First jail conviction for ASB in Liverpool – August 2007
A local woman is the first in Liverpool to be jailed for anti-social behaviour (ASB) after a conviction was secured by a Liverpool housing association.

Liverpool Housing Trust’s Rodney Division has been successful in taking action against Collette McDonald (41) of West Derby Road area in Liverpool 6 for anti-social behaviour. A sentence of 6 months imprisonment was imposed on Ms McDonald due to the breaches of ASB injunction.

Ms McDonald has consistently breached an ASB injunction which was obtained in December 2006. The injunction was applied for following complaints from neighbours over a period of time that they were being disturbed and threatened by Ms McDonald’s behaviour.

Ms McDonald regularly abuses her neighbours by shouting and screaming abuse, banging on their windows and gesticulating at them.

There are also regular occasions when Ms Donald is under the influence of alcohol or drugs and causes disturbances in the street, regularly spitting in neighbour’s gardens.

The Court granted the injunction after neighbours gave evidence and it was hoped that the injunction would remedy the breaches of tenancy that had been occurring. This has unfortunately not been the case and Ms McDonald has continued her anti-social activities breaching the injunction on several occasions.

The most recent breaches of the injunction not only involved Ms McDonald shouting abusive language at her neighbours, but also involved her waving a knife in the street.

LHT have now begun possession proceedings against Ms McDonald and will be seeking her eviction.

Louise Wallace, Operations Manager for LHT’s Rodney Housing Division says “This conviction proves that LHT does not tolerate anti-social behaviour. All our tenants should be able to live in peace in their own homes and if tenants will not comply with their conditions of tenancy we will use all the legal tools available to us to try and put an end to anti-social activity.”

Rodney is Getting Bigger and Better – April 2007
Rodney Housing joined one of Liverpool’s biggest and best landlords to extend and improve the services it can provide to its tenants. On the 2 April Rodney Housing joined Liverpool Housing Trust and this will bring new funding, new services and new opportunities to Rodney’s tenants across Merseyside. As well as maintaining all the best parts of Rodney, we will also add another 800 homes to our management responsibilities. This will mean that we can focus our services on the things that our tenants tell us are really important:

• Neighbourhood cleanliness and safet
y
• Maintenance and repairs and the standards of the communal spaces outside flats and houses
• Adding services and access to a range of housing across the Merseyside area.

In addition to all this we will continue to build new homes and refurbish old ones as part of the larger group. Indeed we intend to move from building around 20 new houses a year to building around 50 a year all across the Merseyside area.

Community Arts Project - March 2007
As part of the LinacreOne Living Through Change programme we agreed a heading of community arts which encompassed a number of separate arts related projects. We developed an overall theme of art and history which all the projects had to relate to and the Ambassadors Project aimed to identify local people who represented the area in positive and different ways. After some research and local consultation we agreed on a number of local people from community representatives and activists to well known personalities, Roger McGough and Tom O’Conner who where both brought up in the neighbourhood and were happy to participate in the project. We employed a photographer to take portrait shots of them which were then displayed at our LinacreOne office at a public launch of the arts project in March 2007. The project has received some fantastic local feedback and was even featured in Inside Housing magazine.
Community Arts Project: View pdf file

Action on anti-social behaviour - January 2007
In response to complaints from local residents and concerns expressed by local ward Councillors, Rodney Housing Association has been working closely with Merseyside Police to tackle the problem of drug dealing, prostitution and nuisance in the Sheil Road area of Liverpool.

As a social landlord Rodney Housing Association doesn't take lightly any eviction or Closure order; it does, however, recognise the duty it has to other tenants and the wider community. Rodney has worked in partnership with Merseyside Police over a number of months to put together the necessary evidence to apply for the Closure of the section 1 of the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003. This follows many months of advice and letters to the perpetrators who have consistently ignored the warnings issued by the association and continued to cause nuisance and disorder to local residents.

'We hope the Closure order sends a clear message to residents that Rodney is working hard to clean up the area and will use all of tools provided by the legislation to achieve this. Rodney Housing Association is committed to providing a safe neighbourhood and will continue to drive out drug dealers and sex workers from this residential area to help maintain the area's popularity with families and single people'.

Grot Spot to Top Block - January 2007
A Bootle grot spot has been transformed into a Ł1.3m luxury apartment block. The derelict petrol station on Stanley Road is now home to 12 upmarket flats thanks to a NewHeartlands project.

Great Grandmother Catherine Bromilow is one of the first residents to move in.The 84 year old, who has lived in the area all her life, has already moved from the NewHeartlands clearance area in Queens Road and Bedford Road to her new apartment.

She said: 'It's already home and it's delightful to live in such a contemporary and fashionable place. I've moved here with two of my neighbours so I'm among friends and life has become much easier thanks to my walk-in shower!'

Tom Harrison, Chief Executive said 'We're very proud of the finished building'.