What have your Gateway Membership Team been up to in 2024?

The Gateway Membership Team are a group of residents who are passionate about making a difference in their community. Over the last year the GMT have worked closely with our Group Board and leadership team and had a real input in our decision-making, helping us make improvements that matter to our residents.

Here are just some of the things the GMT have been up to this year:

• Our GMT played a key role in us receiving our C1 grading. A large part of the inspection looked at how we listen to our residents and make improvements based on feedback. The inspectors observed a scrutiny session run by the GMT, a session which clearly demonstrates the influence tenants have on our improvements.
• Members of our GMT attended Tpas’s National Tenant Conference 2024 in July, and were asked to share their own views around the new consumer regulations following our inspection.  
• The GMT came up with the brilliant ‘love your neighbourhoods’ campaign which focusses on working with our residents to create cleaner, greener neighbours that we can all be proud of.
• Following a tenant question time and scrutiny session on fly-tipping, the GMT advocated for more covert cameras to be used in fly-tipping hotspots to tackle the issue.
• The team championed a change that means all profits from this year’s increase in garage rent will be going into our Welfare Fund – we estimate that the extra £1.50 a week in rent from each of our garages will mean £70,000 more goes to our Welfare Fund!
• The GMT have also held community meetings to discuss important issues such as the new consumer regulations, taken part in sessions with the Group Board to look at key issues such as the rent increase and cost-of-living, and helped shape important policies such as our Vulnerable Customers Policy.
• At our Annual General Meeting on 16 September, Chris Blackett, Chair of the GMT, gave an update to everyone on all the important work the group does. 
• The GMT also helped us create this year’s annual report to residents, which you can read here.