Looking after your neighbourhood
Making sure our residents feel safe and comfortable in their neighbourhoods is so important to us. That is why we work closely with our local partners to ensure all our local community areas are managed and maintained well.
75% of customers feel that we make a positive contribution to their neighbourhood |
68% satisfaction with our cleaning services
Works completed on 210 trees in 2022/23
Working with you
Our Estates team work very hard to make sure your neighbourhood is a comfortable place to live, but this isn’t something we do alone. Over the last year we’ve had nine resident inspectors working with us to score the tidiness and cleanliness of their estates, ensuring that our grounds maintenance contractors continue to provide the high-quality services that are expected of them.
We’ve also been cracking down on fly-tipping in a bid to clean up our neighbourhoods, with fixed-penalty notices being issued to those found to be dumping rubbish. We also held a series of ‘clean-up days’, with great support from our grounds maintenance contractor, Accuro – and our trusted improvement programme partner, Equans, kindly donated some skips for the events, allowing our customers to dispose of their unwanted belongings in a free and environmentally friendly way.
Working in partnership with Hertsmere Borough Council, we were able to reduce the amount of contamination in recycling bins in Bushey by engaging with residents, sending letters and putting up posters, and visiting them in their homes to ensure that everyone understood which recycling bins to use for which items.
The team also cleared out communal garden areas on Haines Way and shed areas across Croxley View – around 20 areas are now cleaner and safer for local residents.
Tackling anti-social behaviour
In March 2023 we began trialling a new free smartphone app called The Noise App, which provides a simple way to ensure noise complaints are reported safely and securely. It allows customers to record and send any kind of noise nuisance directly to their housing officer, keeping a record of the location and time it occurred and ensuring there is an objective log of evidence, which helps us to take action.
Improving biodiversity
We don’t just want to maintain our neighbourhoods – we want to actively improve them. One way we did this was by leaving specific areas of grass uncut across our estates, and planting wildflowers and bulbs, to encourage biodiversity and help wildlife thrive.
During the first three months of 2023, we carried out high-priority tree works on dead, diseased or damaged trees in our communal areas in order to protect the surrounding trees and for the safety of our residents.
GMT says... “We know that some people feel like grass should be cut more often, and there may be areas that can be improved on in that respect, but the leaving of some areas to rewild is important for biodiversity and the environment. Watford Community Housing’s commitment to being greener is something the GMT supports, and we will work closely with the Estates team to ensure that grounds maintenance contracts strike a balance between being ecologically responsible but are also in the best interest of tenants.” |