Tenants are being urged to vote on how to give their estates the E-Factor.
From raised planting beds to better lighting, communities in the county Conwy will be the first in Wales to decide how to brighten up the areas they live with environmental improvements.
Housing association Cartrefi Conwy is pioneering a new idea called Participatory Budgeting.
With a total of £50,000 up for grabs, they asked their 3,800 tenants and leaseholders to come up with ideas for environmental improvement schemes costing up to £2,500 in their areas.
At 1pm on March 15 tenants are invited to the Interchange, the conference venue at Abergele Road, Old Colwyn, where more than 20 of the best ideas will be “pitched” to the audience who will rate them 1-10 to see which ones win and become a reality.
Since taking over Conwy’s council housing in September 2008, social landlord Cartrefi Conwy has already embarked on an ambitious £30 million improvement scheme to give tenants better bathrooms, kitchens, new doors and windows and re-wired houses.
Owen Veldhuizen, Cartrefi Conwy’s Senior Tenant Engagement Officer, said: “This was the promise on the transfer, to improve the interiors. But it was also about tackling the wider environment.
“This whole transfer involved a lot of tenant engagement and they said they wanted to make sure there was enough money to improve the physical environment in their neighbourhoods.
“The Welsh Assembly also established environmental standards for social housing similar to the way they established standards for interiors, like having kitchens which should not be more than 15 years old unless they’re in good condition.”
Cartrefi Conwy listened to tenants and set up a £700,000 a year environmental fund, enabling area panels of tenants – with advice from staff – to influence how the money is spent.
The panels were instrumental in getting the word out about Participatory Budgeting.
“We have had proposals from Kinmel Bay to Penmaenmawr and from Llandudno all the way down the valley to Pentrefoelas.
“We have had suggestions for creating raised beds to help elderly people with planting, seating and benches at play areas around the estates, a lot of planting schemes, more flower beds and more hanging baskets, and a couple for improved lighting to help safety and security.
“This £50,000 is totally turned over to the tenants to decide and there is a potential for this to be extended into future years.”
At the “Your Voice, Your Choice” event on March 15, those with the ideas for £2,500 schemes will be given a slot of up to three minutes to make their sales pitch. Then Cartrefi Conwy tenants and leaseholders will vote on each scheme and mark them out of 10.
Cartrefi Conwy tenants and leaseholders will receive a flyer with details of the meeting shortly but for further information you can contact Owen Veldhuizen on 01492 805530.
