South Region News
Great Places treats Stockport children to a cinema experience
In Autumn, Great Places brought joy to the children of Stockport by funding a holiday club. This initiative was open to children living in Great Places homes or attending St Mary’s Primary School. The holiday club, organised in collaboration with Stockport County Football Club, provided a safe and fun environment for children during the school break.
In October, 33 excited students from St Mary’s Primary School, aged 4 to 12, embarked on a memorable trip to the cinema to watch Inside Out 2. The children enjoyed the film and created lasting memories.
At Great Places, we have a long-standing commitment to community support, consistently funding projects that make a real difference. By engaging with the students and witnessing their excitement, we reaffirmed our mission to create vibrant, thriving communities. These initiatives not only support families but also ensure that every child has access to enriching experiences, regardless of their circumstances.
Peter Crean, Community Partnership Manager at Great Places, expressed his satisfaction with the project:
‘We’re really pleased to have been able to support this project again and continue our partnership with Stockport County in the Community. The half term holidays can be challenging for parents, so it’s important that children in Great Places communities can access free and enriching holiday provision’.
Reviving Gardens, Restoring Hope: Great Places' impact on Campbell Road Estate
At Great Places, our mission is to create safe and comfortable living environments for all customers.
A recent project on the Campbell Road Estate in Swinton highlights this commitment. Caroline Daley, our Neighbourhood Services Manager for the South, discovered that many residents were struggling with severe waterlogging in their gardens due to poor drainage by the original developer. Determined to resolve this, Caroline and her team enlisted Draincare, a reputable contractor, to fix the issue.
One week later, the transformation was remarkable. Among the affected was a single mother pursuing a degree while raising her young son.
Her garden, once a muddy mess, was now a green, usable space. She expressed her gratitude, saying, “I felt loads of help and support from Caroline. It was hard work moving and fixing everything to be how I needed it, but it was so worth it.” Caroline assured her, “We care. We want your son to be able to use your garden to play football.”
The positive impact extended to all 30 properties. This project reaffirms our commitment to improving our communities and providing support where it’s needed most.
Alison Dean out and about in a second south region visit
In November, Alison Dean, Chief Executive at Great Places, embarked on regional visits focusing on the South region. Alison actively engaged with colleagues across the South, demonstrating her dedication to understanding the challenges faced by her team and the customers they serve.
Alison has shown a keen interest in job shadowing colleagues whenever possible. This hands-on approach allows her to gain a deeper insight into the daily operations and the unique challenges faced by staff and customers across various schemes and neighbourhoods.
First Stop: Foxlair Court, Wythenshawe
Alison’s first visit was to Foxlair Court in Wythenshawe, an Independence and Wellbeing scheme. Here, she met with Jane Sandbach, Independent Living Manager. Their discussions covered a range of topics, including internet improvements, winter fuel provisions, and customer problems management. This visit highlighted the importance of connectivity and support for residents, especially during the colder months.
Second Stop: Properties in Knutsford
Next, Alison visited properties in Knutsford, where she conducted two void inspections with Liam Mann, Property Services Manager. They discussed ongoing refurbishment works, potential improvements to garden areas, and the collaborative efforts of Neighbourhood Services Managers. During the second property visit, Alison joined Kate Beard, Neighbourhood Services Manager, to meet with customers viewing the property. They discussed the delivery of properties to new tenants and the experiences of previous tenants.
Final Visit: The Welcome, Knutsford’s Community Café and Support Centre
Alison’s final stop was at The Welcome, Knutsford’s community café and support centre, accompanied by Kate Beard and Colette Blease, Area Services Manager. They discussed how to improve communication between different teams to avoid crossovers, enhancing coordination, and addressing tenancy issues more efficiently. This visit underscored the importance of community support and effective communication in delivering high-quality services.
Reflecting on the day, Alison Dean said, “These visits are invaluable in helping me understand the real-world challenges our colleagues and customers face. By job shadowing and engaging directly with our teams and residents, I can better support our mission to provide excellent services and improve the quality of life for everyone in our communities.”
Alison's commitment to regional visits and to understanding and addressing the challenges reflect Great Places’ dedication to continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.
Great Places hosts MP Afzal Khan
Great Places recently welcomed Afzal Khan, MP for Manchester Rusholme, to visit a specialist housing scheme and the site of a new supported living accommodation in his constituency.
Accompanied by Great Places’ Chief Executive Alison Dean and Executive Director of Growth Helen Spencer, Mr Khan toured the Docherty Project in Rusholme and went to view progress at its Upper Chorlton Road site, which is being refurbished and extended to provide safe and secure supported housing.
At the Docherty Project, Mr Khan met the team from the housing-related support service commissioned by Manchester City Council and run by Great Places. He spoke with customers at the scheme, which offers short-term accommodation for adults experiencing homelessness and alcohol dependency. The specialist harm-reduction service supports 35 customers and includes a core house with seven bedsits and seven flats, offering 24/7 support.
The tour concluded at Upper Chorlton Road, where Mr Khan viewed the £2.6 million refurbishment project. The existing villa, refurbished in partnership with contractors J Greenwood, will retain its original front while being reconfigured to include six one-bed self-contained apartments and staff areas. A new rear extension will house an additional six one-bed apartments. Part-funded by the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme (SHAP), the site will provide secure housing for single homeless females and is expected to be completed by March 2025. Great Places will manage the scheme and provide on-site support.
Commenting on the visit, Afzal Khan said:
"Great Places’ efforts to tackle the housing crisis and provide tailored support for vulnerable individuals are commendable. It is vital we continue to prioritise affordable housing and community investment to create opportunities and transform lives.”
Alison Dean, Chief Executive at Great Places, added:
"We we’re delighted to have welcomed Afzal Khan to visit our housing schemes and see first-hand the impact of our work in his constituency.
Our mission is to provide safe, affordable, and supportive housing that meets the needs of the community. We are currently delivering over 1,600 new homes across Greater Manchester, including supported housing projects that are vital in offering essential support and housing for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities.
We remain committed to investing in the areas we operate in and working in partnership to create opportunities and transform lives.”
South Repairs Update
Your latest repairs update from your Head of Property Services.
In quarter two, the Great Places South Repairs Team is continuing to review damp and disrepair cases and following up on previous cases.
The area has seen an increase in demand on our multi trades which we are continuing to review. We have had a few large scale projects which our new Tech Surveyor has been managing closely. We are collaborating well with our wider business teams in Assets and Compliance with a particular focus on voids.
We have been working hard to put changes in place in order to work more effectively with our Neighbourhoods colleagues and in reporting current data around the service.
The South Team has recently undergone a restructure so that we have one independent Multi Joiner operative fully committed to voids per area. These operatives have received additional training in order to achieve a faster return of voids being completed. This new process is in its infancy but hopefully we should see some improvements over the coming weeks and months ahead.
How we’re doing at a glance in quarter two:
- Customer satisfaction: The average customer satisfaction rating for the North region was 8.27 out of 10.
- Repairs completed: 4,116 repairs were completed to enhance customers’ homes.
- Timeliness: 78.01% of repairs were completed within target time frames.
- First-visit fixes: 83.92% of all repairs were successfully completed during the first visit.
- Empty properties: 74 empty properties were prepared for new customers, with an average turnaround time of 14 days.
- Disrepair cases: At the end of the quarter, 23 disrepair cases were still active.
These surveys are in real time – upon completion of repairs – and different to the TSM surveys.
Continuous improvement
At Great Places, we’re dedicated to continuing to enhance our performance and services for our customers. Here’s how we’re making a difference:
Ongoing improvements
We are also working on reviewing our overall Repairs Service as part of our Corporate Plan priorities, to ensure we have the best model for our repairs service.
We have been working towards a new communications platform which offers more streamlined routing of calls, and a single platform for web chat, emails, and social media.
Our enhancements to simplify the way repairs are reported and logged through our Hub are now live, which aims to reduce call handling times for customers.
We are continuing to work with our customer service teams actively seek your feedback to improve our services and to help us introduce new measures to continue to provide you with the best experience.
Thanks for your continued support and remember if you have any questions or need any further support you can contact us via Chatbot on our website or email: customerhub@greatplaces.org.uk.
James Cosgrove, Head of Property Services – South Team