Mill House Kinver Celebrates Awards for All Grant

Residents of Mill House, a sheltered housing complex in Kinver, are celebrating a £9,000 Awards for All grant, funded by the National Lottery.

Mill House, which opened in December 1986, has 36 flats run by landlord South Staffordshire Housing Association, holders of the Quality Standard for its sheltered housing service.

The money will provide a sensory garden at Mill House, which will include a seating area, a pergola and water feature. The garden has been designed by Kinver-based horticulturalist Jill Hogan. Jill trained at Leasowes College, Stourbridge, and Pershore College of Horticulture.

As well as the garden, worn kitchen equipment is to be replaced, enabling social events to be organised for the benefit of residents, their families and friends. Other projects include the purchase of television and audio equipment for the communal lounge, a barbecue and gazebo, and organised outings.

The start of work on the sensory garden was marked on September 11 with a ceremonial cutting of the first turf by Ron Cox. Ron, the oldest resident at Mill House, was born in 1923 and served in the Royal Navy during World War II. He was part of the Pacific and East Indies Fleet – a known as the Forgotten Fleet – which was sent from the UK after the surrender of Germany to help end the war with Japan.

The Awards for All project was led by Jan Coleman, secretary of the Mill House and the Burgesses Social Club, with assistance from Social Club Committee members Eileen Lane and Dan Oakley, and the support of South Staffordshire Community and Voluntary Action.

(Released 11th September 2007)

Landlord Reports Successful Year

A leading affordable housing provider in South Staffordshire has cut its use of paper by more than 100,000 sheets a year thanks to the introduction of a new hi-tech appointments system.

The eco-friendly innovation – the result of maintenance contractors having handheld computers which electronically update their schedule as they go rather than needing lots of job sheets – is just one of the success stories highlighted in South Staffordshire Housing Association’s 10th anniversary year.

The organisation’s AGM heard that, after receiving a “good” Audit Commission report at the end of 2005, it had continued to go from strength to strength with new developments and improvements to housing services.

Projects highlighted in the new annual report, launched at the meeting, include:

• Accreditation from the Centre for Sheltered Housing Studies for the quality of its sheltered schemes
• Waiting times for disabled adaptations work cut down to as little as three days
• New repairs software introduced to cut times for common repairs to be completed
• A hi-tech appointment system brought in for routine maintenance tests to improve efficiency and convenience, and cut waiting times and the amount of paper used by around 100,000 sheets per year. Vehicle fuel bills have also been cut as a result
• Completing its first shared ownership development, prompting national interest.

Sue Rowley, managing director of South Staffordshire Housing Association, said: “It has been an important year for us, celebrating our 10th anniversary and all we have achieved over that time, so we are delighted to be able to report so much positive progress.

“Over the ten years, we have fulfilled all the promises we made before the former council housing stock was transferred to us, spending £70 million on improving tenants’ homes and providing more than 500 new affordable homes. We have also helped tenants to secure more than £1.5 million in unclaimed benefits.

“We now have significant experience in working with tenants to deliver high-quality housing services and we will continue to push forward, breaking-new ground and striving to improve service further.”

The highlights have been laid out in the new annual report, “Celebrating 10 successful years”.

(Released 26th September 2007.)

Annual Report 2007