Masterplanning a change in tenure, Bristol

Resident management

Bristol city council owns 1,420 homes here. In December 2004 it will decide with tenants who will manage them. A third of the council housing in the city is currently below the decent homes standard, doubtless including many NDC area properties. Whoever ends up managing the homes must bring them up to this standard by 2010.

There are a number of ways this could be achieved:

• by bringing in a new organisation to manage council stock
• by using council resources, which implies spending/service cuts elsewhere
• by transferring homes to a housing association

But there's another option, says NDC housing co-ordinator Alan McDade: tenant management. 'If residents want to see the community continue to improve and grow after NDC has finished, then now is the time to set up a locally-based housing company or association to own and manage homes here.'

When the single thing you're most worried about is what your rent's going to be in the next few months, it's not so easy to make an informed decision about long term management and ownership issues. But that's what Barton Hill tenants are being asked to do by the end of 2004. The masterplanning process is having to get to grips with decisions not only about buildings and the built environment, but about who manages that environment. There are momentous decisions to be made.

Starting small and building on success seems the key. 'In the Lawrence Hill area we're aiming to pilot neighbourhood management,' says McDade. We're aiming to make the place clean, green and safe. We need to initially concentrate on a few delivery functions such as green spaces, then expand as it has a proven success.' The potential, he believes, is to use this experience to prepare for housing management - as one of a number of services that can and should be locally responsive. 'If the best way to achieve this responsiveness is have residents running their own service, so be it.'