Your Latest Central Community Newsletter 💚 June 2025

24th June 2025

Hear from your Neighbourhood Officer about what they’re up to in your area.

Welcome to your Central Patch Community Newsletter. The Neighbourhood Officers covering this patch are Jessica Hargreaves and Lianne Kay.

They’ve each provided an update from their areas below.

Hello everyone! My name is Jessica, and I am excited to introduce myself as your Lead Neighbourhood Officer covering Rusholme, Fallowfield, Stretford, Ardwick, Old Trafford, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, and Longsight.

I have been with Irwell Valley Homes for almost four years, starting my journey as a Neighbourhood Officer and progressing into this lead position. What I love most about my role is connecting with the community, meeting families and members of the community, and offering support wherever I can. I look forward to working with you all to make your neighbourhoods places we can all be proud of!

Subletting

In this newsletter, I want to address an important issue I am currently seeing in our neighbourhoods – reports of subletting and abandoned properties.

Your home should be used and lived in as your main residence. Using it for anything else is a breach of your tenancy agreement and can also have serious legal consequences. Subletting is considered tenancy fraud, while abandoning your property while still claiming benefits is considered benefit fraud. Both could result in legal action and the potential to lose your home.

We are here to support customers to sustain their homes and tenancies. If you are not using your home as your main residence for any reason, please reach out to out to me on Jessica.Hargreaves@irwellvalley.co.uk. I can offer support with a range of issues, including financial difficulties, property condition, anti-social behaviour, disrepair concerns, and more. Our goal is to help you live well in your home and your wellbeing is my priority.

Parking update for residents of Fontwell Close, Jubilee Court and Cyprus Street

I’m pleased to report that we're working closely with ES Parking to tackle the issue of vehicles parking on private property, particularly on match days. In the coming weeks, we'll be introducing a new initiative to issue fines to those who continue to park on private land without permission.

This is still in its early stages, and we'll be sharing more information with you as we receive it from ES Parking. Stay tuned for more updates.

New Drop-in Schedule

To help make my drop-in sessions more accessible to customers, I have changed both the date and location.. My drop-ins will now take place on the last Tuesday of the month from 9.30am-12.30pm at Stretford Public Hall, Chester Road, Stretford, Manchester M32 0LG.

My first session at this new location will be on Tuesday 27th May. So please come along if there's anything you'd like to discuss with me.

In the meantime, you can contact me by emailing – Jessica.Hargreaves@irwellvalley.co.uk

Hi I’m Lianne Kay. I cover Blackley and Crumpsall in Manchester and Higher Broughton and Lower Broughton in Salford.

I joined Irwell Valley in late December 2024, and I am currently enjoying getting to know the organisation, but especially my area and my customers. Thank you to everyone who I have met so far and the warm welcome you’ve given me. I have lots of experience in the world of housing and I’m really excited to help and support you to ensure you have a happy and safe home with us.

You may have seen me out and about in your area as I have been carrying out my neighbourhood inspections. If you do see me in your area, please don’t hesitate to say hello! I also hold a monthly drop-in for customers, which you can read about below.

During my recent neighbourhood inspections, there was a reoccurring issue with items such as furniture, bikes and pushchairs being left in communal areas. Some bin areas also appeared untidy, with rubbish on the floor, bulky waste left behind, and fly-tipping in alleyways by our homes.

I’d like to respectfully remind everyone that keeping communal areas clear is essential for ensuring these spaces are safe. It’s also important that bin areas and alleyways remain clean and tidy otherwise it can lead to problems with pests. Maintaining these spaces is a shared responsibility which forms part of your tenancy agreement. I appreciate your co-operation with this.

Call by and meet me!

I have two drop-in clinics arranged at the Broughton Hub, 50 Rigby Street Salford, Manchester, M7 4BQ over the coming weeks.

Come along to discuss any concerns or issues you have with your home, tenancy or neighbourhood.

The first drop-in is on Thursday 29^th May between 10am-1pm.

The second drop-in will be on Monday 23^rd June between 10am-1pm.

It will then be the final Thursday of the month from July onwards from 10am-1pm.

If you need me before then, you can contact me by emailing – Lianne.Kay@irwellvalley.co.uk

Homes in Walkden, Eccles, Greengate, Rock Bank and Langham Court

We are currently recruiting for a new neighbourhood officer to cover this patch. As soon as they are in post, they will get in touch to introduce themselves.

In the meantime, we are still here to help and support you.

Report any neighbourhood or tenancy issues to our Customer Service and Support Team and they will arrange for another member of the neighbourhoods team to follow up with you.

You can also reach them via live chat on our website www.irwellvalley.co.uk; send a message through our customer portal (sign in or register on our website here); email us at contact@irwellvalley.co.uk or call us on 0300 561 1111.

The drop-in session on the last Thursday of each month at Roman Court, Camp Street, Camponia Gardens, Salford, M7 1LH will continue each month between 10am-1pm.

Come along if you would prefer to speak to someone in person about any tenancy or neighbourhood issues you might have.

Recycling and Bulky Waste

As fly-tipping and waste management are currently common issues across our Central Patch, we wanted to share a couple of useful resources to help you recycle where you can and use bins correctly.

For Trafford customers, the Council have created a quick guide to help you identify what waste should go into each bin. You can find it by clicking here.

For Manchester customers - you can find helpful guidance on correct waste management here.

For Salford customers you can find this information here.

Remember if you need to dispose of bulky items, your Local Authority offer a heavy or bulky items collection service for up to 5 items. You can find out more about this on your Local Authority website.

Mutual Exchange

If your current home no longer suits your needs, whether it’s too big or too small, there are options available to you.

This includes Mutual Exchange or MEX – a way for social housing residents to move homes by swapping with another social housing customer.

We continue to hold our internal transfer list, but mutual exchanging offers another option to explore - particularly when wait times for a transfer can be long.

For more information about the process, click here.

Got a question or concern? Come and join us on our neighbourhood inspections

We carry out regular neighbourhood inspections designed to pick up tenancy or neighbourhood issues. We’ve completed our last inspections in April and have the next ones planned on the following dates:

Jessica:

July 23^rd. 11:00am -2:00pm starting from Thornton Road.

July 22^nd. 11:00am - 4:00pm starting from Fontwell Close.

Lianne:

July 7^th. - 9am-4pm starting from Rishton Lane.

July 8^th. - 9am-4pm starting from Deane Road.

Walkden, Eccles, Greengate, Rock Bank and Langham Court Customers:

July 14^th. 9am-4pm starting from Rock Bank.

July 16^th. 1pm-5pm starting from Albert Park Road.

If you’d like to join us, please drop us a line or leave us a message via Live Chat on www.irwellvalley.co.uk or by calling 0300 561 1111. We’d love to see you then!

We're here to support you

Remember, we’re here to support you. Your Neighbourhood Officer is your go-to person for any issues related to your tenancy or community.

They carry out regular community check-ins to ensure communal areas are clean, safe, and well-maintained. They will pick up any tenancy or neighbourhood issues.

You can contact your Neighbourhood Officer by emailing:

Jessica.Hargreaves@irwellvalley.co.uk

Lianne.Kay@irwellvalley.co.uk

Kind regards,

Jessica and Lianne