New advice sessions for Pontefract tenants

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

Residents from the Chequerfield estate in Pontefract will be able to meet their local councillors, police, fire service and Wakefield and District Housing’s (WDH) Tenant Involvement Officer at new informal drop-in sessions.

The local partner agencies will be on hand to offer help and advice, and listen to any concerns the residents may have about their estate, at St Mary’s Community Centre at The Circle from 10 – 11 am on Tuesday 28 February and every third Tuesday onwards.

PCSO Paul Guest, who served as a PC for more than 30 years in the Wakefield division, has returned to the area to establish a new informal point of contact where residents can discuss issues from problem parking to anti-social behaviour.

He said: “These drop-in sessions will give everyone on the estate a chance to come and chat to us informally over a cup of tea or coffee.

“They can talk about wider community issues or personal problems where they may need some guidance and support. This will hopefully become a contact point so they know where to come if they have any concerns.

“Chequerfield is a large estate but we have relatively little feedback. At the latest Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting the turn-out was very low so we wanted to create another way for people to come out and show they care.”

WDH Tenant Involvement Officer Natalie Guy said: “It’s important that our tenants let us and our partners know what concerns they have so we can take the appropriate action. If anyone has any housing issues then they can drop by and let us know.

“They don’t have to travel into the town centre or visit our Service Access Point to talk to us. We’re keen to take our services out into their community and listen to what they have to say.”

A similar scheme based at WDH’s Eastbourne Centre in Pontefract has been a success and PCSO Guest hopes that the drop-in sessions at St Mary’s will have a similar impact.

He added: “We’ve been quite pleased with the response it got at Eastbourne. St Mary’s have been happy to help by providing us with their venue to discuss local matters so we hope that residents make use of this opportunity.”