News

Due to the Coronavirus restrictions, on 24 June we launched our first-ever online consultation, on our proposed new development at Northrepps.

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We sent all local residents a personal invitation containing a square code that they could scan, giving them instant access to our plans for the 19 new homes. There was also a direct link to the live consultation from our website.

There is a desperate shortage of affordable housing in north Norfolk, with young families in particular struggling to stay living in the area.

Our online consultation replicated our regular face-to-face consultations, with topic boards that residents could click on to view the house designs, watch a ‘fly-through’ video of the scheme, and learn more about local housing need and how we provide affordable housing. Visitors could ask us questions via a live chat function during the 4-hour event. They could also give their feedback on our plans in an online questionnaire.

Thanks to our partners Aecom and North Norfolk District Council for their support with this event. The response was encouraging, with 42 views of the plans on the day. The proposals are still available to view. The closing date for feedback is Tuesday 30 June.

Broadland Housing is proud to get behind Harry’s Pledge, a united national commitment to support, recognise and champion carers.

Across the country social housing providers like us are looking to commit to four pledges:

• Being supportive employers to people who have caring responsibilities
• Making offices and community spaces as accessible as possible
• Building more fully-accessible homes
• Further professionalising and promoting care as a career, and lobbying for changes in pay and rewards for carers.

Launched in Carers Week, Harry’s Pledge is named in honour of Harry Charlesworth, a lively five-year-old whose birth disability of quadriplegic cerebral palsy means he has deep caring needs.

Harry’s grandmother is Julie Doyle, the chief executive of Longhurst, which like Broadland is a member of PlaceShapers. She and Harry’s family were determined that the focus on the difference made by carers during the Coronavirus pandemic should not be lost.

Michael Newey, Broadland Housing’s Chief Executive, said:

We are proud and pleased to sign up to Harry’s Pledge. Carers are the unsung heroes of our society, and the Coronavirus pandemic has thrown a light on their amazing contribution to people’s lives. Harry’s Pledge will show solidarity with this and generate more support for carers and the people they care for.

Broadland has a strong working partnership with NorseCare, who provide services at our housing with care schemes throughout Norfolk.

National Carers Week runs from Monday 8 June until Sunday 14 June. Helen Walkers, CEO of Carers UK, said:

Carers UK fully supports Harry’s Pledge to support paid and unpaid carers in the housing sector. We know how vital support provided by family and friends is to those who are disabled, ill or growing frail. Our Carers Week theme is making caring visible, this initiative does just that.

Harry’s Pledge is a unified approach from Carers UK, PlaceShapers, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation.

Find out more about Harry’s Pledge at www.harrys-pledge.org.uk

Editor’s notes

The flour pledges:

1. As employers:
   1. We will do all we can to support people with caring responsibilities to work for us by making our policies carer-friendly.
   1. We will be a carer friendly employer.
   1. We will ensure people can work flexibly to fit paid work around unpaid caring work.
   1. We will provide platforms and support for those who are carers to tell their stories, and to tell us what more they need from us as employers and housing providers.

• In our workspaces:

We will make the offices and community spaces we offer as accessible as possible. For example, we will install “Changing Place” toilets in any new offices that are open to the public and look to retrofit existing spaces.

• In the homes we build:
  • We will build more fully accessible homes.
  • We will routinely consider accessibility when developing new homes and within our existing stock.
  • We will consider how more of the homes we build can be adapted for disabled people.

• In training and career progression:
  • We will work with partners to professionalise care further with clear qualifications and career paths.
  • We will promote care as a valued career choice.
  • We will lobby for changes in pay and rewards for carers.

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We are now growing our own plants for landscaping upgrades at our housing schemes, thanks to a new polytunnel project.

Estate Services Team member John Breame, who has led the project at The Elms in Norwich, explains:

We had great success last year growing our own bedding plants, and the polytunnel was a key part of the plan. The hope is to be self-sufficient in all the plant material we use within two years.

The tunnel, which arrived in February this year, measures 7 metres x 4 metres and has an automatic watering system. However, it hasn’t all been plain sailing, as John explains:

We put it up during a particularly stormy part of the year. I was quite concerned it might blow away! I was also concerned because of the outbreak of Covid-19 and the impact on our work. We could have lost everything we had already grown.

During lockdown the Estate Services team has been able to continue maintaining our communal gardens by keeping a safe distance to protect themselves and tenants.

Propagating all year round

However, the polytunnel is only part of the story. The Estate Services team has also repurposed the bowls hut at The Elms, which was unused, turning it into a propagation and potting shed. The hut has a heated propagator and grow lights, fitted by Broadland’s electrical engineers. The facilities means that the team can propagate plants all year round.

The potting shed will constantly replenish our stocks, with the polytunnel giving weather protection and excellent growing conditions.

Tenants at The Elms were kept informed throughout the project and the team has received some very positive comments:

We have spruced up the old bowls hut and we think people are pleased it is being used.

Broadland Housing’s emergency repairs and cleaning teams are using hand sanitiser produced by local gin distillery, Black Shuck.

So far, the Fakenham-based distillery has supplied 90 litres of hand sanitiser to Broadland.

Louise Archer, Executive Property Director, said:

We are lucky to have sourced a supply of hand sanitiser through local contacts, which should last us a few weeks. Hand sanitiser is still a scarce resource and we are keeping a close eye on the supply levels, as well as all the other crucial PPE resources we need, such as masks and disposable gloves.

Our Procurement team and Repairs team managers are working hard to secure the necessary items. We all know how hard this is at the moment. As with everything at this time, we are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

Sarah Saunders, co-founder of Black Shuck, told the Eastern Daily Press that the distillery began collecting the equipment needed to make hand sanitiser at the end of February. She said:

We were just starting to see the news out of China, and I bought some hand sanitiser while I was travelling abroad and realised we could make it because we had ethanol. We ordered everything we needed to make the gel to WHO guidelines, and campaigned with other distilleries nationally to speed up the processes to enable us to get the licenses we needed.

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Broadland frontline staff are picking up their essential supplies from our stores in Colton, Norfolk – observing the Government’s social distancing rules to protect themselves and our tenants.

Stores favourite ‘Wilson’ has been keeping up frontline staff spirits. Wilson is named after Tom Hanks’ basketball friend in the film Cast Away and was created by Broadland heating engineer John Collison.

And in case you are wondering, the hand sanitiser does not smell of gin!