Supporting Sustainable Places

We aim to support beautiful, sustainable and thriving places that meet your aspirations and nurture a sense of pride and belonging.

Here’s how we are doing…

Performance

Tenant Satisfaction Measure

77.22%

Satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well-maintained (TP10)

80.25%

Satisfaction that the landlord makes a positive contribution to neighbourhoods (TP11)

74.53%

Satisfaction with the landlord’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour (TP12)

44.4

Anti-social behaviour cases received per 1,000 units (NM01)

0.2

Hate crimes received per 1,000 units (NM01)

Key stats

The year in review

In Jubilee Fields Estate, Shildon, we continued to make significant progress in delivering our £9m ongoing investment in the physical regeneration of the estate, which will be completed in 2024. The regeneration is transforming homes, meeting housing need by increasing family and older persons housing options, as well as improving the estate environment. Through partnerships we also secured £300,000 of funding to support financial and health related projects.

As part of our regeneration works to Jubilee Fields Estate, energy efficiency works to homes included the installation of solar PV with battery storage providing a sustainable source of free electricity, triple glazed windows and additional loft insulation, improving the EPC rating of homes from a C to a high B or A rating.

We know that tackling anti-social behaviour is important to you. Working in partnership with the Police and Crime Commissioner for County Durham and Darlington, we combined resources allocating £20,000 to six projects across Ferryhill, Newton Aycliffe West, Sedgefield, Shildon, Spennymoor and the Trimdon’s. Projects included detached youth work, Friday night football, video doorbells and addressing environmental ASB, In total 286 people were engaged and supported.

This year we have expanded our work to help you, our tenants and residents, into sustainable employment, supporting 352 people (227 tenants) into employment.

Local offer

Working wit the communities in Jubilee Fields, Shildon and Western, Newton Aycliffe we supported 85 tenants into employment, worked with partners and the community to help reduce reported anti-social behaviour by 46%, delivered 114 new parking spaces and improved the estate environment through planting new trees. We also worked with 117 tenants to help them access additional financial support of £167,000.

We listened (Customer Voice – focus group)

You told us that we needed make some aspects of the community regeneration fund easier to understand. You told us we should have a funding available for smaller grants and promote the scheme to increase awareness.

We acted

We updated the grant scheme, to strengthen its focus on supporting Greener, Safer, Healthier and Financially Stronger places, added an additional £5,000 and created a small grants scheme for community cohesion projects. In 2023/24 we supported 26 projects including working with vulnerable tenants to improve access to their gardens, an environmental ASB scheme for Ferryhill to reduce fly-tipping and litter, working with eight partners to deliver school holiday programmes for over 700 children and supporting 2,400 customers financially to access early years equipment, clothing, hygiene products and school uniforms.

We listened (Customer Voice – resident survey)

Residents of Jubilee Fields estate told us that they wanted to use the community centre more and see an increase in different activities offered, especially for children with additional needs.

We acted

Working with the community and the management committee we helped increase the number of trustees and volunteers for the centre. Through our partner Mears and other funders, the Centre installed energy efficiency measures to reduce energy bills whilst the new committee worked with a local business to invest volunteer time and materials into redecorating the building. Working with local parents, a regular session for families with children with additional needs has been delivered, along with introducing other activities such as community events and men’s and women’s clubs which increased weekly attendance by 25%.

We listened (InsightXchange - Scrutiny Review)

Following an increase in complaints about the handling of reports of anti-social behaviour, our InsightXchange group scrutinised the overall service and experience. They told us that we were not clear on what customers could expect when reporting neighbourhood issues and that sometimes we did not consider individual communication needs or keep people updated on their case.

We acted

We used our data and tenant feedback to transform our processes for managing anti-social behaviour. The scrutiny review resulted in changes to our policy and a clear set of service standards which include details of how we will tailor our contacts to meet your needs, keep you updated about your case and work with other agencies that can help. You can read our updated policy and approach to tackling anti-social behaviour using the link below or give us a call 0800 587 4538.

Have you read our summarised policies?

We have summarised our customer policies to make them accessible and easy to read.

Summarised Customer Policies

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Transforming Customer Experience and Digital Services

Planet A

Supporting sustainable places

Supporting sustainable tenancies

Providing quality sustainable homes

Building and acquiring sustainable homes

Finance

How do I apply for a Livin home or bungalow?

We advertise all of our available homes on our Find A Home page, simply visit this page for more information.

Before you can place a bid on one of our homes, you must first have an active account with the relevant Choice Based Lettings Scheme. Almost all our homes are located in County Durham and therefore are allocated through the Durham Key Options scheme. Durham Key Options (DKO) is a partnership between Durham County Council and landlords across County Durham.

We have a small number of homes which are located outside Durham, these are all advertised through Tees Valley HomeFinder, Hartlepool HomeSearch and Darlington HomeSearch; They are similar to Durham Key Options but we do not process applications registered for these schemes. If you wish to register an application for homes advertised in this area, please apply directly.

Once your application is approved, you will then be able to bid on homes that meet your needs. You can access the application form directly by visiting the relevant Choice Based Lettings system.

How long will it take for my application to be processed?

We aim to start processing your application within 10 working days. If we require any further information after this point, we will contact you to ask for this. Once we have received all the required information we will notify you of our decision within 20 days, and if accepted we will activate your account. You can also check your application status online by logging into the DKO portal.

How can I get involved with Livin and help to shape services?

To find out more about the different ways you can get involved, please visit our getting involved section.

Can I apply to buy my home under Right to Buy?

Tenants who have been with Livin since before the transfer from Sedgefield Council in 2009 may have the “Preserved Right to Buy” their property. Full details of the scheme are available on the Government Right to Buy website. If you are thinking of applying, please contact us.

Can I apply to buy my home under Right to Acquire?

If you have been a tenant for 3 or more years you may have the right to buy your property under the Right to Acquire scheme. Full details of the scheme are available on the Government Right to Acquire website. If you are thinking of applying, please contact us.