Resident Involvement

What is Resident Involvement?

Resident Involvement is a two-way process which involves both residents (tenants and leaseholders) and the Council sharing ideas and allows residents to influence the decisions made in service delivery.

At DBC we hold residents at the very heart of our service delivery and we want to work with you to ensure that we are delivering the services that you want and in a way that is accessible to all.

To help us do this we have introduced a number of ways you can get involved and have your say. The opportunities for involvement will vary and allow all residents the opportunity to get involved at different levels depending on the time you have to spare.

To help us deliver on this we have developed a Residents Involvement Agreement with the Dartford Borough Residents Forum. This is an agreement between the Council and Residents, which sets out how the Council will work with residents to ensure information is fed back correctly and how we will consult with residents on changes to service delivery etc. as well as stating how we will provide as many routes to involvement as possible and the resources the we will provide.

View the Resident Involvement Agreement (362 KB, PDF)

Ways to get involved

Dartford Borough Residents Forum (DBRF)

The Forum is a group of residents who represent the views of residents living in Dartford. They hold quarterly forum meetings across the borough to feedback on their work with the Council and take on board the views and concerns of residents and voice them to the Council.

The Forum has a Committee who volunteer a considerable amount of time to work in partnership with the Council to monitor the delivery of housing services and contractors. The Committee meet every month to feedback on their progress and then report back to the wider residents at the quarterly meetings.

The DBRF now have their own website to keep you informed of what's going on.

Residents Associations

A Resident Association is a group of Residents living in an area, block or street who come together to address issues of common concern in relation to the community they live in and the general environment.

There are many reasons why people may form a Residents Association, some of which may be:

Resident Consultation Database

Resident are invited to state their interest in a specific topic(s), their details will be held on a database. Residents will then be consulted in the way they have identified on their chosen topic. To name but a few, these could be:

How

Topic

To join the database

To join the Resident Consultation Database you will need to complete a Resident Involvement Questionnaire.

You can do this by:

Completed forms need to be sent to the Resident Involvement Officer, Dartford Borough Council, Civic Centre, Dartford, Kent DA1 1DR.

Focus Groups

A focus group will be set up to discuss a specific topic with a targeted group of residents e.g. to further consult on a project/development that may affect residents living the area. Groups will be carefully structured to ensure that everyone is given a fair opportunity to have their say and that all issues are covered.

Mystery Shoppers - New Initiative

This is a new initiative where council tenants act as customer inspectors to measure the level of service given to customers and identify if any improvements can be made.  All areas of housing will be under the watchful eye of the mystery shoppers with a different area being focused on every quarter.

Tenants will contact housing offices or telephone helplines with an agreed task so that we can monitor how their queries or problems were dealt with from start to finish.

Mystery shopping is designed to test service standards and is a form of market research which assesses services from your point of view. Becoming a mystery shopper will help us help you to in gaining a higher level of service.

Tenants who are interested in acting as mystery shoppers will be given along with £5 for every mystery shop completed and expenses. To find out more contact the resident involvement officer on the number at the bottom of the page.

Surveys

The Council is required by government legislation to carryout specific surveys and therefore will consult with residents’ borough wide to ensure that we are getting the views of all residents. These will be carried out in addition to the surveys that may be carried out using residents on the Resident Involvement Database.

Surveys may be carried out over the telephone, by post or face to face.

Estate Surgeries

Estate surgeries are a one stop shop where residents are able to take the opportunity to discuss tenancy, rent and neighbourhood issues with their housing officers, representatives from the police and members of Housing Options and Advice. Residents are able to speak to someone face to face and have all concerns addressed at the same time saving a trip to town or making several phone calls to the Civic Centre or police.

Estate Inspections

Estates Inspections are carried out bi-monthly and are attended by your Housing Officer along with representatives from Estate Management and Housing Maintenance. The Inspections look at the conditions of communal areas, lighting, grass & hedge cutting, pavements etc.

Residents are invited to join the inspections as it is you who know what areas may need attention.

Block Representatives (Block Reps)

Block reps are vital for ensuring that the cleaning provided by our cleaning contractor, Town & Country, is of a high standard and that services are continually improved.  Residents living in a block on one of our estates in the borough can become a block rep.

Cleaners will put a slip through the residents door when a clean has taken place and they will then ‘inspect’ the cleaning and report back on the standard.

Training, a block rep pack which includes feedback sheets and freepost envelopes and full support from the resident involvement officer will be given to all block reps.

Residents who do not live in a block but would like to get represent the area they live in can become a community contact.

Community Contact Scheme

Community Contacts are residents that live in a block, street or supported housing scheme who represent the views of their neighbours.  Representatives attend meetings and other events to help us understand what it is like living in that neighbourhood and work with us to develop ways to overcome any issues residents face.

Any Dartford Borough Council Tenant or Leaseholder can be a Community Contact

To ensure professionalism, we have devised a role description for all representatives and an application form.  DBC will support all residents to develop any skills they may require to help them meet the role description.  All applicants will be invited to an informal chat to answer any questions prospective Community Contacts may have.

Benefits of being a Community Contact

Under represented groups within the community

We are currently working on identifying what groups make up our resident population e.g. ethnicity, disability, gypsy and travellers, young people etc.  This will help us to identify hard to reach groups and stream line our services and develop alternative ways to get involved.

Resource Support Available

Financial Support

This will be given by way of a start up grant to Residents Groups.

Community Chest Grant

Up to £250 cash is up for grabs for local community groups to fund neighbourhood activities across Dartford. 

Funding can be used for training, improvements to land and buildings, purchase equipment and organise trips or events to help bring families and communities together.

The Community Grant has been set up to fund neighbourhood activities that will encourage residents to get involved with local initiatives - for example to fund a summer fair, a football project for under 16s or an educational visit for local group/organisation of residents.

Grants cannot be used for any religious or political activity or to fund ongoing projects and the maximum amount available for each grant is £250.

For more information see the bottom of the page for the contact details of the Resident Involvement Officer.

Practical Support

The Resident Involvement Officer will provide support to groups both new and established to help develop policies, apply for funding and co-ordinate meetings etc.

Training

As part of our support and encouragement for Residents to get involved we have introduced a Training Programme.

The programme is for Residents looking to further develop their skills or as a refresher.

If you would like to find out more about how to get involved please contact:
Resident Involvement Officer
Tel: 01322 343841

Email: resident.involvement@dartford.gov.uk

If you have other ideas on how you would like to get involved, then please contact your Resident Involvement Officer who will be more than happy to hear your suggestions and look at ways of working them.

Chat online with one of our officers:Live Support

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PDF Forms to download:

Documents and policies:

Contact:

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