Housing Strategy Consultation

Rotherham Borough Council is currently developing a major new housing strategy and to ensure it gets it right it wants to talk to as many people as possible.

From June to September the authority is inviting all residents, whether property owners or tenants in both council or private housing, to either complete an on-line questionnaire or to attend one of two consultation events being held in Rotherham.

The public are also being invited to fill in a questionnaire about council tenancies and allocations. This is because the Government's Localism Act requires all housing authorities to consider a number of possible changes to the way council housing is allocated and how council tenancies are issued.

The draft strategy and the questionnaire are available to view on the council's website.

The consultation events will be held on Wednesday, July 11, from 10 am until 1pm, and on Thursday, August 16, from 3 until 6 pm, at the Springwell Gardens Community Centre, Eastwood View, Springwell Gardens, Rotherham S65 1NG.

The public can also make their views known by emailing or via their local Area Assembly meeting.

The consultation period runs from June until August 2012 and the final documents, along with a housing strategy action plan and Rotherham housing intelligence report, will be published in November.

Coun. Rose McNeely, Rotherham Borough Council's Cabinet Member for Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods, urged everyone to take part.

She added: "Housing - and its provision - affects us all and what the authority does and how it provides housing in the future is a huge responsibility because it has such far reaching consequences. 

"That is why I would urge everyone to have their say. We need to get the new strategy right and so we have to get as many views and opinions from the widest range of people as possible."

For anyone wanting more information they can contact the authority's Strategic Housing and Investment Service on 01709 334958 or by emailing.