E S I D E N T S M A G A Z I N E

6

Supporting families and making a difference

Cost of missed appointments

Street

appointments and with mum unable to drive; I was able to organise transport.”

“It was a tough time when we lost our Nan, and it feels like Jo has come into our lives and she is now part of our family. I’ve built up my confidence and Jo helped me to get a voluntary job with the air ambulance.” Katie told us.

After losing both her parents and the problems with schooling, Katie’s mum, just needed that extra support. “I know Jo is at the end of the phone if I need advice or any help”.

It’s good to talk

and get help and

support if you

need it. If you

think you would

benefit from Jo’s

help, then please

contact your

neighbourhood

services officer in

confidence, who

will talk to you

and advise you of

the next step.

Over the last 12 months, Jo, our together for families worker, has been working with Katie and her family. She has supported them through bereavements, health issues and bullying at school which impacted on all three children who were not attending school and caused a huge amount of stress and anxiety for mum.

Jo’s role is to work with families referred by their neighbourhood services officer. This could be for reasons such as debt, physical or mental health and domestic abuse.

Jo told us, “I acted as a key worker when none of the children were in education, liaising with the school, education welfare and children’s social care to try and find a pathway back into an alternative school. One of the children needed to attend regular

From April 2018 to March 2019

Like any other business, there is a cost involved when repair appointments are not kept. If you are unable to keep an appointment you must contact us

on 01726 874450 or email help@oceanhousing.com and we will happily rearrange a more convenient time for you.

Jobs where tradesperson were unable to access the property due to tenant not in

= 1200

Cost of these is £72 per job on average

Total cost from

April 2018 to end of March 2019 is

£86,400 per year

This is equivalent to:

22 kitchens or

25 bathrooms or

36 new boilers

Katie and Jo, our together for families worker

Spring 2019 | Issue 61

7

Spring has sprung!Spring has sprung and the bulbs planted by Ocean in October are giving us a nice array of colours. We will do our best to help keep our estates clean and tidy and ask for your help with litter and for owners to pick up after their dogs. Between April and March, our teams have filled nearly 1000 bags of rubbish which impacts the time they have on the estate.

Cornwall Council is responsible for some of the areas on our estates such as the highways, communal pathways and grass. We are frequently asked ‘why do you leave an area of grass and cut it at a different time?’ We have no control of the land belonging to the Council and the frequency of when they are cut.

Weather permitting, we aim to give a three-weekly visit all year round and we don’t stop because it’s raining! However, the weather can slow us down along with the bank holidays during the year. We will do our best to catch up and keep your estate clean and tidy.

If you would like to give feedback on the grounds maintenance service then please speak to our tenant involvement team or visit www.oceanhousing.com/tenant-monitors for more information.

Together with Tenants, National Housing Federation visits Ocean

Jan and Paul said “we were really pleased that Kate wanted to meet with us to discuss tenant involvement, and to hear about the work of our panel and the scrutiny panel to improve the way services are delivered for the benefit of all our tenants and residents.

To find out more about the ‘Together with Tenants’ campaign visit www.oceanhousing.com/together-with-tenants

Jan and Paul, the Chair and Vice Chair of the tenant and residents panel welcomed the new Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, Kate Henderson to Ocean’s offices in March.

The National Housing Federation is the voice of housing associations in England. Their vision is a country where everyone can live in a good quality home they can afford.

Kate welcomed the opportunity to speak to Jan and Paul and hear about the high levels of tenant involvement at Ocean. They also discussed the Federation’s new ‘Together with Tenants’ campaign for housing associations aimed at creating an even stronger, more balanced relationship with tenants and residents across England.

“I was very impressed with the way in which Ocean embraces and supports tenant involvement, and to hear from Jan and Paul about their work with Ocean’s Board and staff team,” said Kate. “This is exactly what our new campaign wants to promote and to continue to build a positive relationship with landlords and tenants across the country.”

Keith & Paul with Judy, tenant at St Mawgan

Left to right: Mark Gardner, Frances Turner, Kate Henderson, Jonathan Adlington, Debbie Wilshire, Jan Faulkner, Paul Symon, Karen Littler

T E N A N T S & R E S I D E N T S M A G A Z I N E

email: help@oceanhousing.com www.oceanhousing.com 01726 874450

Out of Hours Numbers Emergency Repairs: 01726 874450 Anti-Social Behaviour: 01726 874450

Contact us for a Large Print or Audio CD of this newsletter

Pleas

e rec

ycle

your

Stree

t Talk

. Prin

ted on

Re-c

ycled

pape

r. De

signe

d & pr

oduc

ed by

Karen

Jack

son D

esign

0132

6 373

108

Phot

ograp

hy by

Fram

e by F

rame 0

1503

2626

84.

Street

Name:

Address:

Postcode:

Telephone No:

Mobile No:

Email address:

The first correct entry drawn will win an Ocean Easter Goodie Bag and £60 shopping voucher.

Three runners up will win an Ocean Easter Goodie Bag and £20 shopping voucher.The competition is open to anyone living in our properties. Only one entry per household.

Closing date is Friday 17th May.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!You don’t need a stamp, just cut out this slip and pop it into an envelope addressed to: FREEPOST RSES-LCCA-EJUJ Easter Egg Competition Ocean Housing, Stennack Road, St Austell, PL25 3SW.

Note: The Easter Egg above does not count towards the total.

How many different coloured Easter Eggs have you spotted?

$

Can you help us find the Easter eggs hidden in this newsletter

Easter Egg Hunt Competition

As a business we have had to make changes to the ways you can pay. From the 31st March 2019, we are no longer accepting cash or cheque payments at our reception desk on Stennack Road, St Austell. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but would advise tenants and residents that you will still be able to pay by card at reception.

For more information about direct debits, standing orders, allpay and other payment methods please contact our Customer Accounts Team on 01726 874450 or visit www.oceanhousing.com

For those of you who entered our Christmas Street Talk competition, there were 10 diamond baubles hiding in the edition. Congratulations to Sarah, a shared owner from Newquay who found all 10 Christmas baubles and won a £60 shopping voucher.

No cash or cheque payment at Stennack House Office

Christmas Street Talk Winner

R E S I D E N T S & T E N A N T S M A G A Z I N E

email: help@oceanhousing.com www.oceanhousing.com 01726 874450

Out of Hours Numbers Emergency Repairs: 01726 874450 Anti-Social Behaviour: 01726 874450Contact us for a Large Print or Audio CD of this newsletter

Pleas

e rec

ycle

your

Stree

t Talk

. Prin

ted on

Re-c

ycled

pape

r. De

signe

d & pr

oduc

ed by

Karen

Jack

son D

esign

0132

6 373

108

Phot

ograp

hy by

Fram

e by F

rame 0

1503

2626

84.

Street

Name:

Address:

Postcode: Telephone No:

Mobile No:

Email address:

The first three correct entries drawn will win: 1st Prize - £60 Shopping Voucher2nd Prize - £40 Shopping voucher3rd Prize - £20 Shopping VoucherThe competition is open to anyone living in our properties. Only one entry per household.Closing date is Friday 25th January 2019Happy Hunting!

You don’t need a stamp, just cut out this slip and pop it into an envelope addressed to: FREEPOST RSES-LCCA-EJUJ Diamond Bauble Competition Ocean Housing, Stennack Road, St Austell, PL25 3SW.

Note: The bauble on this page does not count towards the total.

How many Christmas diamond baubles have you spotted?

Free hessian bag voucherTerms and conditionsLimited to one small and one large bag per household.Vouchers are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for cash.Valid for the month of January 2019 only.Photocopies will not be accepted.

To celebrate our 60th edition, we are giving away one large and one small free reusable hessian bag which come in handy for a packed lunch or the weekly shop to the supermarket.

Simply cut out the voucher below and take it to our offices in St Austell to collect your free bags.

Avoid using the incorrect lighting product in an unsuitable environment. For any decoration you’re planning to put up outside, it is essential that you only use lights that are designed for this purpose.Avoid overloading. Never plug in more than 13A or 3000W and avoid using unfused block adaptors.Always check that plugs, cables and lights are undamaged before use.Make sure you use the correctly rated fuse for the item you are using.

Avoid trip hazards. Position your extension leads in an appropriate place.Do not position real Christmas trees close to any heat sources, eg: a fireplace or heat vent. Water your tree regularly, as dry trees are more susceptible to catching fire.

Christmas Bag Giveaway Stay safe at Christmas and all year round with our top tips

$

$

As we celebrate this 60th birthday edition, can you help us find the diamond Christmas baubles hidden in this newsletter?

60th Edition Competition - Spot the diamond Christmas bauble

Winter 2018 | Issue 60

RESIDENTS & TENANTS MAGAZINE

Find out why Zara and

Yasmin from St Blazey

have a reason to smile

. . . see page 3

Meet Rose and fi nd

out why her feedback

really counts

. . . see page 5

Meet Carole and the

residents from Prince

Charles House who are

making a diff erence

. . . see page 4

Our offi ces will close for Christmas at 5pm on Friday 21st December 2018

and will re-open at 8.30am on Wednesday 2nd January 2019.

Out of hours emergency contact number: 01726 874450Our Christmas Opening Hours...

from all at Ocean Housing

Ashley, Dylan, Yanna and Ruby from Tywardreath can’t wait to celebrate

Christmas as we celebrate our 60th edition of Street Talk.

With thanks to the Britannia Inn and Waves Restaurant, Par.

StreetStreetStreet

Happy Christmas