Performance

You said

For our new developments, community feedback is key. Last year, extended consultation with residents, councillors, Withington Civic Society and the Old Moat Age Friendly panel took place. A main concern was that there had been ‘extended antisocial behaviour occurring at St Christopher’s close’, a cul-de-sac street which backed on to our Minehead site.

We did

Our Minehead development - see more in our News - saw design changes, to create a footpath joining St Christopher’s near Dermot Murphy Close. Residents expressed support for this as it would ‘open up the area and prevent loitering and antisocial behaviour which had been occurring’. 

You said

Call waiting times have improved over the past 12 months but there are periods when our customer hub gets extremely busy, so callers may be on hold for between 15 – 20 minutes. We understand this has caused frustration for some of you and has been a regular piece of feedback that we receive.

We did

We developed options for accessing services online and have recently launched our new website which allows tenants to book repairs, view rent statements, make  payments and access useful information relating to their tenancy agreement.

We are also making improvements to our call queue messaging to better manage expectations.

The new queue now provides a queue position and a message to indicate how busy we are. The queue also contains a mixture of 20 different songs, so you won’t have to listen to the same track repeatedly. Though a small change, we’ve had great feedback on this.

You said

Our STAR survey told us you could be more satisfied with your neighbourhood.

We did

A number of high profile projects have been independently recognised as best practice throughout the year. The Environment team are leading on Southway’s response to the sustainability and zero carbon challenges set out in the Greater Manchester Green Summit.

For the second year running, we are really proud to say the green spaces we own, develop and maintain have been recognised by the Green Flag Award Scheme as one of the very best in the world. This places them among a record-breaking 1,883 UK parks and green spaces that have received this internationally recognised, prestigious mark of a quality park or green space.

We manage 156 green spaces across Southway Manchester. The Green Flag site is Mottram Avenue. More than 1,000 people participated in our events programme throughout the year with our Halloween event as popular as ever.

We also take our tree management role seriously, and replanted 49 trees in the year to replace the 48 trees that required removal.

You said

Satisfaction with confidence around our ASB action showed we could do more to inform tenants of what we do (STAR survey).

We did

Officers have completed the restructure of the trust’s ASB service, which is now delivered across the Hub, Community Services and Community Action teams. Satisfaction with confidence around our ASB action showed we could do more to inform tenants of what we do (STAR survey).

Escalating youth nuisance and a lack of community confidence in the commitment of the statutory agencies to tackle ASB has emerged as a work priority this year.

Over the past 12 months the Greater Manchester Police and Southway continue to work in a close partnership. This partnership working is increasingly important as resources across the public sector are limited. Criminals who are Southway tenants will face the prospect of eviction action by the trust. In Burnage we have worked
with local residents, Councillors and police to secure injunctions on local youths who had been causing anti-social behaviour in the locality; as a result of these injunctions, the offenders have curtailed their behaviour.

In Merseybank we have participated in community action events to challenge anti-social behaviour and offer support to local residents.

Overall, we have been successful in taking legal action in seven enforcement cases this year.

You Said

We have various ways to help inform how we need to improve our digital service. From data analytics of our website and contact centre which tell us what information our tenants most need, to focus groups and surveys to understand more specific requirements.

We Did

We consulted with tenants through focus groups, email surveys and various other channels. We used this feedback to create a new website that is clear, easy to navigate and contains information that is most relevant to your needs. Our repairs booking system and personalised tenant portals allow you access to far more information than ever before and the opportunity to book repairs in just a few clicks. We are currently monitoring the success and satisfaction of this.

You Said

Members of the clubs tell us regularly how much this service helps them and how they now feel more in control when it comes to feeding themselves and their families and also, managing their money better. The clubs are very popular and in high demand.

We did

We set up more clubs! We set up the Merseybank Club in Chorlton nearly three years ago and this was followed by the Westcroft Club in Burnage about a year later.

There are now five Quids In Food Clubs across the Southway area enabling approximately 200 low income households to access £15 worth of food for £2.