Update from the engagement panel 9 February 2023

Our next meeting is Thursday 14 March. This will be a closed meeting but we will be welcoming observers again from April.

Resident democracy

Observer and Resident Kevin McGimpsey shared his proposal to the panel on resident democracy.

Kevin shared a proposal on ways in which the panel could implement a more effective democratic approach. Kevin touched on various ways in which this could work, this included:

• legislation or limits on current powers
• proposal would make the panel more inclusive, accountable and transparent
• include as many residents as possible
• a delegate structure would be more appropriate
• a grass roots approach is better than a top down approach

Due to the low number of panel members at the meeting, it was agreed that it would not be fair for a decision to be reached. All panel members were given a two-week period offline to feed back and panel co-chairs would respond to the proposal directly.

Q3 performance data

Scott Jacobs-Lange, community and resident engagement manager, gave an overview of the previous quarter’s performance. Key performance indicators provide insight into how we’re performing in the areas previously selected for monitoring for 2022-23.

Performance information for the following areas was shared:

• General satisfaction
• Complaints
• Communal and neighbourhoods
• Anti-social behaviour
• Repairs
• Customer care

Scott asked panel members to select an area for deeper scrutiny at the February Bridge meeting. Panel co-chairs proposed customer care as the topic for the next panel meeting, with all panel members in agreement.

Rent review

Finally, co-chair Pete Kennedy-Watson gave a brief update on a recent Board meeting to which co-chairs had been invited to discuss the engagement panel’s feedback on the recently proposed rent review.

Our next meeting is on 14 March 2023. This will be a closed meeting but we will be welcoming observers again from April.

Angela Russell, panel co-chair