“We are currently in the process of developing a joint housing strategy incorporating Mansfield, Ashfield and Newark and Sherwood; and as part of this development we are intending to set up a customer panel, to provide a customer perspective on the progress of the joint strategy. I am therefore seeking any good practice around governance and panel arrangements, ie, membership and terms of reference; and was wondering if any other SEN members can provide any useful information, practice approaches or a terms of reference template for a panel of this nature?”

Melanie Taylor
Mansfield District Council

“We are currently looking into reviewing our stakeholder survey specifically about the services that the Housing Options service provides; and I was wondering if anybody would have a copy of a stakeholder survey could adapt at all? I have been trying to approach other councils but not with much luck really”

Kirsty Vitler
Swale Borough Council

“Does anyone in strategic housing from a council, who have retained their stock, have an SLA or similar type of agreement with their landlord function that they are willing to share?”

Julia Orton
North Tyneside Council

“In regard to having HA preferred partners, what I would like to know is if you have any examples of best practice and if there are any pitfalls we should be aware of and where you have had success and problems?”

John Goody
Mid Bedfordshire District Council

“Has anyone recently introduced (or re-introduced) local authority mortgages in response to the tightening of lending (especially shared ownership mortgages)? Or have you provided mortgage guarantees to other lenders (eg, credit unions) so that they can offer mortgages? If so, please can you share experience about your key objectives, how you went about it and any pitfalls you came across?”

Nick Hooper
Bristol City Council

“Does anyone have any experience of re-negotiating S106 documents in response to the recent economic downturn and if so, what mechanisms are you putting in place to claw back affordable housing provision?”

Victoria Kay
North Somerset Council

“Does anyone have any examples of Local Lettings Policies that they have used for particular housing developments (eg, those that are high density or rural exception sites or flatted developments), especially those which have been advertised on Choice Based Lettings?”

Khyati Vaughan
Aylesbury Vale District Council

“Does anyone have experience of helping people to move to take up work? I am working with a council with very limited housing supply who are keen to join up thinking around employment and housing, to help people find work and accommodation in other areas, potentially anywhere in the UK. If you already run such schemes, what do you do? How do you support people to find accommodation in other areas? Have you built relationships with councils or landlords in other areas?”

Suzanne McBride
HQN

“Can anyone recommend a database that is used to record data and produce reports (eg, figures needed for HSSA and LAA monitoring) on affordable homes? I am particularly interested in those which link to the planning database, Uniform. Thanks.”

Khyati Vaughan
Aylesbury Vale District Council

“During 2009 we will be developing an older person's strategy and older person's housing strategy, We are interested to find out about good practice examples which are up to date. Also whether local authorities have tended to link older person's housing strategies into the mainstream housing strategies or the wider agenda linked to an older person's strategy and rural examples would be useful.”

Helena Evans
North West Leicestershire District Council

“Our LSP is interested in undertaking some research into the impact of the credit crunch in the district - specifically looking at what the potential impact is locally, and what they could put in place to address the likely issues. Has anyone conducted any similar research at a district level? How useful was it? Who carried it out for you?”

Mel Brain
West Berkshire Council

“Stoke on Trent City Council are currently looking at effective neighbourhood management strategies and are trying to find out what authorities currently have a good strategy in place already. Can you advise me either which authorities to contact or where to find this information.”

Maxine Cleeton
Stoke on Trent City Council

“Are there any local authorities that receive funding from Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) towards their Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) spend? Also is there any research work out there that shows any links between carrying out DFG work and potential savings to PCTs through reduction in hospitalisation etc?”

Rob Purser
Mansfield District Council

“We are planning to write a new housing strategy this year and have an open day event coming up in April which will be attended by both tenants and non tenants and which will be based around residents calling in for a short while and browsing round the stalls. We would like to use the event to find out what local people think about the priorities for housing in the district and are thinking that we could distribute a short questionnaire on the day. Do any organisations have experience of undertaking such a consultation at such an event? If so, what was involved? Was the process effective? Did it produce any useful data for use in the strategy document?”

Belinda Ford
Wycombe District Council

“I would like to hear from any members who are considering their information needs on private sector stock conditions, and are considering NOT doing a sample survey along traditional lines. We have used the BRE stock modelling method, as a way of scoping the work needed, and have now formed the view that a borough wide stratified sample condition survey costing some £60,000 could be a waste of resources, for little additional information. I would be interested to hear from any members who have made this type of decision or are actively considering it.”

John Lucas
Bedford Borough Council