Thank you everyone who took part in our Egg-cellent Easter creative competition.
The Easter bunny has carefully considered the entries, and decided that the winners are:
1st Lillianna Owen Llys y Coed, Llanfairfechan
2nd Heather Townsend Y Gorlan, Bangor
3rd Bethan Hughes, Llys Mair, Bangor
Congratulations to Lilianna, Heather and Bethan and again thank you to everyone who entered!
We want to put our tenants at the heart of everything we do… Get involved and have a say on how North Wales Housing is run!
Why get involved?
Carol from Old Colwyn has been getting involved with many groups and panels over the years
“I first started to volunteer with North Wales Housing back in 2009. I have found it great fun, and really interesting, to be involved in decision making, and have influence over many things that affect me directly, in the home that I live.
Plus, North Wales Housing really appreciate my feedback and opinion on matters affecting me, and how I live in my home.
Don’t hesitate to get involved, it is so worth it!”
Join our Tenants Forum
Join our new Tenants Forum and have a say in how North Wales Housing is run!
The Forum meets regularly with North Wales Housing staff, and provide you with an opportunity to obtain information, influence our decision making, and strengthen our services.
We will aim to dedicate each meeting to a particular topic, allowing members to learn more about North Wales Housing, and provide input and feedback to improve the services we provide.
The meetings are currently held online, and we can be flexible with timings to take your circumstances into account.
Forum member Bethan says
“Being part of the tenant’s forum gives us a voice – sometimes as a landlord North Wales Housing might have different priorities and systems that might overlook what we need, so our input helps develop the bigger picture. We are a group of tenants from different locations and a range of ages, feedback we give helps North Wales Housing see the effect on the tenant to develop a better tenant experience for others.”
Tenants and Communities Panel
The Panel consist of Board members, tenants, and staff, and meets every two months (currently via online). The Panel has this responsibility for scrutinising our services and performance to ensure all residents receive the highest possible standards of service.
Full support and training will be given to new members.
Tenant member Alan says:
“I feel it’s important that tenants should be involved in the decision making that could affect their lives and that of other tenants. I hope my efforts are making a positive impact on behalf of tenants.”
If you would like to register your interest or learn more about the Tenants Forum and Tenants 7 Communities Panel, please contact Iwan Evans on 01492 563232 or [email protected]
For more information you can contact Iwan Evans on [email protected] or call 01492 563232.
Wild goats whose cheeky antics on Llandudno’s deserted streets during lockdown attracted global attention are being immortalised in a stunning new work of art.
The boundary wall around the town’s Tre Cwm estate is to be given a colourful makeover, after planning permission was granted for an eye-catching new mural to be placed on it.
The artwork captures many of the things most associated with Llandudno, including the Kashmiri goats who became known around the world after heading into the town centre en masse last year and munching on whatever took their fancy.
The mural will be seen by thousands of motorists every day as they enter Llandudno from Deganwy, potentially serving a similar role to the distinctive ‘Welcome to Llandudno’ sign that greets visitors arriving via Penrhyn Bay.
Artist Kevin Stonehouse, who has lived on the estate for most of his life, has depicted the goats in their more familiar surroundings of the Great Orme. They are accompanied on the artwork by Alice in Wonderland, another iconic figure with local connections, and other familiar sights like town’s promenade, ski slope and tramway.
“The goats are very much a part of the town’s heritage. It was nice to be able to include them. I was also happy to be able to include Alice in Wonderland. I’ve often put her in paintings and decided it would be right to find space for her on this. I have tried to include lots of different things that people associate with the town. It is such a beautiful town.”
“I’m excited that the artwork will soon be going on the wall and I feel very proud.”
Planning permission from Conwy County Borough Council represents the culmination of two years of hard work involving residents of the revitalised estate, the social enterprise Culture Action Llandudno (CALL), housing association Cartrefi Conwy and North Wales Housing Association, which owns the wall.
The estate’s artist in residence, Kristin Luke, worked closely with residents on the project known as ‘The Wall Is _____’ to explore how best to spruce up the wall.
A lengthy engagement process included more than 25 activities involving residents, such as an art van being on the estate for a week and nature walks.
It would be the ideas put forward by father-of-three Kevin – who has a degree in Art and worked as a painter and decorator – that really caught the eye. He drew upon his talents to produce a colourful scroll capturing Llandudno life, but he was surprised by just how well received it was.
Kevin says:
“I spent a few days working on it but I thought it was just a few ideas to help them. But they really loved it and wanted to use it for the wall,” said Kevin.
“I have lived here for a long time and know so many people on the estate. Hopefully, everybody will enjoy seeing what we’ve done once it is up on the wall.”
The mural will be accompanied by an interpretation panel that offers information about the project and celebrates the heritage of the estate, with residents having again shared ideas for what could be included.
Sabine Cockrill, director of CALL, was involved in helping identify funding for the project. This included making a successful application for a grant to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Iwan Evans, tenant participation co-ordinator for North Wales Housing, said:
“We own the wall and are pleased with what is going to go on it. I believe the mural will be beneficial to the area and the wall is in a prominent location.
“This has been a team effort involving ourselves, Cartrefi, the artists, members of the community and CALL.
“It has been pleasing to see the amount of community engagement that has taken place during the project. It is nice that the community has been so involved.”
It is hoped installation work will begin shortly and the mural will be on view from the spring, with an unveiling ceremony planned.
We will be developing a new Tenant Participation Strategy and would appreciate the input of our tenants.
Tenant participation occurs when social landlords share information, ideas and decision making with tenants’ working with them to agree on things such as how their homes and local environment should be managed, what services and service improvements are needed, priorities and how we can work together to achieve these.
The strategy will tell you how we will achieve good tenant involvement, how we are going to consult with you and use your views, and how we are going to work with you so that you can influence what we do and hold us to account.
You can complete the survey using the below link and be in with a chance to win a £20 Love2shop gift. This survey is open to NWH tenants only.
If you wish to someone about this survey, please contact Iwan Evans on 01492 563232 or [email protected]
We will be taking part in this careers event Thursday 21 January 10am – 12pm, join us to find out more about our current vacancies.
Register here https://learnliveuk.com/cyfleoedd-gogledd-cymru-opportunity-north-wales/
North Wales Housing and Adra will be available at this virtual event to give information and receive feedback from the local community about the Plas Penrhyn development in Penrhyn. The Plas Penrhyn scheme includes eight 3-bed and eight 2-bed houses, four 2-bed bungalows and one 2-bed bungalow with wheelchair access, all with designated parking.
We would like to invite you to a virtual webinar with Adra and North Wales Housing, to see the plans and talk through the proposals.
Date: Thursday 28th January (7.30pm – 8.30pm)
How to register for the webinar
Register for the webinar here:
If you can’t attend but would like to submit any questions about the scheme ahead of a virtual webinar please email your questions to [email protected].
In December we launched a Christmas competition, asking residents to create an artwork on what Christmas means to them. This could have been anything; a drawing, painting, collage or display.
Thank you to everyone who took part, we really do have some creative residents!
We are pleased to reveal that the winners are Anne from Hafod y Parc Abergele for her nativity display, and Bethan from Llys Mair for her Christmas tree collage.
Congratulations to Anne and Bethan and thank you to everyone who entered
We are working with Gwynedd Council and Adra to redevelop an empty site, 137 Bangor High St, into 12 flats with support to tackle homelessness in Bangor, Gwynedd. Adra are leading on the development, while the building will then be managed in partnership by North Wales Housing and Gwynedd Council.
Planning permission has been granted and work will start early 2021.
We are proud to be working with Gwynedd Council’s Housing and Properties team to develop a building which will then provide accommodation and will be a suitable home to help and contribute towards tackling homelessness in Gwynedd by working with Gwynedd Council and Adra.
Sarah Schofield, Adra’s Customers and Communities Director said:
“We are so glad that this development has had planning permission, I can’t wait to see people moving into their new homes when the development is completed.
“There has been almost 40% increase in homelessness in Gwynedd over the last 5 years, and with Universal Credit cases increasing and people losing jobs as a result of the pandemic as well, there is a need for accommodation and service like this more than ever.
“We are really proud to be working with Gwynedd Council and North Wales Housing and proud that we’re taking steps to solve this matter and to help vulnerable people who is in housing need in Bangor, Gwynedd.”
Councillor Craig ab Iago, Cabinet Member for Housing in Gwynedd Council, said:
“Having a roof over your head is something most of us take for granted. But unfortunately, social circumstances mean that this human right is something that’s out of some local people’s reach. This is unfair and we’re determined to make sure that the people of Gwynedd has access to appropriate housing.
“This project will offer an important first step for people towards independence and a long term home by building independent lives. It’s also good to see that new life will be given to a building that’s been empty for a long period of time, here in Bangor.”
Brett Sadler, Operations Director at North Wales Housing said:
“We welcome the good news that planning permission has been given for this development. We’r proud that we, by working with Gwynedd Council and Adra, will support homelessness in Bangor, and add to the work our Outreach and Resettlement Team already do in the area.
“We also understand that providing a home alone is not enough, we will also be offering direct support by our informative and committed staff, to enable the tenants to successfully live independently.”
All partners are committed to complete this project and we will be working with specialist services and voluntary organizations that work in the Bangor area.
Would you like to enter a prize draw for a chance to win a £20 Love2Shop gift card!?
If you are a North Wales Housing tenant, we would be grateful if you could complete the survey within the link below. You will be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win a £20 Love2shop gift voucher.
Last year the Welsh Government gave Housing Associations the ability to raise rents by up to 1% + CPI (inflation based on September prices) for the next 5 years. If we applied this maximum rate the rent increase from April 2021 would be 1.5%.
This year has been like no other and we understand the impact the pandemic has had on all our lives and finances. We appreciate how difficult this year has been and the consequences are likely to run in to the New Year, therefore we are proposing a rent freeze from April 2021 to March 2022.
We are obliged to hold a consultation for rent increases; however, we have been unable to do this for some time due to factors outside of our control. As we have a 5-year commitment from Welsh Government we will undertake rent consultations, starting with this year.
With every consultation there are options therefore we are proposing the following options for rent levels between April 2021 and March 2022
Please be assured there will be no fall in service levels if the ‘no increase’ option is the preferred option.
The link to complete the survey is here – https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MRgpeqjnDEOXGXgOk_MvUr-n_XqykMpOrer-MTBdv6pUMlZOWE5QR1MyUDVINUZFMVhXWDlQU1hOTy4u
The survey closes on the 13th of January 2021.
If you wish to speak to someone at North Wales Housing about this survey, please contact Iwan Evans on 01492 563232 or [email protected]
We’re launching a Christmas competition! Create an artwork on what Christmas means to you… It can be a drawing, painting, collage or display… get creative!
Closing date is Friday 18th December.
How to enter
Send entries to [email protected] or post on our Facebook page and private message us your contact details.
