"All Aboard" at the TPAS Cymru Annual Tenant Participation Conference

Published by Amanda O for Tenant Participation Advisory Servcie Wales in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government

The Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells was renamed "Participation Station" for the recent TPAS Cymru Annual Tenant Participation Conference in November. The conference this year focused on two main themes: “Destination Participation”, the journey that we have taken to wider participation and empowerment, and “The Regulation Express” looking at the recent changes in the regulation of Housing Associations in Wales, and a look to how Local Authority Housing Departments could be regulated in the future.

On Wednesday afternoon, we were joined by Kath palmer, Deputy Director of the Housing Directorate in the Welsh Assembly Government, who gave an overview of housing and tenant participation policy during the latest Welsh Assembly Government session, Christine Kemp-Philp, who gave a personal account in her journey of tenant participation. The session was rounded off with John Drysdale, Director of TPAS Cymru, who charted the journey and developments that TPAS Cymru has played and supported over previous years, and a thought in how things might look in the future.

The main session on Thursday morning looked at issues to do with the Regulation of Social Landlords in Wales. Carol Kay, Senior Regulation Manager at the Welsh Assembly Government highlighted the journey to the new regulatory framework for Housing Associations in Wales, followed by Jim McKirdle, Housing Policy Officer at the Welsh Local Government Association, who focused on the opportunities for new regulatory practices within the Local Authority Sector. We were also joined in this session by 2 members of the Tenants Advisory Panel, Lyn Bond and Pip Williams, who spoke about the major role that the TAP and the wider tenant body have to play in regulation.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Wales & West Housing Association, main sponsors and V4T and United Welsh Housing Association as Main Exhibitors. In addition the conference couldn’t have been as successful without the support of the sponsors and exhibitors at the conference, and of course delegates at the conference.

Photos and presentations from the Conference are available on the TPAS Cymru website www.tpascymru.org.uk