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New Charter tenants are filmed during the garden contest judging
A new observational documentary series on BBC1 is to feature the work of three north-west landlords.
“Neighbourhood Watched” is a series of four 40-minute programmes which shows the work of housing officers from New Charter (Ashton-under-Lyne), Housing Pendle and Community Gateway (Preston).
The series follows staff as they deal with the variety of tasks and customers they encounter daily. Waiting lists are growing dramatically, partly because of the economic downturn, and programmes show the human consequences as applicants try to get a home. Staff get in touch with current tenants for reasons good and bad, and one tenant ends up swapping her home for prison...
The series was filmed by independent production company Raw Television between June and November last year. The landlords gave access to their work provided tenants and applicants agreed, and the results should make compulsive viewing.
New Charter took over former council housing in Greater Manchester in 2000. It agreed to participate in the series as it believes many people are unaware of the variety of work an excellent housing provider does. The series will showcase the routine and extraordinary job of housing officers and is sure to surprise viewers.
New Charter’s Group Chief Executive Ian Munro said: “Housing has become topical, with the recession increasing repossessions and pressures on some owner-occupiers. Our tenants are feeling the pinch too. But we’ve experienced a massive increase in demand for our homes since 2007. Despite our own local investment of £300m, good affordable homes are in short supply nationally.
“The programmes capture the commitment and dedication of staff working in housing, and their empathy with customers. They are all a credit to our business. I suspect some of the staff featured will become minor celebrities during the series, but I doubt they are planning alternative careers in the media.”
Each programme in the series is self-contained, but a few staff
appear in more than one. The first programme is broadcast on BBC1
on Tuesday 4th August at 10.35pm.
taffjeff
Commented 131 weeks ago
I hope the series is going to be fair to tenants and landlords. We don't want to see a sensationalist set of programmes that stigmatises the majority of decent tenants."