Testimonials
A real success story arising from the regeneration work has been neighbourhood management. In five years, the project director Jan Boyd has established a reputation for herself not just at street level but across the city for her approach. The regular patch walks that she has instituted have helped to win the confidence of local people, and both the Police and ward councillors frequently take part in them. Her successes have won admiration from the City Council too, which has adopted her systems and processes. Now that Jan has launched her own social enterprise, EMS Ltd., there is no doubt that many other communities will also benefit from Jan’s experience. The fact that EMS will also allow Jan and her team to deliver wider environmental advice and guidance, drawing on Jan’s university work in this field, is an added bonus.
We wish EMS every success with the development of the new company. Probe has worked with Jan Boyd, the Chief Executive, regularly over the past few years on environmental improvement and community safety projects within neighbourhoods, which have led to real improvements within these communities. We recognise her unique experience and skills which will drive the company forward into a successful enterprise, making even more of a difference in these local communities.
Southcoates East has been chosen as an “Exemplar” site - one of 12 areas identified throughout the country as benefiting from strong partnership-working. Jan Boyd is a lynchpin in the partnership by chairing the weekly “tasking” meetings of all the agencies. Through her surveys and consultation meetings she is aware of the needs of the public. Jan has developed neighbourhood agreements and charters, which inform the public of the services they can expect from the agencies and also what they can do to make their community a better and safer place to live. Not only has she provided a documentary framework about how the community will operate but has taken a hands-on approach with regular patch walks.
The work in Southcoates East is a brilliant example of partnership work delivering real benefits to the community they serve. The tasking meeting was the best operational delivery meeting I have attended. There was a very clear and genuine collective understanding and of problems with each person being willing to take ownership of a particular problem most relevant to there expertise and then a real and honest desire by others present to do their part in assisting provide a solution. Quite inspirational. Whilst the foundation have been created by pump primed funding as budgets become tighter others need to use this as a model to mainstream collective problem solving as an efficient and effective way of delivering sustainable solutions.
I was also impressed by the genuine warmth and empathy for those who were experiencing problems and how those present took a personal involvement in assisting make their lives better. The work here follows' the direction the Government set in last weeks safe and Confident Neighbourhood Strategy.
Jan provides an excellent neighbourhood management service within the Preston Road area. She has effective communication mechanisms set up between residents and agencies and facilitates a responsive solution to problems throughout the area. People living in Preston Road know who to go to for help in resolving problems and other agencies have confidence in working together as a result of this activity"
Now that the ten-year regeneration has ended, the NDC Trustees are responsible that the improvements gained are protected. Central to that task is the input from EMS who are very active in ensuring that our area is not allowed to slip back into the run-down state it had been allowed to at the start of the regeneration programme. They are tackling the environmental issues that range from graffiti to dog fouling and are gaining the community's support in keeping our area a place where everyone would want to live.
I have known Jan since 2006 and she has brought the community together. She has a good rapport with the housing manager and the police, and she knitted all these organisations together. Now problems get solved because everything has been chased up and she always has an answer to most things going on on the estate. She cares for the community and the people she deals with. All you want is honesty and what’s happening around us all. I thank her for all the hard work she does on our behalf.
Burnt-out cars, graffiti, litter strewn pavements - Preston Road as it was 10 years ago! That was before the Preston Road Neighbourhood Development Company and partners started tackling the problems. Today the burnt-out cars are a thing of the past, litter is cleaned on a regular basis and graffiti tags are usually cleaned within a couple of days.
News
24 Apr 2012
EMS LTD LAUNCH DOORSTEP CHALLENGE 201...
Residents in an East Hull community could win £50 this August just by brightening up their front or back gardens. Environmental & Management Solutions (EMS) Ltd is a regional charit... Read More