Tenants praise housing service

Council tenants in Wigan and Leigh are among the most satisfied in the country when it comes to services provided by their landlord, a new survey reveals.

More than eight out of ten said they were happy with the services provided by Wigan & Leigh Housing, the ‘arms length’ company that manages the borough’s council homes.

This is slightly higher than when the same survey of tenants was carried out three years ago, and means Wigan and Leigh Housing (WALH) is now among the top-performing housing companies in the country.

The survey was carried out in the autumn and showed that 84% of the 10,000 tenants who replied said they were satisfied with the service.

The findings have been welcomed by housing chiefs. Cabinet member Cllr Chris Ready said: “We are delighted that the work being done by Wigan & Leigh Housing and the big changes made in the way we involve our tenants in the decisions that affect them is reflected in these high satisfaction levels. They are among the very best in the country.

“What is particularly pleasing is that satisfaction with opportunities to get involved in decision making has increased by 10% to 73%, which again is a top performance compared to other councils.”

Mick Baines, one of the tenants on the board which runs Wigan and Leigh Housing, said the results were ‘ brilliant’. He added: “Over the last four years tenants and staff from WALH have worked closely together and we have delivered some huge changes since we became responsible for day-to-day management.

“Just look at the council estates - they have been transformed, and you can see from this survey that we really feel that we have had a say in these improvements.

“But this is just the start and tenants now want to work with staff from other services to improve the quality of life on council estates for all who live on them. We will work with the police and staff from the council’s environmental services towards achieving the safe and clean streets that we all want to see.”

Cllr Ready added: “We are confident that their findings accurately reflect the views of all tenants. We are committed to improving our services, and the company will not be resting on its laurels but will be using this valuable information and working hard to make our services even better in the future.”

Note to editors

1. The 84% satisfaction rating compares to just over 83% three years ago. More than 40% of all tenants responded, a very high figure for surveys of this kind.

2. Further information from Tony Gerrard, Deputy Chief Executive, Wigan and Leigh Housing tel: 01942 486509.