ASSEMBLY MINISTERS VISIT CCHA

It’s been quite a month for CCHA, with four different Ministers from the Welsh Assembly Government being welcomed at either our offices or one of our new housing developments. For all the details read on!

Flexible Working Strikes a Positive Balance

We introduced our Better Balance flexible working policy earlier this year to improve the work/life balance for our team. Whilst developing the policy we received excellent support from Chwarae Teg. Chwarae Teg is the leading professional agency for the economic development of women in Wales. They champion education, entrepreneurship, work-life balance and flexible working

Chwarae Teg asked us to host a launch of a new European Social Fund Project – Agile Nation.  The project builds on the work already carried by Chwarae Teg called “Getting the Balance Right” and aims to establish a virtual Centre of Excellence in Gender Equality and Flexible Working in Wales. 

Chwarae Teg chose CCHA to be involved in the launch as it considers CCHA to be an excellent example of Best Practice in innovative approaches to Flexible Working. Jane Hutt, AM, the Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Education, Children and Young People visited our office to launch Agile Nation and to find out more about CCHA’s Better Balance policies. She met with members of our Team who work flexibly and was impressed with CCHA’s commitment to develop a working environment and culture that recognises that employees have a life outside work whilst ensuring that our customers are not adversely affected by this change.

CCHA Gets On its Bike

Shortly after Jane’s visit her colleague, Jayne Davidson, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing, came to Adamsdown to launch our new cycling project for our staff. We encourage our Team to cycle as part of our Wellness at Work initiative. Cycling is a great way of improving health and fitness and it also helps to produce a cleaner environment and reduce congestion in the city, particularly during the traditional rush hour. Recently, thanks to an £8,000 grant from the Sports Council for Wales’s Active Lifestyle initiative, we were able to buy 20 bikes from local supplier, the Bike Shed, in Cardiff. A number of bikes are available for staff to use as pool bikes and the remainder of the bikes will be used on a hire out basis, for commuting to work, travelling between offices, visits to tenants or purely for leisure use.

Praising the scheme The Minister said: “Encouraging more cycling – especially within a city like Cardiff - is a win win for all.  It gets people active, means fewer cars on our roads and reduces our carbon footprint. “Any effort to get more people to travel to work by bike is to be welcomed, especially since the majority of car journeys are less than five miles long.

"Most of us will be aware of the congestion caused during the traditional rush hour.”

Working in partnership with the Bike Shed, our Team now have the opportunity to learn how to ride safely, how to maintain their bikes and will be provided with safe routes to work.

Trowbridge launches £42 million funding boost for Welsh housing market

On the 2nd December, the Assembly Government chose CCHA’s Trowbridge Shops regeneration scheme to launch a major new funding initiative to build new affordable homes across Wales. The money is a response to the current economic climate, to boost the creation of affordable housing in Wales, giving a vital stimulus to the construction industry and helping the most vulnerable home owners in Wales.

The new money will be given to local authorities to create 500 new affordable homes. The new money was jointly announced by Finance Minister Andrew Davies and Deputy Housing Minister Jocelyn Davies at our new housing development in Trowbridge, Cardiff. Whilst inspecting the scheme Mr Davies said the money “… will have a real impact, providing assistance when it is most needed.”

Ms Davies shared his enthusiasm stating, “Wales needs more affordable housing and this package will help us to reach our ambitious target of creating 6,500 additional homes.”

The demand for affordable housing for rent and low-cost sale in Cardiff is immense. For many families on our housing register, the wait can easily run into several years – this is a desperate and demoralising prospect for those in need of a decent home.

CCHA, therefore, welcomes the announcement of the Assembly’s intention to pump more money into new homes: it is urgently needed.

We’d like to thank all the Ministers for taking the time to visit CCHA and for the interest they have shown in our work – it was much appreciated.

TROWBRIDGE COMMUNITY HALL UNDERWAY

Whilst on the subject of the Trowbridge Regeneration Project – we’re delighted to announce that the work on the final phase of the scheme, the construction of the new community centre is now underway.

This excellent new £½ million hall is much needed in the area and will, we hope, become a well-used focal point for the Trowbridge community. Early in the New Year we’ll be forming a Community Hall working group to plan how we can make best use of this exciting opportunity for the benefit of the area and the community.

In addition to the Hall, the £8m Trowbridge regeneration scheme will produce 45 new homes for rent (30 family homes and 15 flats) as well as the already completed new parade of five shops.

For more information please click here.

MAVIS WILLIAMS 1941 to 2008

We’d like to send our condolences to the family and friends of Mavis Williams who sadly died on 31st October 2008; she was 67 years old. Mavis was Chair of CCHA Tenants’ Disability Action Group, a member of the Tenants’ Representative Council and CCHA Policy Panel for several years.

She was a committed community volunteer, always giving of her time willingly. Mavis was rehoused by CCHA many years ago from very poor private-rented accommodation. We were doing our job – she saw it as a great kindness for which she remained always thankful.

Members of DAG, the TRC and staff of CCHA all attended her funeral at St.German’s, Adamsdown as a mark of respect. She’ll be sadly missed.

CHAT’S OUT - TWICE!

Sent to the homes of all our tenants in October, the most recent edition of our newsletter is now upon the site and is available on the CHAT page.

The focal point of this edition is the ‘High Quality for All’ supplement, also available via the CHAT page; it brings you fully up to date with what we’ve done in the last year to implement our Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Action Plan as part of our commitment to equality of opportunity.

There’s a lot more besides, from the 2008 Gardening Competition to a report on our Annual General Meeting. So, it’s well worth a read.

Hot on its heels is the Christmas edition: read about the visit to CCHA of tenants from Leicester HA, some useful debt advice, pictures from the older persons’ Christmas lunch  and the on-site start of Trowbridge Community Hall.

AND FINALLY… A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR READERS

The staff, Board Members and the Tenant Representative Council would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we hope that you enjoy your Christmas holiday.

Once again CCHA will not be sending Christmas cards this year; instead our team will be collecting the money they would have spent on sending Christmas cards to each other and making a donation to charity.

The Association will do likewise; instead of sending cards to our colleagues and partners the Association will match the money raised by the team. Our chosen charities this year are Shelter Cymru and Breast Cancer Research.

Our offices will be closed from:

• 13:00 on Wednesday 24th December 2008 until
• 9.00 am on Monday 5th January 2009.

Over the holiday period you will be able to pay your rent at anytime. If you prefer to pay rent in the office, please pay in advance in for weeks commencing Monday 22nd December 2008 and Monday 29th December 2008.

Emergency Repairs – If you require this service over the holiday please telephone:

• 01633 214 222

and help will be immediately available. For more details on how to use this service, please see page 24 of your Tenants’ Handbook. Please remember that this service should only be used in an emergency!

NEXT UPDATE: JANUARY 2009