Police award for social housing estate officer

Published by Richard Lord for Wakefield & District Housing in Housing and also in Communities, Environment, Health, Local Government

West Yorkshire Police has given a prestigious commendation to a Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) employee for his efforts in tackling anti-social behaviour.

Richard Askham, a Senior Estate Officer at WDH in Pontefract, received the Divisional Commander’s Commendation following his work on a case involving a tenant who was causing nuisance to surrounding residents.

Richard says that while the certificate carries his name as the recipient, the recognition could have gone to the team who worked together to ensure that the anti-social behaviour stopped.

He said: “There were many people who worked on this project,” says Richard. “My fellow estate officer Kenny Boldra assisted me greatly, as did the WDH legal team and, of course, the police.

“Our original goal was to prevent the tenant from causing misery to the neighbours, and we were successful in getting an exclusion order to ensure this – however, as it turns out, the tenant gave up the tenancy and has now left the area.

“Of course WDH prefers to sustain tenancies, but we will not let anti-social behaviour ruin the lives of our tenants so we took action.

“It’s been a great example of partnership working and team work and this commendation reflects this.”

Martin Donlon, WDH Area Manager, said that Richard’s work deserved recognition.

“He has worked many hours in getting the result that saw tenants’ quality of life improve. He co-ordinated the action, went to court and followed the processes to the letter.

“It was a professional job from beginning to end. He and the team that worked on this deserve all the credit.”