Social housing tenants in Lisburn & Castlereagh will be offered a greater say in the future of their neighbourhoods with the creation of new local tenant-led panels by the Housing Executive.

Tenant Scrutiny Panels have been set up across Northern Ireland giving Housing Executive tenants a voice to ensure that local offices are delivering the services required in their areas and to the level of quality expected by tenants.

In Lisburn & Castlereagh - which encompasses the offices in Lisburn Antrim St, Dairyfarm and Castlereagh – seven tenants from across the area will scrutinies services they feel are most important to tenants in the coming year.

For Lisburn tenants will be represented by Sarajane Patterson, Trish McCormick and Ian Campkin meanwhile the Dairyfarm representatives are Maire Scott and Kate McCormick and for Castlereagh Gwen Ferguson and Aaron Thompson have joined the panel.

The group meets three times a year and members have said they are looking forward to the year ahead.

Chair of the Scrutiny Panel Aaron Thompson said: “I am delighted to be part of the new Tenant Scrutiny Panel representing Lisburn & Castlereagh area. It will give us the opportunity to question and constructively challenge the organisation to ensure we achieve the best service possible for tenants in local neighbourhoods.”

Aengus Hannaway, Area Manager for Lisburn & Castlereagh, said the new panels will ensure the Housing Executive works in an active and meaningful partnership with communities. “The creation of the Tenant Scrutiny Panels will give our tenants a real say in making their neighbourhoods better places in which to live. “The panels will also ensure that we are accountable to our tenants for the delivery of our services and we will be in a position to continuously seek the views of our tenants and strive to improve the delivery of our services.” he added.

In addition to Tenant Scrutiny Panels, the Housing Executive has also formed resident and inter-agency partnerships in the Lisburn & Castlereagh area. These partnerships will enable residents to make their estates and areas better places in which to live by taking part in ventures such as joint working groups, community partnerships and estate inspections.

Pictured - Members of the Lisburn & Castlereagh Tenant Scrutiny Panel with representatives from the Housing Executive at a recent meeting.