Tenants and leaseholders in Chesterfield are being given the chance to become the eyes and ears of their community – and help to look after their neighbourhoods.
In partnership with Keep Britain Tidy, Chesterfield Borough Council’s tenant engagement team is on the lookout for community minded council tenants and leaseholders to become community surveyors.
Following a free training session provided by Keep Britain Tidy, the volunteers will help the council to check things such as the quality of grass and hedge cutting on estates across the borough, as well as reporting on the level of dog fouling, littering, and graffiti that they may spot in the area.
All findings will be reported back to the council’s housing team so that necessary steps can be taken to improve the look of the estates and ensure that they are to the standard tenants expect.
The next training session with Keep Britain Tidy will take place on Wednesday 2 April. It is a full day course that combines classroom and practical sessions. After the course, volunteers will receive a certificate from Keep Britain Tidy and officially become a community surveyor.
They will then join other community surveyors each month and inspect different estates across the borough and report their findings back to the council.
Spaces on the training are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Councillor Jean Innes, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “We’re always looking for different ways that our tenants and leaseholders can get involved and help shape our housing services. It’s hugely important to us that our estates all look well presented and meet the standards that our tenants expect, and our community surveyors can help with this.
“We’re pleased to be working with Keep Britain Tidy to offer training to volunteers. After the training they will be able to let us know when things don’t look quite right and help us make improvements so that everyone can be proud of where they live.”
Tenants and leaseholders who are interested in becoming a volunteer community surveyor can register their interest by emailing tenantengagement@chesterfield.gov.uk or calling 01246 345147 / 07980 899527.
