As part of the ongoing commitment demonstrated by Moorlands Housing (a member of Harvest Housing Group) and Mill Street Resident Action Group in Leek to improve their neighbourhoods, several initiatives have been organised in the Belle Vue and Mill Street area of the town in previous months and continue to be implemented to benefit residents.
The various improvements include: re-landscaping of garden areas, adding some grounds to maintenance contracts, part paving of bed-sit gardens and painting of communal areas. Funding from both Central Networks and Moorlands Housing’s Environmental Improvement Grant have also enabled residents to purchase planters and benching to further enhance the areas.
Following on from the improvement projects, Vanessa Messham, Neighbourhood Regeneration Officer (NRO) at Moorlands Housing invited residents to hold a consultation regarding the implementation of a ‘Good Neighbour Agreement’ which would be put in place for all residents to sign up to.
Having decided to go ahead with The Good Neighbour Agreement, residents were informed of its outlined shared expectations of behaviour and standards amongst themselves & third party agencies within the area and of the fact that they will be able to put forward their desired areas of improvement.
The Belle Vue and Mill Street ‘Good Neighbour Agreement’ looks at 4 strands of community life: Standards of behaviour that residents agree to, An agreement by Moorlands Housing regarding landlord-related issues, An agreement by Further Options regarding their issues and an Agreement which the Police will adhere to regarding issues.
Representatives from Moorlands Housing, Further Options, Staffordshire Police and Staffordshire Fire Service will be present at Belle Vue and Mill Street to Launch the Good Neighbour Agreement amongst residents between 10am and 3pm on Tuesday 27 May.
Staffordshire Fire Service will be on hand to carry out fire safety checks within homes and Staffordshire Police will be available to give general crime prevention advice to residents.
Commenting on the launch of the new Good Neighbour Agreement, Vanessa Messham, NRO at Moorlands Housing said:
“Good Neighbour Agreements should be seen by residents as something positive to have in place. We hope that by having a Good Neighbour Agreement set up at Belle Vue and Mill Street, shared standards of behaviour and pride amongst residents will be reinforced. We hope it will also help towards the overall goal of improving the neighbourhood, and making it an area that residents are proud to live in”
Vanessa added:
“We are using Belle Vue and Mill Street as a pilot scheme for the Good Neighbour Agreements and hope to roll them out to other areas across the group”