Member Article

Staff from Thirteen Group are aiming to clean up Teesside estates

Members of staff from housing company Thirteen are taking to the streets to help improve the local environment and identify issues on estates across the Tees Valley. Colleagues in Thirteen’s neighbourhoods and facilities teams are working on a major clean sweep initiative until the end of November to help keep neighbourhoods clean and tidy. Staff will also be visiting customers at home to find out about any issues they may have. It is hoped that this pro-active approach will help to identify any problems sooner and ultimately provide a better service for customers. The project kicks off with the first visits and clean sweep in the Ragworth area of Stockton on 15 October and runs through till 27 November when staff will be focusing on Middlesbrough’s Coulby Newham. This series of clean sweeps follows on from the success of similar activity that began last year. Work will include a blitz on communal areas and green spaces, litter picking, road sweeping and path cleaning, grass cutting and hedge trimming, all with the focus on improving the local environment for residents and helping to build pride in our communities. Thirteen is also calling for customers and other residents to spare a few hours of their time to help with the work. As well as cleaning up the communal grounds, colleagues will be weeding, grass-cutting, getting rid of fly tipping and graffiti, and making minor repairs on estates. Thirteen will have customer service staff on-hand to immediately deal with queries from customers about their homes or estate, as well as repair operatives to deal with any minor problems on customer homes on the day.

Director of neighbourhoods at Thirteen, Kay Glew, said: “Customers have been telling us that keeping their neighbourhoods clean and tidy was one of their priorities, so we decided to focus time and resources on a good blitz in a number of areas. “We’ll be rolling up our sleeves and working hard to help improve the estates and it would be really brilliant if customers and other residents got involved to lend a hand, because after all, the more people that get involved, the more we can do together. “We’ll also be taking the opportunity to visit customers at home to see if they’re ok and happy in their home. It’s a good time to run an initiative like this as we can help to get our estates ready, and customers can tell us about any issues they have, ahead of the winter months. I’m really hoping that lots of people get involved over the next six weeks and that we see a real difference in our communities.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by News Gathering .