Safer Communities During Lockdown
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Phased approach Issue 55 - Summer 2020 to recycling centre DOWN YOUR openings P23 Tenants’ Magazine Safer Communities during #DYSFife www.fifedirect.org.uk/housinglockdown www.fife.gov.uk/housing p14 & 15 100th Birthday celebrations for two Fife Council tenants at 100 years young! p6 & p7 Contents Competition winners & summer word search 3 Stay well stay safe 4 A lockdown lowdown 5 100 years young 6 Support for rent 8 Retaining wall repairs deemed a great success 9 Broomhead Drive bike lockers 10 Cedar House - 2 years on 11 Protect yourself and others 12 Test and protect a step by step guide 13 Safer communities during lockdown 14 Clean up after your dog 16 Positive feedback at very sheltered housing 17 Honours recoginition for community champion 18 Fuel poverty conference update 20 Housing regulator news 21 Reporting repairs online 22 Alternative Formats Phased approach to recycling centres openings 23 Information about Fife Council can be Pest Control Service now available 24 Tenant Participation Bulletin College event 25 made available in large print, braille Kids’ corner 26 and audio CD on request by calling Mrs Doyle’s Kitchen 27 Alternative Formats line: Remember FACTS for a safer Scotland 28 03451 55 55 00 British Sign Language please text (SMS) 07781 480 185 BT Text Direct: 18001 01592 55 11 91 Get in touch Editor: John D Houston If you need to get in touch about this issue, you can contact us in the following ways: ☎ 01383 602220 Language lines @ [email protected] Arabic www.fife.gov.uk/tp 03451 55 55 77 Magazine Update Bengali Down Your Street, our free quarterly magazine for Fife 03451 55 55 99 Council tenants could not be published this spring due to disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Cantonese Thankfully, the disruption to our print production was 03451 55 55 88 relatively short. Polish Polskojezyczna˛ linia telefoniczna: All information aims to be accurate at time of print. 03451 55 55 44 Advice is subject to change, therefore, please check Urdu government guidance regularly. 03451 55 55 66 @fifecounciltp 2 Your opportunity to participate Competition results Word search Winter competition winners Word Search Nikola Henderson, Kirkcaldy £20 High Street Voucher Where’s Herbie? Mrs C Brash, Buckhaven £30 High Street Voucher Spot the difference Lorna Bald, Kirkcaldy £20 High Street Voucher Fife Photography John Brailsford, St Andrews The red squirrel £20 High Street Voucher Find the following words Balance Courage Faith Hope Journey Joy Purpose Trust Wisdom Grit With restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, there are currently no prize-winning competitions running in this edition of Down Your Street. Winter Colouring Competition winners Darshan, St Monans (15yrs) All win £20 Lorna, Kirkcaldy (5yrs) Taylor, Kirkcaldy High Street Voucher (10yrs) @fifecounciltp 3 Your opportunity to participate Tenant information Stay well, stay safe We are in exceptional times and the Council is people, and to support older tenants in sheltered seeking to cope as well as it can to deal with the housing. We have redeployed staff voluntarily to support “impact of the COVID lockdown. Even as the lockdown these critical parts of services to tenants. is gradually eased, it will take Housing Services some I have also understood that many of our tenants have time to move to deliver our full range of housing and been and will be affected by the COVID lockdown. safer communities services. This Recovery period Some tenants have already lost their jobs, or have been will probably be more difficult to go through than furloughed by their employers. We are here to help you the immediate reaction to the announcement of the to support your rent payments. Officers from Housing lockdown. & Revenue Services are continuing to make contact to For tenants, I understand that the disruption to normal clarify your financial circumstances and to help if we family life and employment has been significant. can to ease worries about increasing rent arrears. This is Housing and Safer Communities staff, working alongside a critical service that will continue to offer you support other council colleagues have been supporting some of for at least to 31st March 2021. Please contact our Rents our most vulnerable households in Fife with assistance Helpline if you need help. with life’s necessities such as food and prescriptions. We The council will start up a wider range of services again have also been offering advice and support if tenants to tenants as we move through the recovery from COVID. have been worried about their rent. We will continue to Regular updates will be published on Fife Direct. Housing do this over the coming months. Officers will also be more“ visible again in housing As a reaction to the COVID lockdown, the council neighbourhoods and are available to you to contact for suspended the delivery of a range of services to focus any support you may need. on our business-critical services in an emergency. For Above all, stay safe. Housing Services, this included normal repairs, housing allocations, and housing visits to tenants’ homes. We John Mills have sought to keep going with gas safety inspections, Head of Housing Services emergency repairs, urgent allocations to homeless 4 Your opportunity to participate4 Tenant information Tenant information A Lockdown lowdown Hello! homeschooling their children at the same time; It is so good to be able to make contact with our and I’m sure you will agree with me, that they have tenants at this time. delivered an excellent service still. This quarter’s edition of Down Your Street is quite Many others were redeployed and have been working different to what we have normally seen. in areas that were not their usual place of work – or even their usual job! As the Housing Convenor, I have been keeping in touch with the Housing Service. Many staff have It’s been my great privilege as the Convenor for been working from home – with all its challenges: Communities, to visit the food hubs, set up by the Council. In these hubs, staff from many different departments, and furloughed members of the community were working together to make food packages. These were delivered to ‘shielding’ households; to people who could not travel to a supermarket; and pantries and larders, where people could come and collect food and toiletries to keep them going in these difficult times. I’ve volunteered and delivered food-parcels , or supported food-hubs and Foodbanks. I’ve visited Foodbanks and people providing hot meals to their residents. Furloughed staff working in community centres to cook and deliver this lifeline service. There have been activity packs made up for children to support their learning and fun as they are stuck at home; “Holiday-at-Home” packs for older residents to share holiday memories as they are at home. There are some amazing community activities going on to support us and to help. I’ve been meeting my neighbours as we came out of our houses on Thursdays to applaud our key-workers. For me, lockdown has been a truly inspirational time. I’ve seen the very best of public services working together with our communities and I’m very proud of Fife Council employees, who have worked very hard and supported the whole community. I do hope that you are safe and well! Cllr Judy Hamilton - Convener: Community & Housing Services Committee Your opportunity to participate4 5 Your opportunity to participate Kirkcaldy area Mary Stoddart 100 years young Mary Stoddart, a resident of Craigmount, Kirkcaldy turned 100 years old in March. We thought we should ask her some questions about life in Kirkcaldy and how it’s changed for her. Mary was originally from Londonderry in Ireland and moved to Kirkcaldy 66 years ago. She undertook several roles during that time including being a cutter in a Glenrothes shirt factory. She also did a lot of valuable voluntary work with Age Concern including participating in the local Robert Burns group and line dancing for the elderly. Mary worked in a munition factory in London during the 2nd World War and got married in 1949. She had 3 children and now has 8 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren, the youngest being 2 and the eldest being 21. While being a Fife Council tenant she has had some adaptations done to property to help her in day to day life including a handrail up to her front door and a wetroom shower which she finds very helpful. Housing Management Officers, Trisha Sproule and Evelyn Lavery visited Mary and asked her some questions. Hi Mary and thanks for speaking with What’s the naughtiest thing you ever us. Have you always lived in Kirkcaldy? did as a wee girl? I’ve lived here for 66 years. Nothing I was a good girl What’s your earliest memory of If you could give yourself advice as a 20 Kirkcaldy Mary? year old what would you say? Kirkcaldy was a great place with great I wouldn’t change a thing. shopping opportunities. I enjoyed playing outside as a child. Well you can’t say fairer than that. From everyone here at Down Your Street we’d What’s your secret to a long and like to wish Mary all the very best. healthy life? By keeping fit and active and a brandy every night. Your opportunity to participate 6 Glenrothes area Margaret Morgan100 years young Margaret Morgan was born on 27th May 1920 as need – especially during the covid-19 pandemic. My the Spanish Flu impacted the United Kingdom. food is made and delivered to me. My meals are the This year, Margaret’s centenary celebrations have perfect portion size and are so good.