Estates and Communities Panel - 10 September 2025

Location: North Tyneside Council offices, Quadrant, Cobalt Business Park

Attendees

Tenant members: Linda (Chair); Clare; Margaret; Christine; Marie Christine; Ronnie; Gaynor; Mary; Evelyn; Hilary

Gary Wilson – Neighbourhood Manager (Central); Leeanne Rooney – Neighbourhood Manager (West); Angela Melvin – Housing Engagement Manager; Ian Rice – Service Manager, Financial Support; Rachael Sanderson – Housing Policy and Development Officer; Julie Brown – Operations Manager, Community Protection

Apologies – Clare; Lauren Young, Neighbourhood Manager (East); Toby Brown, Head of Housing Management

1. Notes Minutes of the last meeting and action log

The notes were agreed.

On the action log, TB updated the panel that the annual tenants’ event on 26 September will include discussion around communities and neighbourhoods, which will feed into the work being done on the Environmental Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour Policy, along with the Neighbourhood and Community Promise.

2. Knowing Our Customers report

The panel had received this report in advance of the meeting. It covers our vision for knowing our customers (“Everybody is different, so we don’t treat everyone the same”), equality and diversity, how we currently gather customer information and what it is used for.

IR ran through the main points of the report and highlighted key points of interest, including:

We are working to address the imbalances caused by disadvantage and discrimination, so that we can make sure everyone has opportunities to access our services and be involved in what we do.
We cannot comply with any of our legal and regulatory requirements if we don’t hold information about our customers and their needs.
What we are doing to collect demographic details from new tenants, and update those we hold about current tenants as some of this is out of date.
We now have over 76% of the customer information that we need to hold about our customers. However, IR highlighted that some figures, eg around disability and sexual orientation, appear much lower than he would expect them to be.
We only hold information on communication preferences for less than 3% of tenants and this is an area we must improve on.

IR asked the panel for their views on how we can improve our customer information and encourage tenants to provide details relating to protected characteristics, which can be a sensitive subject to talk about – from the perspectives of both our staff feeling comfortable asking the questions and our tenants feeling comfortable to respond.

Some panel members thought that people define ‘disability’ differently. One person who has a medical condition may not be impaired by that and not see themselves as disabled; whereas another person in the same situation would say they have a disability. Stating you are ’disabled’ is self-diagnosed and based on the individual’s perception.

Another comment made was that there can be stigma in saying you are disabled, and people may feel that if you admit that you are disabled it may affect how you are viewed, and – in some instances – you would be required to move into a different property. IR and TB reassured the panel this would not be the case.

The panel agreed that this work is very important to help us understand our customers and make sure we can provide the right support and access for our services.

Tenants were asked to let AM know of any additional comments or ideas by 15 September.

3. Social housing stereotyping

Linda introduced this subject, as she has been following the Stop Social Housing Stigma campaign for several years. https://stopsocialhousingstigma.org/

This is a national campaign which began in 2017 and came about from social housing tenants feeling disrespected and not listened to by their landlords. This includes being asked for their views and nothing happening as a result.

Durham University has partnered with the campaign since 2023 and has provided a framework with resources for landlords and tenants to use to collaboratively tackle this issue. Their Tackling Stigma Journey Planner was piloted by 11 landlords and then launched in parliament in May 2025.

Linda has previously raised the issue of stigma at tenant events, including our annual event in 2024, and said she does believe that North Tyneside Council is on that journey now, but more can be done.

It was then opened up to the panel to discuss. Repairs were mentioned, in years gone by some issues perhaps were not felt to have been taken as seriously due to the gender of the tenant reporting the issue, though the panel didn’t feel that that was the case now. Linda explained that the national campaign highlights the attitude of repairs staff as potentially negative, in that work would not be done to a high standard because it was ‘only for social housing’ and ‘the tenant wasn’t paying for it’. We hope that our own repairs teams would never express such a view, and that if they did the tenant would feel confident to report it to us so action can be taken.

Media attitude also contributes to stigma, for example investing in new social housing sites can be difficult if the idea of ‘social housing’ is viewed negatively by local communities and as a result they wouldn’t want it in their area. We need to challenge that and promote all the positives that social housing brings to our neighbourhoods, and the contribution our tenants make to their local communities.

Tenants shared some of their own stories about their careers, qualifications and family successes, which are not what would necessarily be ‘expected’ of someone who lived in social housing. Knowing what skills our tenants have could be asked at tenancy home visits.

A tenant asked about allocations and what checks are made before someone moves in, they may bring issues with them which affect the street. LR replied that if a property is vacant and our neighbourhood team know of past issues with a potential tenant, we would tell the allocations team so as not to repeat issues that have happened elsewhere.

Another tenant asked if it was the same situation for our North Tyneside Living schemes and LR replied that it was.

IR said this links back to the work he is doing as it is about understanding customers, what their needs are, and making sure different teams have information on someone’s needs. If we’re aware of issues and a potential impact on neighbours, we need to provide the necessary help and support.

AM will discuss this with the council’s communications team, in terms of maintaining positive news stories about our homes and tenants.

4. Anti-social behaviour (ASB) update

a) Review of letters and customer satisfaction questions

The panel had been sent the current letters used by the team to contact victims and perpetrators, for their views ahead of the letter wording being updated. JB also asked the panel to consider some customer satisfaction questions which are bespoke to the ASB team, to get customer feedback and help continually improve the service. Feedback from panel:

For the satisfaction questions, there’s no space to put any details about why someone may not be satisfied
It is good to have the ‘contact contract’, and to be asking the satisfaction questions
Can we explain why we are asking the questions, to encourage people to give feedback? JB replied that this is sent out a couple of weeks afterwards, so people have had time to reflect on the outcome and hopefully provide honest answers.
Are the customer satisfaction questions being sent out by email? What about people who don’t have access? JB replied that paper copies can be provided; or they can be done via a phone call.
One tenant commented that the diary sheets used are repetitive and need updating.
One tenant asked about recording noise, JB replied this can be done via a tenant’s smartphone. Noise recording equipment can be provided, but the perpetrator would have to be notified they were being monitored, which may affect their behaviour.

The panel was asked to send any further comments to AM by 15 September.

b) Anonymous reporting

We currently accept anonymous reports of ASB. In some cases, the same thing comes in every day without much detail and, therefore, there is little we can do. Gateshead, Newcastle and Sunderland councils no longer accept anonymous ASB complaints – they can be submitted, but the person reporting will see a disclaimer to say their report will be logged but not formally investigated. JB asked whether we should we adopt a similar process?

The panel thought people may be frightened of retaliation if the perpetrator knew who had reported an incident. JB replied that we never share information of a complainant, and any retaliation can be treated as harassment and the ASB team can act. The community protection team is very aware that information must never be shared.

The panel thought that offering anonymous reporting should continue, with the addition of the disclaimer.

c) Environmental Crime and ASB Policy

The team is currently working to update this. There will be discussion at the annual tenants’ event on 26 September around neighbourhoods and communities, which will feed into this. The panel will be kept informed.

To avoid any potential confusion and sending out two surveys within a short space of time, the council’s research team advised that there would only be the standardised TSM survey going out in the autumn. However, to increase the value of the data for the NTL service, more randomly-selected NTL tenants will receive it this time.

5. Performance update

The panel had been sent the regular performance scorecard and complaints report ahead of the meeting.

LR highlighted that figures are improving in relation to numbers of home visits. These continue to highlight that support is needed for some people to sustain their tenancies. The team is trying to identify support needs at an early stage and, while we are very aware we have targets around visits, we are also conscious that we need to give time and care to tenants who are vulnerable.

GW added that more staff training is being carried out and work is continuing to reduce visits where we are unable to gain access even with a pre-arranged appointment. The team is always encouraged to have conversations and provide support and reassurance.

LR gave examples that the team can meet people at libraries or community venues, which helps to develop trusting relationships. The team’s role has changed a lot in the last couple of years, with more support now available to offer. IR outlined that his team gets referrals from other council services such as adult social care, or children’s services, and sometimes the customer does not want an officer to visit them at home. In those instances, we do offer different ways to encourage contact and build a relationship with them.

6. Any Other Business

IR highlighted that the council’s waste management team is collecting electricals which can be re-used. They are checked, cleaned and offered at pop-up recycling events for a nominal charge, or IR’s team can identify someone who may need of an item and they can contact the team to see what is available.
A fraud officer works with the neighbourhoods team on tenancy and application fraud. A training package is being rolled out with staff on what indicates fraud may be happening and how to spot warning signs. The panel would like to hear more about this work at the next meeting and LR will arrange this.
The annual Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM) survey is going out to a random sample of homes next week.
The annual tenants’ event is on Friday 26 September and panel members are invited to volunteer to help facilitate table discussions.
TB outlined that residents who live in communal blocks managed by the council will be receiving a letter shortly about a proposal to trial a communal area cleaning service from next year. Residents are currently responsible for cleaning communal areas themselves, however we have had requests for the council to provide a cleaning service and are keen to explore this option further. The panel will be kept updated.