Safe as houses

The Tenant Participation Compact is the first contract of its kind designed to give residents a say in how the housing service is organised for their benefit.

And it was signed sealed and delivered by a local woman, June Cunningham, secretary of FOTARA, the Federation of Tenants' and Residents' Associations.

June has been active for some time representing tenants' interests on the Higher Folds Estate.

She signed the Compact on behalf of tenants throughout Wigan, together with leader of the council, Lord Peter Smith and Portfolio Holder for Housing, Cllr Geoff Roberts.

The new agreement declares that its basic aim is to ensure that local services are "efficient, effective and responsive" and that "decision making reflects local needs and priorities".

The compact sets down how tenants can get involved, what information the council will provide to help them with this, the objectives that both the council and the tenants want to achieve by working together and the monitoring system which will make sure that it all works.

Lord Peter Smith said: "There is considerable change within the council at the present time. We are modernising the way we deliver our services and developing ways in which local people can influence decisions being made about their locality."

Cllr Roberts added: "The council is very pleased to enter into this new relationship with our tenants and residents. Local people understand the problems of their housing and their communities because they are the ones who face them. If we provide wrong solutions, that wastes very restricted resources. With commitment and involvement from both sides, everybody wins.

"An awful lot of good work has already been done by local groups, but we must emphasise that this compact is being made not only with council house tenants or their groups but with everyone in our local communities.

"All tenants are not represented by groups, and groups, however hard they work at recruitment, do not always represent all the tenants in their area."