Council approves participation strategy for tenants

Midlothian councillors have approved the council’s Tenant Participation and Customer Engagement Strategy 2021-2024. This sets out the framework for how tenant participation will work in Midlothian over the next 3 years.

Focused on needs

The council is focused on the needs of all tenants and customers and works to be inclusive and provide a range of opportunities for people to get involved, whilst making best use of the resources available.

New measures

The strategy outlines new measures to help tenants feel more involved. These include the introduction of new welcome packs to first time tenants and new build tenants giving them information on their local area and local facilities on offer in Midlothian. The council also plan to continue to work to increase tenants’ knowledge and understanding of tenant participation legislation. Activities organised by the housing team for tenants will be planned in a variety of ways so that all tenants and customers have the opportunity to get involved in a way that suits them. Information will continue to be provided in different formats to cater for specific needs. 

Encouraging participation

Cllr Stephen Curran, Cabinet Member for Housing said: “Information collected from our Tenant Satisfaction Survey 2018/19 showed that we have tenants from different backgrounds with varying needs. We value all forms of tenant participation and will make sure that support is available to encourage participation. We will continue to consult, inform, involve and work with our tenants as equal partners to make sure our services are tenant focussed and our scrutiny work is tenant led.”

More information

The strategy will be made available to view on the Midlothian Council website soon, and further information will be provided to tenants.