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Lewis and John at the NETRALT stand in the Vaccination Hub, Bon Accord Centre, Aberdeen

Connecting at the Bon Accord Centre – see you again soon!

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A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by our drop-in event at the Vaccination & Wellbeing Hub in the Bon Accord Centre! Lewis, a tenant with Aberdeen City Council, and Catherine, Castlehill Housing Association’s’ tenant participation officer, were on hand to spread the word about NETRALT. It was great to chat with tenants, residents and visitors about tenant participation, NETRALT and how to get involved in shaping your social housing.

We had some fantastic conversations and were delighted to see so much interest in having a say in housing services. Whether you came along to ask questions, share your thoughts or just find out more—your voices matter and we appreciate your time.

If you missed us this time, don’t worry—we’ll be back! Keep an eye out for future events, and in the meantime, feel free to reach out if you’d like to know more.

See you soon

Housing in Moray

Share your views – Moray Local Housing Strategy survey

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Housing in Moray

Moray Council are developing a new Local Housing Strategy to set out how the Council and partners deliver housing and housing services over the next five years.  A survey has been launched to find out about the housing issues that matter most to residents in Moray. 

How you can help

  • Please fill in the survey – We need your input to make sure that the strategy reflects the needs of our communities.  It only takes 5 minutes and responses are anonymous.
  • Please share it with others – Every response matters! Please share with family members, friends, and colleagues and encourage them to take part. If possible, help us reach more people by sharing it within your networks and on social media.

Find out more and access the survey link here.

NTP logo

NETRALT and NTP working together

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NTP logo

North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together (NETRALT) and the newly established Northern Tenants Partnership (NTP), joined forces to host their first interactive virtual session centred around the theme of “Working in Partnership.” The event targeted tenants, residents, community groups and staff across Scotland, bringing together a diverse range of voices and experiences. 

The virtual gathering showcased good practice and insights on tenant and community involvement through a series of engaging presentations, videos, and discussions. The spirit of partnership echoed throughout the event, with tenants and staff both contributing to its success. Colin Stewart, a Castlehill tenant and NETRALT member, acted as the event’s host and provided the technical know-how to provide a digital platform for the event to take place. 

The event commenced with a keynote speech by George Walker, Chairperson of the Board of the Scottish Housing Regulator, setting the tone for the day. A selection of topics was covered during the session, including youth involvement, scrutiny, community growing initiatives, participatory budgeting and Regional Networks. 

With NETRALT ‘s membership covering Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and Moray, and NTP spanning the Highlands & Islands, Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, the collaboration provided attendees with insights from a wide array of tenants, community groups, and landlords. 

The event concluded with an interactive online quiz, with a tenant delegate from Aberdeen City Council winning the star prize of £100 in vouchers. 

Catherine Coutts, Co-Chair of NETRALT and Castlehill’s Tenant Participation Officer, explained,  

“We were thrilled to partner with Northern Tenants Partnership to share the amazing work taking place in our communities. This event provided a unique opportunity for tenants to inspire one another, furthering our aims of sharing good practice, creating a valuable support network, and promoting tenant engagement far and wide.” 

Suzy Boardman, Principal Tenant & Customer Engagement Officer at Highland Council, said,  

“Friday’s event really highlighted what can be achieved when we pool our resources and work collaboratively. It was inspiring to hear about the great work happening all across our region and come away with lots of ideas for future partnership projects.’  

 The success of this collaborative event highlights the commitment of tenant participation groups to foster meaningful partnerships, share knowledge and enhance the tenant experience across Scotland.  

photo of NETRALT collecting award from Michelle McManus

Tenant and social landlord group celebrates TPAS award wins

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A North East tenant and social landlord group celebrated success last month at the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) National Good Practice Awards ceremony in Clydebank.

North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together (NETRALT) won Best Practice in Developing Communities award for its groundbreaking work involving young people from across Aberdeen, while NETRALT member and Castlehill Housing Association tenant Colin Stewart won the coveted Alan Ferguson Tenant Champion of the Year award.

NETRALT embarked upon an innovative city-wide project to engage and collaborate with young people via research aimed at exploring youth knowledge and aspirations.

The project involved staff from Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen Foyer, Castlehill, Grampian and Langstane Housing Associations, as well as young people from Aberdeen City Youth Council (now Aberdeen City Youth Movement) and the Scottish Youth Parliament.

The report will be used in Aberdeen’s Local Housing Strategy, as well as being a link to a child-friendly city and will make an impact on services and the resources that young people are reliant on.

NETRALT’s co-chairs Katie Taylor and Catherine Coutts were delighted to accept this prestigious award on behalf of the group and were joined by one of the young people involved, Rebecca Cuthbert.

Catherine Coutts said: “We engaged with young people, not just as a demographic to fill a quota; this went way beyond youth involvement and co-production. Young people designed, distributed, compiled and launched the survey to ensure that captured views were authentic. The survey achieved its aims, with 595 responses forming the basis of a report authored entirely by young people themselves.”

Katie Taylor added: “Housing is such an important topic; it has a direct impact on young people and they should have a say in what happens. It is vital that they feel their voice is listened to and this project is step towards establishing a city youth housing network to ensure this happens.”

Aberdeen City Council Communities, Housing and Public Protection convener, Councillor Miranda Radley, said: “It’s fantastic news that North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together have received national recognition by winning the Best Practice in Developing Communities award at the Tenant Participation Advisory Service National Good Practice Awards. “My congratulations go out to everyone involved and I am pleased their hard work has been recognised nationally.”

Tenant and social landlord group celebrates TPAS award wins

Colin Stewart receiving the Alan Ferguson Tenant Champion of the Year award

Castlehill Registered Tenants Organisation (CaRTO) chair Colin Stewart has helped support the organisation to get involved with scheme inspections and to support communities via CaRTO’s funding scheme.

Colin is always a friendly face when he meets tenants and is able to help with his knowledge and lived experience of being a social housing tenant.

An active member of NETRALT and a well-kent face throughout not just the North East, but nationally, due to his role as chair of the North of Scotland Regional Network, he is also the only tenant member of the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board.

Colin has spoken in parliament to communicate tenant comments and evidence to the Local Government, Housing & Planning Committee to inform its consideration of the first report to Parliament on the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act.

Tenant participation officer Catherine, who nominated Colin for this award, explained: “Colin is a force of nature and a worthy winner of this award because of his unfailing enthusiasm and dedication to the social housing sector and the wider community, from grassroots level to national strategic board level. His voluntary work has resulted in positive changes and improvements to many people’s lives across Scotland.”

More winners from the event can be found here.

Colin, Louise & Helen photos

Podcast: Tenant participation with Colin Stewart, Louise McNeilage and Helen Barton

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Colin Stewart, Louise McNeilage and Helen Barton
Colin Stewart, Louise McNeilage and Helen Barton

Social housing tenants have a statutory right to have a say in the running of their homes, but what does that mean in practice?

TPAS Scotland has been providing support in this very field for over 40 years and has launched a new campaign to help housing organisations and tenants to build better relationships as we recover from the pandemic.

To discuss this campaign and all things tenant participation, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black are joined by Colin Stewart – a Castlehill Housing Association tenant and Scottish Housing Regulator board member, Louise McNeilage – a tenant and community engagement facilitator at Scottish Borders Housing Association, and Helen Barton – an associate at TPAS.

Podcast
Tenant participation with Colin Stewart, Louise McNeilage and Helen Barton

More information on Regional Networks is available at https://regionalnetworks.org

The link to the Back on Track programme as well as TPAS’s other services can be found here: https://tpasscotland.org.uk/tpas-scotland-covid-back-on-track-programme/

SBHA and SBTO were runners-up in the Best Practice in Digital Involvement category at the Tpas Scotland Good Practice Awards in June 2022.

Digital Involvement Runner-up Award for SBHA & SBTO | Scottish Borders Housing Association

More information can also be found on:

Jimmy Black has written a blog to accompany the episode, here.

All episodes of the Scottish Housing News Podcast are available here as well as on the following platforms:

Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts

Spotify

Anchor

Colin Stewart wins TPAS Champion photo

Colin Stewart scoops Tenant Participation Champion award

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Colin Stewart wins TPAS Champion photoCastlehill Housing Association is delighted that our tenant Colin Stewart has won the acclaimed Tenant Champion of the Year Award at the Tenant Participation Advisory Service Scotland National Good Practice Awards 2018.

The awards were held in Aviemore and judges were bowled over by Colin’s level of involvement in tenant participation with Castlehill Registered Tenants Organisation (CaRTO).  He is also a member of North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together (NETRALT), Regional Networks and carries out other voluntary work outside of social housing in the wider community, all of which make him a worthy winner.

Colin received his award from two stars of long-running Scottish sitcom Still Game; Mark Cox who plays skinflint Tam, and Jane McCarry a.k.a Craiglang’s resident busybody, Isa.

Colin Stewart with his award photoOur Tenant Participation Officer, Catherine Coutts, was shortlisted for the final for the Tenant Participation Champion – Staff category for her work with tenants and groups in the North East.

There was yet more success to come for Castlehill, with local partner group NETRALT being runners up in the Best Practice in Involving Customers in Services category for their ongoing mystery shopping project.

Carol Hannaford on stage photo

NETRALT Chair bakes up a storm at the TPAS conference

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Carol Hannaford on stage photoNETRALT Chair, Carol Hannaford, took part in a fun-filled presentation at the TPAS National Annual Conference 2018 in Aviemore on Sunday 18 November.  Carol bravely took to the stage dressed in her best chef’s whites and delivered a talk with a difference, in keeping with this year’s theme:  “Baking up a storm – do you have the right ingredients?”

Carol said,  ‘I really enjoyed taking part in Bake Off and providing the right  ingredients to make a fantastic cake for NETRALT’s 7th Birthday.  It was great fun and showed Tenant  Participation is booming in the North East.’

Very well done to Carol for being such a good sport!

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