Tenants to Be Trained To Take Control of Their Neighbourhoods Post-Riots

In a move designed to strengthen tenants’ say in the running of their local communities after the rioting earlier this summer, Housing Minister Grant Shapps has announced new training to give them the skills for running local 'tenant panels'. Mr Shapps said that the recent riots showed that when communities come together to take a stand against those inflicting damage and disorder, they can have a real impact; the new training and creation of tenant panels would put powers back into the hands of tenants and give them a greater say on the running of their local community. And he highlighted how more people came out to clean up after the riots than participated in the riots themselves. He said that nobody knows their neighbourhoods better than tenants themselves and giving them real power to take control of local housing, could lead to services being better shaped around individual and local needs, benefiting everyone. New powers in the Localism Bill propose to give tenants the opportunity to lead their local communities and be given a direct say on how the issues that matter most to local people - such as repairs, anti social behaviour and estate management - can be better tackled, by enabling tenant panels to consider complaints before referring them to the ombudsman. He announced that a registered charity The National Communities Resource Centre has been awarded £535,000 to deliver training and support to empower tenants to set up groups to lead on the management of their social housing. Read more on the CLG website.