Welcome to Active Communities

To see the latest events our Active Communities Team has arranged for residents click on What's On at the bottom of this page. You can also see the Live & Learn courses available to our residents - have a look to see if you're interested in attending any of them.

We have some great activities in August for our residents - a free family fun day out at Cogges, as well as flower arranging, gardening and DIY workshops. See details attached at the bottom of this page.

A team of resident inspectors has reviewed the way we manage our empty properties and what happens to them after one tenant moves out and before the new tenant moves in. Their report is attached at the bottom of this page: Resident Inspection of Voids Management.

You can also see our new Community Involvement Guide and Community Involvement Statement 2009-10, attached at the bottom of this page.

A big thank you to everyone who completed our Community Survey, telling us about the facilities in your neighbourhood and how you feel about your community. Click below to see a summary of the results.

It is really important for residents to be able to be fully involved on matters relating to their home and the area they live in.

Everybody lives totally different lives. As a team we appreciate that the amount of time and commitment that people can give varies. We welcome and appreciate all residents who engage in any form of involvement and acknowledge the significant contribution that they make to Cottsway.

We want to make it easier for residents to get involved in the decision making and the monitoring of our services and activities. Our Community Involvement guide sets out ways in which tenants, leaseholders and shared owners can influence decisions at Cottsway.

Talk to us, let us know how you feel, tell us what you think and share your opinions.

What we can do to help you

We are here to help in any way we can. The Active Communities Team can offer advice, support and even grants. If you need specific skills we can give you free access to training and skills workshops through our Live and Learn programme as well as detailed advice and information.

Resident approved?

The Residents' Forum developed and approved their own logo. We use this on all important information, documents and leaflets to show that we have consulted tenants.

Here are some of the activities which you could be part of:

• Tenant Board Member
• Residents' Forum
• Resident Inspectors
• Area Inspections 
• Tenant satisfaction surveys
• Tenants' and Residents' Associations
• Resident Repairs Working Group
• Asset Services Improvement Group
• Financial Inclusion Group
• Residents' Reading Panel
• Ground Maintenance Working Group
• Anti-social Behaviour Working Group
• Disability Equality Awareness Group
• Editorial panel/contributions to Home Page
• The E-mail Group
• Sheltered Housing Working Group
• Leaseholders' and Shared Owners' Forum
• Best Value reviews
• Telephone conferences

For further information on the above please click on the link below to download our Community Involvement guide.

Cottsway is always looking for new ways to involve our tenants so if you can’t see anything of interest in this guide, please contact the Active Communities Team with your ideas and we will be happy to discuss it with you.

Active Communities Team:

Vicki Paxford – Community Manager
E-mail: Vicki.Paxford@cottsway.co.uk
Tel: 01993 890039

Andy Cross – Community Involvement Co-ordinator
E-mail: Andy.Cross@cottsway.co.uk
Tel: 01993 890072

Maggie Newton - Community Involvement Assistant
E-mail: Maggie.Newton@cottsway.co.uk
Tel: 01993 890108

Sam Biddle – Community Development Worker
E-mail: Sam.Biddle@cottsway.co.uk
Tel: 01993 890071

Gill Lee – Community Welfare Officer
E-mail: Gill.Lee@cottsway.co.uk
Tel: 01993 890070

Shirley Goodman – Community Welfare Officer
E-mail: Shirley.Goodman@cottsway.co.uk
Tel: 01993 890078

Active Communities Team
Cottsway Housing Association Ltd
Freepost (SCE 14617)
Witney OX28 4ZU

Freephone 0800 8 766 366

Tel 01993 890000 Fax 01993 890005

E-mail: act@cottsway.co.uk

Useful Contacts:

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)

Responsible for housing, community and re-generation policies. The website has a range of useful policy information, which can be found at www.communities.gov.uk

Tenant Services Authority

The new regulator for affordable housing, their goal is to raise the standard of services for tenants. The TSA was set up as a result of the 2008 Housing and Regeneration Act. Visit www.tenantservicesauthority.org or tel: 0845 230 7000 or email enquiries@tsa.qsx.gov.uk

The Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS)

Provides information, support and training for residents and groups. Visit www.tpas.org.uk or Tel: 0151 686 3500

Files available for download
(click on file icon to open file in a new window; right click and select 'save target as...' or 'save link as...' to save the file to your local computer. Larger files will take longer to open/download depending on your Internet connection)

Cogges Family Fun Day - August 2010 (920 KB PDF)

Community Involvement Guide (3580 KB PDF)

Community Involvement Statement 2009-10 (136 KB PDF)

Community Survey Report July 2009 (76 KB PDF)

DIY Skills Workshop - August 2010 (944 KB PDF)

Flower Arranging Workshop - August 2010 (961 KB PDF)

Live and Learn - gardening flyer (907 KB PDF)

Resident Inspection of Voids Report 22-12-09 (54 KB PDF)

What's On July 2010 (68 KB PDF)

What's on August 2010 (182 KB PDF)