Facts & Figures |
| Organisation Name: | West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative |
| Individual Name: | |
| Area Served: | West Whitlawburn estate - Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire |
| Population: | 2500 |
| Sketch: | The Co-operative was formed in 1989 by local tenants determined to challenge the social deprivation on their estate. With support from government and their staff team, they set about a community-led regeneration: the results … high-quality housing and services for their community, and a restored sense of local pride in the area. |
| Legal Form: | The Co-operative is a mutual, registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act and with the Registrar of Friendly Societies. It holds charitable status and is a Registered Social Landlord. |
| Volunteers: | 25 |
| People Benefitting: | Tenants and residents living on the estate, and the wider community. |
| Staff: | 58 |
| Turnover: | £2 million |
| Earned Income: | Turnover is earned-income from rents. The Co-operative has also received capital development grants for the last two years of £12-14 million per year for new-build and renovation work via the Scottish Government. |
| Assets: | 650 homes |
| Value of assets: | £80 million |
Roots & Links |
| Origins: | By the 1980s West Whitlawburn had become the classic, rundown local authority estate with high rates of crime, drug-use and turnover of tenancies. Tenants decided that this was totally unacceptable and in 1989, with the support of Glasgow City Council and the Housing Corporation, formed the Co-operative to begin a community-led regeneration of the estate. |
| Governance: | A 10-11 member Management Committee: tenants vote for and can stand for the Committee.
The Whitlawburn Community Resource Centre and the Whitlawburn Community Communications Co-operative (Whitcomm) have separate Committees but are supported by the Co-operative.
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| Community Links: | The Co-operative:
• has a tenant-controlled Committee;
• has a participation plan for each project;
• consults through its tenant survey;
• works with local people through its services and Community Centre.
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| External Links: | Local and Regional:
• Lanarkshire Voluntary Housing Forum
• South Lanarkshire Council.
National:
• Confederation of Co-operative Housing
• Co-operative Development Scotland
• Co-operation & Mutuality Scotland
• Employers in Voluntary Housing
• Local People Leading
• Scottish Federation of Housing Associations. |
Activities |
| Physical Hub: | Community Centre – see below. |
| Builds Local Capacity: | The Community Centre provides:
• the Cambuslang Credit Union;
• social activities, e.g. bowls, dancing, Asian women’s group;
• health activities, e.g. yoga, aerobics and a GP referral scheme;
• advice, e.g. on drugs and finance;
• learning, e.g. volunteering and an Urdu class.
The Whitcomm Co-operative was launched at the Scottish Parliament in 2008, and is set to develop the UK’s first ‘next generation’ broadband communications community through fibre optic cable to new-build homes initially and then to all the Co-operative’s homes.
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| Delivers Services: | Housing management services, including a 24-hour concierge service and an estate management service.
The Community Centre - see above - provides:
• ‘Out of school’ affordable childcare;
• a hall and meeting rooms;
• an IT suite;
• a fitness suite and therapy room. |
| Develops/Manages Property: | 650 homes: multi-story blocks, tenements and houses |
| Other: | |
| Main Achievements: | Our three most recent achievements are:
• a 100 new-build home development which includes broadband ‘next generation’ access – see Whitcomm Cooperative above;
• a successful investment/renovation programme for our much-in-demand multi-storey blocks;
• the results from our tenant satisfaction survey (2008) – all measures show increasing satisfaction over the last four years and all are at a 90% or higher level of satisfaction.
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What Next |
| Biggest Challenge: | Sustaining ‘our model’ … so that we are commercially successful without forgetting our human values and the need to continue to improve. Some would say that we cannot match the economies of scale needed to increase efficiency and survive. That’s where social accounting - see below - comes in, giving the qualitative story behind the statistics, and showing that the ‘Housing Cooperative model’ is the best in town … this works! |
| Lessons Learned: | Social accounting … we are part of a pilot scheme to use indicators that demonstrate social and environmental as well as economic performance. For instance, our concierge services have saved 11 lives over the last year – a huge social benefit that needs to be recognised.
Patience and stamina … once a stock transfer has taken place, tenants are in control - the highest rung on the ladder of participation - but it takes time, commitment and determination to build-up the capacity for such management of an organisation.
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| Aspirations: | We want to ‘evangelise’ for the cooperative model and social accounting system. We want to show that locally-led development works, and to pull away from bureaucratic management from ‘the centre’. And we’re taking forward our energy-efficiency project that will help to tackle fuel poverty and improve financial inclusion. |
Contact |
| Name: | Paul Farrell |
| Title: | Director |
| Address Line 1: | Belmont House, 57 Belmont Road |
| Address Line 2: | Whitlawburn |
| City: | Cambuslang G72 8PG |
| County: | South Lanarkshire |
| Telephone: | 0141-641 8628 |
| Fax: | 0141-641 8028 |
| Email: | enquiries@wwhc.org.uk |
| Website URL: | www.wwhc.org.uk |
| District: | |
