Around 30 tenants received training from Wheatley Homes South’s Neighbourhood Environmental Team (NETs) to be assessors with Keep Scotland Beautiful, a leading environmental charity in Scotland.

Training involves them taking an active role within the areas they live to assess their communities and identify any areas of improvement.

As part of the regular days of activity, groups of assessors spend a day together, evaluating garden spaces, while receiving support and training from NETs and then provide feedback to the team.

Alex Lamb, managing director at Wheatley Homes South, said: “We are very proud to have empowered our customers to play such an active role within their communities and it was great to meet, and spend time, with our Keep Scotland Beautiful assessors.

“This work certainly doesn’t go unnoticed and the response from our customers to these efforts has been overwhelmingly positive and shows the difference it makes in our communities.

“Since being launched in Dumfries and Galloway, our NETs service has proved to be hugely popular and it is great to see so many of our customers not only supporting the work, but also getting involved and playing their part.”

The latest inspection saw a group of tenants join Wheatley Homes South senior management and members of NETs in Lochside, where they evaluated two blocks in the area.

The partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful has been a success for Wheatley Homes South, with the social landlord receiving its first ever five-star rating in 2022. This was recently followed up with another five-star review for the condition of communities across the region.

Alexander Stevenson, environment and place officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, added: “Being able to accompany tenants on some of their neighbourhood walkabouts has been an excellent experience. It spotlights the issues that matter to them, creates a more informed perspective on an area’s good points and challenges, and helps to develop our own skills as auditors.

“Everyone is invested in the process and the people that matter most in the communities are able to make their voices heard.

“What has been encouraging for us as a charity has been the grassroots participation of individuals and communities starting to take meaningful steps forward to deliver their own assessments of their homes.”

In 2023, Eric Amato, environmental service delivery lead at Wheatley Homes South, received training from Keep Scotland Beautiful to train assessors, becoming one of the first in Wheatley Group to do so. Since then, he’s supported 28 Wheatley Homes South residents to become assessors in their own communities.

Wheatley’s NETs launched in Dumfries and Galloway in July 2021 and they have transformed neighbourhoods across the region through a range of environmental activities. It has seen the team working closely with customers, partners and local charities to make communities greener and cleaner. In 2023/24, more than 1300 tonnes of bulk waste was collected and over 8000 stairwells cleaned by the NETs across Dumfries and Galloway.

Any Wheatley tenant interested in becoming an assessor should speak to their housing officer or contact Wheatley Homes South’s Customer First Centre on 0800 011 3447.