I s sue 30 - Sep tembe r 2007

R ESP ECT ! P6 Se t t i ng Ren t s P7 AT Home P12The Ju ice Bar P2

The Luminus team visits Eynesbury for the Teabag Challenge

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Welcome Page 3: Energising Hope in Communities

Page 4: Luminus Teabag Challenge

Page 5: Your Area Association Improving our Empty Homes What Tenants Want

Page 6: Respect Standard

Page 7: Keeping you Informed - Rents

Page 8: Get Set for Digital New Luminus Depot Opening

Page 9: Warden you Know It

Page 10: Developing Homes

Page 11: Unity in the Community

Page 12: At Home with Luminus

Page 13: Spot the Solution National Falls Awareness Day

Page 14: Out & About Update

Page 15: Going the Extra Mile Race for Life

Page 16: Useful Contacts

In this edition...

Apprentices and the Juice BarLuminus has completed an innovative new project transforming part of the Huntingdon Youth Centre into a modern Juice Bar and Youth Club. The work is part of Luminus’ partnership with young people in Oxmoor. The Club incorporates a tropical juice bar, a computer suite and a range of games/activities. Meetings took place with the Youth Advisory Committee and it was agreed that Luminus’ skilled Tradesmen and Apprentices would work with a group of young volunteers to plan and design the project. They also worked alongside other Luminus staff who helped with the renovation and building work. This much needed community facility for young people in Oxmoor will have a positive impact in the area and help to reduce anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

Lucy Kiel - Apprentice

Energising hope in communities

…. Luminus working as a community anchor

CHAN ABRAHAMGROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE

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Chan Abraham, Group Chief Executive, explains the Luminus commitment to communities.

One of the greatest blessings we can enjoy is being part of a local community, where we can give and receive friendship and support. Unfortunately, the pace, pressures and problems of modern living have made community life very difficult. However, Luminus is committed to changing this and to being the “community anchor” in all the areas where we work.

As you will see from this edition of Luminus News, examples of our work as the community anchor are:

I am constantly encouraged by the way our staff show goodwill, passion for excellence and willingness to go the extra mile. Because of this, I am sure that we will continue to be effective in our commitment to be the community anchor. I also hope that you find this inspiring and I look forward to seeing all our communities becoming stronger as we move forward together.

• Supporting charitable activity – helping to raise money for MAGPAS, Cancer Research UK and many others.

• Dealing with environmental problems – involving residents in our Spot the Solution scheme

• Promoting independent living – making it possible for older or disabled people to live independently at home, to travel and to socialise

• Supporting diversity – celebrating the rich contribution of different nationalities and ethnic groups

• Dealing with anti-social behaviour – partnering with others to tackle local problems

• Involving our tenants – on environmental issues, improving our empty homes and checking the effectiveness of our other tenant involvement work

• Finding out people’s views and getting neighbours to talk to each other – our Teabag Challenge

• Contributing our building skills to support community youth projects – our apprentices creating the Juice Bar

Everybody Needs GoodNeighbours

Luminus

Luminus has used an innovative and unique way of getting neighbours to talk to each other - the Luminus Teabag Challenge! It is a way of getting residents to think about the issues in their communities and possible ways of solving them. The Teabag Challenge is both the continuation of work Luminus has been doing in St Neots and the start of a new neighbourhood management programme. Luminus will lead the way in partnership with others to encourage a sense of hope, with real and lasting change in the area. On 12 July 2007, encouraged by Group Chief Executive, Chan Abraham among them, over 40 enthusiastic Luminus staff volunteered to knock on Eynesbury residents' doors with a brief questionnaire asking them to prioritise issues ranging from dog fouling to facilities for the elderly. Residents were then given an envelope containing two teabags and a suggestion form to use to send their ideas back to Luminus. The entries were put into a £200 prize draw. In all, 241 residents surveys were completed and 492 teabags given out. The areas of most concern for the residents of the Eynesbury area were insufficient activities for the elderly and the lack of entertainment and leisure facilities.

Residents participating in the Teabag Challenge

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We are going to establish a Tenant Scrutiny Panel to examine the continuing effectiveness of tenant involvement. This will involve tenants looking in detail at the effect the numerous tenant involvement activities we offer have on service delivery. This will be an interesting and rewarding opportunity for tenants to contribute to the continuing improvement of tenant involvement. If you would like to be a part of this brand new initiative at Luminus, please contact Tracey Stone, Tenant Involvement Officer on 01480 428541 who will be delighted to explain in more detail.

What Tenants Want! What Tenants Want! What Tenants Want!

Everybody Needs GoodNeighbours

Building on the success of the last meeting held in March, when over 100 people attended, we will again have a themed approach to our next meeting, which is on Thursday 1 November at 12.30pm and 7.00pm. 40% of tenants at the last meeting suggested an environmental theme and so we will build the event around a number of relevant issues.

Your Area Association

Help us to improve our empty homes!

We want you to help us look at the way we currently prepare an empty home

for new tenants. Many of our homes require a great deal of attention before

they are ready for a family to move in and start a new life. We want to update

our approach to this type of work and would like volunteers to review this with

us in more detail. It might involve visiting some of our homes, commenting on

their condition and helping us to decide what are the most important things we

can do to make them fit for people to live in again.

If you would like to be involved in this very worthwhile project, please contact

Tracey Stone, Tenant Involvement Officer on 01480 428541 who will explain

how you can help make a difference.

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Luminus has a commitment to the community to ensure that we take issues of anti-social behaviour and respect seriously and that we will deliver this.

Luminus and the community need to work together by giving residents the opportunity to make suggestions for improvement.

Luminus will play a key role in preventing anti-social behaviour from occurring.

Luminus can only be successful in dealing with anti-social behaviour if residents are prepared to report issues and then provide their support to agencies in taking action.

Luminus staff have been provided with the necessary tools to tackle a whole range of anti-social behaviour.

Support will be provided to end anti-social behaviour by tackling underlying causes.

Our commitment to the Respect Standard will allow us to build on the excellent work already being carried out by our Neighbourhood Teams.

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The Best Value Review for 2007 is

“Creating a Safer Neighbourhood”. We

are working with the Best Value Review

Panel (BVRP) and the Tenant Services

Assessment Group (TSAG). The review

has involved looking at our Anti-Social

Behaviour Strategy and the TSAG has

agreed that the strategy should be

updated and brought into line with the

following core commitments.

R E S P E C T

R E S P E C T

R E S P E C T

R E S P E C T

R E S P E C T

R E S P E C T

Respect StandardLuminus has signed up to the Government’s Respect Standard which aims to ensure that local agencies tackle the causes of anti-social behaviour and improve the quality of life for residents.

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Keeping you informed

We sent the leaflet 'Our Rent Setting

Policy' to all tenants with the July rent

statements. The leaflet explained how

we set rents and other charges. It gives

information on the government’s

‘Rent Restructuring’ programme

which applies to all social rented

homes regardless of who the landlord is. The aim of the 'Rent

Restructuring' programme is to make sure that charges for the same type of property in the

same location have the same rent level. This ‘target rent’ is calculated using a formula set by

the government and monitored by the Housing Corporation. Where we need to increase rents

to meet the target, there are strict limits on how much we can increase them by each year. We

have to make sure that all our homes meet the target rent by 2011 and all new tenancies will

be charged at the target rent from the outset.

If you have any questions or concerns about our approach to setting rents and other charges,

or would like more information on how we have set the rent for your home please call us on

01480 428522. We will then write to you giving you the information you asked for.

The leaflet ‘Our Rent Setting Policy’ is also available in large print, audio cassette or other

languages. Please call us on 01480 428707 if you have any special requirements.

Keeping your rent affordable

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Jonathan Djanogly MP opens new Luminus repairs depot Luminus tenants are to benefit from a partnership with Travis Perkins as a new one-stop depot for supplies and equipment opens in Huntingdon. Jonathan Djanogly, Member of Parliament for Huntingdon, was special guest of Luminus Group Chief Executive Chan Abraham, along with Travis Perkins Regional Managing Director, Ian Churchill and various staff members for the formal opening of the new depot at a special ribbon cutting ceremony on 8 June 2007. For Luminus, the new depot builds on a successful relationship it has had with Travis Perkins for the last 18 months, which has meant better value for money and high quality materials. The new depot will be used to stock the materials for Luminus tradesmen to carry out repairs in over 7,000 homes and for Luminus Suregas which serves 22,000 homes. The new depot is very well located and provides Luminus tradesmen and engineers with store facilities that will work to reduce time in delivering parts and materials. Luminus has also provided a training room in the depot for tradesmen’s courses like asbestos awareness, manual handling, bricklaying, carpentry and, of course, great customer service!

Starting in 2007 and ending in 2012, TV services in the UK will go completely digital, TV region by TV region. This process is called digital switchover. Digital Switchover for the Anglia region takes place in 2011. After switchover, all television in the UK will be digital. The UK’s old television broadcast signal (known as “analogue”) is being switched off and replaced with a “digital” signal. Any TV set or video recorder that’s not converted to digital when the switchover takes place will no longer receive TV programmes.

Chan Abraham, Jonathan Djanogly MP and Ian Churchill at the opening of the new depot

Eight enthusiastic pupils from

Thongsley Fields Primary School in

Huntingdon have become Luminus

Junior Wardens. Certificates were

presented during the morning

assembly on Monday 11 June.

The Junior Warden Scheme has been

set up and run by Luminus Neighbourhood Warden,

Lisa Harris. Lisa has worked closely with the children over

the past few terms to educate them about issues in their

area, such as litter, graffiti and other environmental problems.

The role of Luminus Junior Wardens reflects the role of the

Luminus Neighbourhood Wardens in the wider community. In

the next few months the scheme will be expanded gradually to

encompass as many schools as possible in the

district.

Warden you know it! Luminus welcomes eight new Junior Wardens

Junior Wardens with their certificates

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Wheelie BinsLuminus advise you not to put your bins out until the day of collection and ensure that you remove them from the kerbside promptly. Keep them somewhere safe and secure between collection days.

Luminus HomesAnnual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Luminus Homes (the trading name of Huntingdonshire Housing Partnership)

is scheduled for Wednesday 26 September 2007

at 1.00pm Brook House, Ouse Walk, Huntingdon PE29 3QW.

All tenants are welcome.

If you would like to attend, please advise Liz Standbrook on 01480 428703

or contact her by email on liz.standbrook@luminus.org.uk

For information regarding your wheelie bins, please contact

Huntingdonshire District Council on 01480 388388.

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TEMPLE PLACE HUNTINGDON The former Model Laundry site has been demolished and Campbell Buchanan are now well on their way developing the new Temple Place properties. This is a superb development of houses and apartments, some with beautiful views overlooking the river.

BROOKSIDE HUNTINGDON Plans have been submitted for planning approval for the former Brookside School site on the ring road in Huntingdon. The development on this site will be for an extra care sheltered scheme to replace the current Cromwell Square sheltered scheme.

THE GRAND RAMSEY The second planning application for the former Grand cinema site in Ramsey was submitted on 25 July 2007. Plans detail our aim to provide 22 flats and 2 houses for open market sale and a state of the art library and education centre. This will be an important benefit to the Ramsey community. PARKWAY HINCHINGBROOKE Barratt Homes have commenced building 99 homes in Hinchingbrooke, of which 28 are being built for renting. A mixture of houses and flats within a short walk from Hinchingbrooke Country Park and Hinchingbrooke Hospital is just across the road.

Brookside - artist's impression

Temple Place - Huntingdon

The Grand, Ramsey - artist's impression

Hinchingbrooke House, which is situated close to the development

Unity in the Community 2007 has proven to be a tremendous success. Over 1000 attendees joined in the fun on Saturday 14 July at the Medway Centre, St Barnabas and The Maple Centre. The event offered a fun packed family day with over 100 exhibitors, workshops and demonstrations. Visitors were able to enjoy four hours of entertainment from all over the world, including traditional African dance, presented by Huntingdonshire Community Group, Belly Dancing, Bhangra Beat, Salsa, and traditional English dance presented by The Wendy Burke School of Dance. There was also an international food hall with a selection of food from Poland, Thailand, Bangladesh, Jamaica and Africa.

Unity in the Community

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Luminus’ Rectory Gardens sheltered scheme in Godmanchester hosted an event to raise awareness of the technology available to allow elderly and vulnerable people to overcome challenges in everyday living. Assisted technology for the home provides a range of devices to minimise levels of risk and support people

with daily activities allowing them to live more independent lives. These include automatic pill dispensers, which remind patients when to take their medication, fall detectors and key safes. The event included an exhibition to display the technology available and viewing of a flat that has been kitted out to demonstrate how the technology works. Attendees included the Mayor of Godmanchester, Malcolm Cohen, the Mayor of Huntingdon, Jennifer Sarabia, Deputy Mayor of St Ives, Richard Forway and various Councillors from the Huntingdonshire area, who all found the day very informative. The exhibition and assisted technology flat were also open to members of staff from Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust, who turned out in force to research and see the equipment for themselves. The open day was made possible due to Luminus’ close partnerships with the Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust and Initial, both of whom played an integral role the event. Luminus Group Chief Executive, Chan Abraham said, “Luminus has a strong commitment to providing customer focused services. By working with local partners we have been able to develop services that allow many of our customers to live more independent lives". The event was extremely well attended and all attendees went away with a much better idea of what assisted technology is and how it can help them. If you require would like further information about the assisted technology available please call our Community Services team on 01480 428561.

AT Home with Luminus

Event attendees display some of the assisted technology available

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Luminus’ Spot the Solution project has carried out a number of improvements over

the past year to the local area. One particular project was carried out at Cromwell Gardens,

St Neots. Residents living in this area had been having problems parking their vehicles. Luminus had a small piece of land with five garages and some land for additional parking. The forecourt area was uneven and parts of the area were overgrown. Several local residents highlighted the issue by contacting our Tenant Liaison Officer and with their input the following changes were made.

The area was cleared of overgrown shrubs, a new hard standing was laid with perimeter fencing and 6 allocated parking spaces with lockable bollards were made. . If you have an idea for improving your neighbourhood, please contact Linda Bevens, Tenant Liaison Officer, on 01480 428531 or by emailing linda.bevens@luminus.org.uk

the solution

National Falls Awareness DayFalls Awareness Day was a National event to

promote the issue of ‘Falls’ and the way in which

people could improve their balance and health.

Luminus Group was asked to partner with the

PCT Falls Team based at Hinchingbrooke Hospital

and it was decided to hold a demonstration of the

type of chair based exercises that we do on our

sheltered schemes. Residents from Hilary Lodge, Huntingdon, participate in the excercises

Lo o k i n g g o o d !

Before

After

Before

After

Before After

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Luminus’ Out and About project will be Celebrating Age in October, alongside many other local agencies including Huntingdon District Council, Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust, Cambridgeshire County Council and Oxmoor Opportunities Partnership. On the 11 October 2007, we will be holding an 'Aged to Perfection Party' at the Medway Centre in Huntingdon between 11am and 3pm. As well as information about services and groups for the 50+ age group there will also be food, music, dancing and various demonstrations. It will be a fun and informative day for all ages. Look out for further events being held in the area. For further information please call Amy Roe on 01480 428428.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) recently confirmed that all class 3 vehicles (including some powered wheelchairs and scooters) must be registered for road use and licensed in the exempt 'disabled' taxation class. This does not apply to Class 2 vehicles.

Class 3 vehicles are larger than Class 2 vehicles and are capable of exceeding 4 mph, but not exceeding 8 mph.

They are required by law to have lights, indicators, a horn, rear view mirrors and rear reflectors, but are not allowed to travel on motorways, cycle lanes or bus lanes. Class 2 vehicles are not allowed on the roads other than to cross them. To register and license a Class 3 vehicle you need to complete form V55/5 (for used vehicles). There is no cost involved, all you need do is take or send the form to your local DVLA office.

To get the form, talk to your mobility supplier or call the DVLA on 0870 240 0010.

For details of your nearest DVLA office call 0870 243 0444

31 October – Oak Foundation Forum at Rectory Gardens, Godmanchester

31 October 2007 – Return date for Customer Satisfaction Survey

28 October 2007 – British Summer Time ends, remember to put your clocks back

8 October 2007 – Look out for your next rent statement

1 November 2007 – Area Association

4 December – Tenant Services Consultative Forum

19 December – Luminus’ Carols for Christmas

Out&About

Mobility...the scooter law

Joseph Walsh from Eaton Socon, trekked from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp on the

20th of April 2007 in aid of MAGPAS (Mid-Anglia General Practitioner Accident Service).

He took on the challenge in memory of his sister Laura Walsh and friend Cary White who

were both tragically killed in road traffic accidents. Joseph raised in excess of £5000 and

wants to create as much awareness for MAGPAS as possible.

Luminus Group donated £500 to MAGPAS towards Joseph's total. Joseph's mother Ann

Walsh, Sheltered Scheme Manager for Luminus said, "When we lost Laura, I raised funds

for MAGPAS as it gave me a goal to work towards. I'm very proud that Joe is continuing to

fundraise for this excellent charity. We are also very grateful to Luminus for contributing so

generously."

Luminus entered a team of 17 ladies into

the Race for Life, which took place on

Sunday 8 July, at Jesus Green, Cambridge.

The ladies raised in excess of £800 for

Cancer Research UK.

Race for Life

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Kelly - Title to go in here + INSET

The Luminus ladies team

General tenancy enquiries concerning mutual exchanges, changes to tenancies, garden maintenance, service charges, lettings, boundaries, anti-social behaviour, tenancy disputes and Neighbourhood Wardens.

01480 428777General Enquiries (Luminus Group Services)

01480 428333Service Centre

01480 428521Benefits Advice - Sue Cargill

01480 428541Tenant Involvement Officer - Tracey Stone

01480 428588Neighbourhood Services

01480 428531Tenant Liaison Officer - Linda Bevens

01480 428522Revenues - NORTH

Between 9.00 am - 5.00 pm Monday to Thursday 9.00 am - 5.00 pm and Fridays 9.00 am - 4.30 pm

For reporting all repairs.

Enquiries about your rent account (North Area).

Advice about housing benefit and other benefits.

Enquiries about improvement work being done in your home.

Information about how you can become involved with Luminus Group.

Emergency repairs include: • Gas & Central Heating problems (DO NOT ring the contractors direct) • Total loss of water supply • Major water leak (which is causing a flood) • Toilet blockage or toilet not flushing (where there is no alternative toilet in use) • Blocked flue to a boiler or open fire • Total loss of electric power

01945 467596Luminus Ferry Project

Providing services to the homeless in Fenland

& GROUP CONTACT DETAILS

Emergencies: where a vital service has broken down and is likely to cause risk to you, your family or neighbours, your home or your belongings. This will be made safe within 24 hours.

If you have any comments or would like Luminus News in large print or as an audio cassette, please contact Kelly Linay on 01480 428707 for more information.

Published by Luminus Group • Registered Office Brook House,

Ouse Walk, Huntingdon, PE29 3QW

Tel No: 01480 428777 • Fax No: 01480 428555

E-mail: info@luminus.org.uk • Website: www.luminus.org.uk Designed by Prototype Design 01923 333888

For help to understand this newsletter please ring 01480 428721

01480 428500Revenues - SOUTH

Enquiries about your rent account (South area).