Residents sign up to neighbourhood agreement

Hundreds of residents have shown their respect for their estate after signing up to a special agreement.

Residents of Tilery Estate, Stockton, have pledged their support for a neighbourhood agreement after being consulted about long-term improvements to the estate.

Tristar Homes, which is part of Vela Group, worked in partnership with fellow housing providers, including Tees Valley Housing and Accent Foundation, as well as partner agencies, to draw up the document, which has been welcomed by people living in the community.

Tristar customer and resident on the estate, Kevin Taylor said: “Those living on Tilery have been closely consulted and the establishment of a neighbourhood agreement is very welcome.”

All 350 citizens living in the area were asked about issues that were important to them and what changes they would like to see to make the estate a better place to live. Anti-social behaviour, area/property maintenance, modernisation/repairs, young people’s behaviour and lack of activities for young people are areas of improvement included in the agreement.

Cleveland Police and Stockton Borough Council’s enforcement team and drug and alcohol awareness team set out improvement promises. UNITE, the mediation organisation, carried out the initial consultation with householders on Tilery.

Residents - private, social housing tenants and owner occupiers - have promised to contribute to the estate’s quality of life by carrying out tasks including maintaining their gardens, reporting dumped rubbish, and parking appropriately.

Kay Glew, head of housing services at Tristar said: “Good neighbourhood agreements are an important part of our work to help strengthen communities.”

“We are passionate about enhancing the quality of life for residents and these agreements help signal what a housing association can do by working in partnership with other like-minded agencies.”

“It is vital that residents feel they are an integral part of the process and that is why we carried out such an extensive consultation exercise using the services of UNITE.”

“A majority of households on Tilery have pledged their support and we hope that once the benefits of the agreement become evident that more will follow suit.”

A celebration day to launch the agreement was held at Frank Wiseman Centre. There was a wide range of activities including litter picks, seed and flower planting to help teach environmental awareness as well as a bouncy castle, face painting, henna tattoos and an appearance from Timmy, the Tristar mascot. Healthy eating was also promoted, highlighting the ‘five a day’ guidelines.