North Tyneside Living Panel - 2 September 2026

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

Attendees

Tenant members – Margaret, Feetham Ct (Chair); Alison, Southgate; Eleanor, The Orchard; Joseph, Chapelville; Patricia, Moorcroft; Susan, Southgate; Hilary, The Fold; Diane, Eccles Grange; Rosemary, Rosebank Hall; John, Rosebank Hall; Barbara, Cheviot View; Heather, Cedar Close; Jacci, Percy Lodge; Gaynor, Rudyerd Court; Brian, Emmerson Court (Guest); Barry, Windsor Grange, (Guest); Gareth, Eldon Court (Guest)

Linda Herman, Senior Service Manager; Anthony Howe, NTL Manager; Mark Colvin, NTL Manager; Lauren Young, Neighbourhood Housing Manager; Greg Renforth, Stock Surveyor; Christopher Gowland, Stock Surveyor; Angela Melvin, Housing Engagement Manager

 

Apologies 

Morag, Percy Lodge; Fred and Evelyn, Phoenix Rise; Thomas, Chapelville; Odmond John, Morgan Sindall

 

1. Notes of the last meeting and action log 

Notes of the last meeting were agreed, LH provided some additional clarification on the social activities item: 

A further letter had gone out to all tenants recently, after some misunderstandings on the new approach to collecting money for activities.  This clarified that there should be no surplus after an event or activity, and any money left over should be shared out amongst those who had contributed to it.  Raising money for charity is still permitted.  With regards to paying for an entertainer, costs must be reasonable and the service has a list of entertainers who can be booked.  The service is very keen for social activities to continue.  Separately, a strategy is in development to prevent exploitation and coercion.

Action log: 

• Wifi installation: This project was being managed by the previous Head of IT, who has since left the organisation. Responsibility for the project is being reviewed and, once further information becomes available, we will ensure this is shared with tenants.
• Group dwellings transfer and digital telephony: There has been a delay in the transfer, however those affected had a letter about this in July. 
• Food waste collections:  Not all schemes have been visited by the waste team to explain the new arrangements.  This will be followed up

 

2. Neighbourhood Housing team

Lauren from the Neighbourhood Housing team gave a presentation on the team’s role to the panel.

The Neighbourhood team focus on supporting our tenants, making sure estates are safe and well-maintained.  The team manages general needs tenancies, with three Neighbourhood Housing Managers and 21 Housing Officers.  

The Estate Walkabout programme sees the local Housing Officer inspect a few streets at a time to log any environmental issues for action, and these are scheduled for different areas throughout the year.  Tenants and ward councillors are welcome to join them.  The walkabout programme is on the Our North Tyneside Voice website and AM will send a link to panel members.  Paper copies are also in the six Community Hubs and Libraries.

Questions from the panel after the presentation included around gardening in shared areas (in the main NTL schemes, garden issues should be reported to Morgan Sindall) and parking enforcement.  

 

3. Service update

New Housing Officers: New Housing Officers have just started with the NTL service and will spend a month on their induction.  

In response to a question from the panel, LH explained that the Officers do move around different sites to gain additional experience or take on a different challenge.   They also sometimes request to move to a different site and we accommodate those requests whenever possible.   The Officer team meet with the service managers regularly and information is shared about all the schemes, for openness and transparency.  This helps with handovers and cover arrangements.  

Dryers token scheme: Feetham Court and Rudyerd Court have trialled the laundry machines with tokens.  The trial has gone well and will be rolled out across other schemes as well.  LH outlined that utility costs have reduced in those schemes, which was one of the aims of the project.  The same approach will now be taken with dryers, when current machines need to be replaced.

 

4. Fire safety briefing 

Greg and Chris are fire safety auditors and attended to outline their work around fire risk assessments (FRAs), to give the panel a wider view on the reasons behind some of the changes being made to ensure building safety.

FRAs are done every 12 months and cover the whole building.  Any issues which need actions are picked up either by the council or Morgan Sindall as appropriate.

Some of these actions are things that we then share with tenants – eg for no door mats or shelves/decorations to be in corridors.  This is a requirement from both the auditors and the Fire Service.

Every FRA will in future be on display on the noticeboard, and in the communal lounge, so all residents can see the results and understand why any changes are being introduced.  

The panel asked questions about pictures being put up on the walls and whether a mural could be an alternative, LH said some schemes have artwork done with local schools and there are no plans for murals.  The shared spaces are deliberately kept neutral and that corridors are simply for passing through, tenants are welcome to have any decorations they wish in their own apartments. 

Communal areas are also covered by FRAs, health and safety assessments and audits.  

It was clarified that Christmas decorations can go in the lounge, but not the corridors or entranceways.  This has come from the Fire Service – toxins from a burning tree can incapacitate tenants and if a wreath on a front door were to catch fire, that would stop a tenant being able to evacuate their apartment and impede a fire officer gaining access.

A tenant asked if the auditors could speak at scheme building meetings.  LH will look at co-ordinating this around the quarterly meetings.  Some sites have already had visits from the Fire Service.

There is also updated safety advice around the use of emollients, which can act as an accelerant on clothing or bedding.  Any tenant who uses these will now have it included on their Person-centred Fire Assessment and PEEPs where relevant.  

A concern about broken external lighting at Percy Lodge will be picked up.  If lights on timers aren’t working, tenants should report this straight away so they can be checked. 

The panel thanked Greg and Chris for attending. 

 

5. Performance update 

The quarterly performance scorecard and complaints report had been shared with the panel ahead of the meeting.

Performance scorecard 

Performance from the NTL service on the health and wellbeing indicators, new tenant welcome meetings and building meetings is strong, with 100% achievement.

However, Morgan Sindall indicators on repairs performance are showing only one out of seven targets is being achieved.  There was some discussion about whether the original targets are realistic and the panel felt some may not be achievable.  

The panel agreed that the targets should be reviewed, with Morgan Sindall.  LH will update the panel at the November meeting.    There were some concerns voiced about communal area cleaning at some sites, LH will pick up with Morgan Sindall.   

Complaints report

There were no comments or questions around this.  Numbers of complaints for the NTL service continue to be very low. 

 

6. Any Other Business 

There was some discussion on the national ‘green bottle’ scheme – where people can put medical information inside a plastic bottle which is stored in their fridge.   In the event of a medical emergency, emergency services can then access the patient’s medical needs.  Bottles are available from GPs; Wallsend library has also had a supply.

A question was asked about whether a calendar/schedule could be displayed to say when the Housing Officer would be present.  LH replied that the suggestion is appreciated and we understand that tenants would like to know when Housing Officers are available within their scheme.   All tenants can access the service Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm.  As Housing Officers work across a number of schemes and may be attending appointments, meetings, training, annual leave, or responding to urgent issues, we can’t display a calendar showing individual officer availability. However, if any tenant would like a face-to-face meeting with a Housing Officer, they can either leave a note in the red post box outside the office or telephone their Housing Officer directly.  

Gareth volunteered to chair the November meeting.