Thirteen is encouraging local people on the Dodford estate in the Hemlington area of Middlesbrough to get involved in a project to look at how the area could be improved.
Alongside Middlesbrough Council, Thirteen is working to draw up a range of actions to help improve the estate for residents.
An initial consultation event was held in February to give people who live and work on the estate, where Thirteen has 180 properties, the chance to share their opinions and ideas around what they like about the area, the problems it faces and ideas for improvement.
Thirteen is now running a second event to ensure it has correctly understood the views of attendees and to give people the chance to tell representatives about any other solutions they think would benefit the area. Thirteen also wants to gather further opinions from young people and discuss health issues, employment and financial services in the area which may help. Fifty people gave their responses following the first event, with a wide range of ideas that will be discussed at the follow up consultation.
Chris Smith, Executive Director of Service Delivery and Development at Thirteen, said: “The first consultation event was really successful with many residents coming along to share their opinions with us, demonstrating just how much interest there is in improving the area.
“This second event will give residents the chance to see what people said at the first consultation, hear about a range of other services in the area, and talk to the project team about the next steps in the process. It’s really important that people continue to be involved so we’re encouraging as many people as possible to drop-in and find out more.”
Marion Walker, Middlesbrough Council’s Head of Stronger Communities, said: “This area of Hemlington has some unique challenges and the Council is working on this initiative with local residents, Thirteen housing and other key partners to bring about positive changes.
“This is a great opportunity to look at things differently, with a co-ordinated approach that reflects what local residents tell us they want to see happen in their neighbourhood, so we’d like as many people as possible from the local area to come along and get involved.
“We will link this initiative to our newly launched eMpower programme, which puts community improvement and development at the heart of our ambitious regeneration plans.”
Residents of the Dodford estate are being urged to come along to find out more about the next stages of the project on Thursday 4 April, from 2pm to 6pm at Dodford Community Centre in Hemlington.
As well as the chance to view the proposals, there will also be craft activities, Easter eggs and face painting for children, food for all the family and a prize draw with the chance to win shopping vouchers for getting involved.