Your Neighbourhood
Estate Services
We are committed to providing a pleasant, clean and safe environment on our estatesand neighbourhoods where people are proud and happy to live. We aim to ensure estates are well maintained by working together with residents and other organisations, such as St Helens Council.
We will:
- Remove offensive (racist or other 'hate') graffiti from our buildings, property or land within 1 working day of being told about it and remove all other graffiti within 28 days.
- Remove fly-tipping or rubbish on our land within 5 working days of being notified.
- Report fly-tipping land which is not Helena's but is in our neighbourhoods to St Helens Council.
- Work with residents and partner organisations, such as St Helens Council, to monitor and improve street cleaning problems.
- Work with residents and other organisations, such as St Helens Council and the police, to deal with issues including:
- Dog fouling.
- Problems caused by privately owned properties on our estates.
- Potentially abandoned vehicles on our estates.
Getting in touch with your neighbourhood team
- We will publish the name and contact details of your neighbourhood officer and estate caretaker.
- We will tell you who your neighbourhood team is and how to get in touch with them, including the times they will be available to meet you face-to-face on your estate.
- We will inform you whenever there is a change to your neighbourhood officer or estatecaretaker.
- If you ring One Call and ask to speak to your neighbourhood officer, we will either putyou through straight away, make an appointment for them to visit you in your home, orgive you a time when they will call you back.
- We will make it easier for you to speak to someone outside of office hours, for example if you are at work all day.
Estate Inspections
Neighbourhood officers will:
- Undertake regular estate inspections.
- Carry out joint estate walkabouts with residents and other agencies to identify localpriorities for action.
- Identify and target areas which would benefit from increased visits by estate caretakers such as those which are hotspots for fly-tipping or vandalism.
Estate caretakers
We will maintain flat blocks by providing a regular monthly cleaning service and a health and safety inspection which will be undertaken by the estate caretaker.
Our estate caretakers will:
- Visit flat blocks on a monthly basis.
- Wear corporate clothing and an identity badge.
- Check and record the overall condition of the block.
- Clean the inside of communal areas every month and remove litter from inside andoutside of the block.
- Clean communal bin stores.
- Check for any health and safety risks or hazards in the block every month.
- Carry out any emergency cleaning such as spillages or anything which may pose ahealth and safety risk within 1 working day of the problem being reported.
- Report any repairs found during the visit within 1 working day.
- Report any bulky items which you require disposing of to St Helens Council within 1working day of them being identified.
- Record the time and date of visits as well as any other additional issues dealt with on a cleaning schedule which will be displayed in the communal area.
How you can help
If you live in our flat blocks you can help us by:
- Reporting any emergency cleaning, including racist or offensive graffiti, immediately.
- Reporting any repairs you find in the communal areas to One Call.
- Disposing of your rubbish responsibly using the bins provided and use thereceptacles provided to recycle. If you do not have these and wish to recycle, contact St Helens council on 01744 456789 for information about receptacles and collection.
- Keeping all communal areas clean, neat and tidy.
- If you own a pet please ensure it does not foul the communal areas. If any mess ismade please remove this immediately.
- Reporting any vandalism or anti-social behaviour immediately to One Call or yourneighbourhood office.
- Respecting other residents in the block by not making too much noise or causing adisturbance, especially late at night or early in the morning. Please also ensure that any visitors to your flat show the same respect.
- Only allow people into the block who are visiting your flat. Anyone calling on officialbusiness should have appropriate ID and a valid reason for being there.
- Ensuring communal doors remain closed and are not left open at any time.
- Contacting us if you wish to discuss or have any complaints about the service provided.
We ask you not to:
- Cause nuisance or annoyance to other residents. You are also responsible for the behaviour of anyone living with you or visiting your home.
- Release any of your keys or fobs to anyone else.
- Smoke in the communal areas as it is illegal to do so.
- Leave litter or rubbish of any kind in the communal areas.
- Store any items in the communal areas such as carpeting, furniture, plants etc. We have to abide by fire health and safety regulations which advise against leaving items such as these in the communal areas as they may pose a hazard in the event of fire.
Green Space Service
Our Green Space Service will:
- Clear shrub planting beds on a monthly basis ensuring that they are clear of litter andweeds.
- Prune shrubs on a monthly basis, if appropriate, depending upon the plant species.
- Manage our open plan grass areas on a regular basis, including:
- Grass cutting and edge trimming.
- Removing litter and debris prior to cutting.
- Clearing grass cuttings from all hard surfaced areas which adjoin grassed areas.
How you can help
- Please keep your front and back garden well maintained and tidy including anyhedges, trees, shrubs and other planting.
- Think about what you plant in your garden, consider how big the plants/trees will grow and how this will affect you and your neighbours.
- Do not remove hedges from the boundary of your home as they are valuable to theenvironment.
- Please report any vandalism to trees, planting areas, hedges and grass to your neighbourhood office immediately.
Anti-social Behaviour
We will:
- Contact you within 48 hours if you report anti-social behaviour or within 24 hours for more serious cases.
- Give you the name and contact details of the officer dealing with your case.
- Give you an appointment with your named officer within 5 working days, offering you advice and support.
- Contact you about your case each week via your named officer and let you know what progress we are making.
- Keep you informed about what we are doing to tackle anti-social behaviour and the successes we have had via a regular newsletter.
- Publish a calendar of estate walkabouts in your area so that you can help us highlight the issues that need tackling on your estate. Details of when and where estate walkabouts will take place can be found:
- In Helena Headlines.
- On the Helena Homes and Partnerships websites.
- On Helena's Digi TV site.
- Arrange for mediation, if appropriate, if it can help neighbours resolve disputes.
- Work with other organisations such as the police and the local authority to deal with anti-social behaviour.
- Ask everyone who uses the service for feedback to help us improve the service weprovide.
How you can help
You can help us by:
- Reporting anti-social behaviour to us as soon as possible after the incident hashappened. If it involves criminal behaviour you should also report to it to the police.
- Making a note of the date and time an incident happens, as well as what and who was involved, as this will assist us to deal with the incident.
- Giving us feedback on our anti-social behaviour service to help us identify ways in which we can improve the service we provide to you.