Neighbourhood services
Making sure the communal areas around your home are safe, clean and tidy.
Did you know we have a Neighbourhood Services Team? They’re always out and about making sure the communal areas around your home are safe, clean and tidy. They work in partnership with other agencies and supervise & mentor volunteers to increase their employability skills.
The Neighbourhood Services Team is also responsible for the management of the grounds maintenance contract, and they oversee all grass cutting and hedge/shrub maintenance. See more about our grounds maintenance service here.
The team also undertakes a variety of larger environmental tasks to improve communal areas and tackle ASB issues. Tasks include building bin stores, external painting (including line marking) and fencing.
Our cleaning operatives are also responsible for keeping all low rise, high rise, retirement and specialist schemes clean.
What we do
Your Neighbourhood Services Operatives visit specific areas on a rota and undertake a variety of different jobs on communal Ongo land such as:
- Litter picking and sweeping up
- Identifying, investigating and removing fly tip and bulky items
- Inspecting and clearing bin stores
- Unblocking bin chutes
- Programming standalone door entry fobs
- Supervising and mentoring volunteers
- Graffiti removal
- Maintaining Ongo car parks and Ongo garage areas
- Maintaining Ongo hedges and shrub beds
- Checking and removing obstructions to walkways
- Identifying and spraying weeds on Ongo land
- Removing hazardous items e.g. needles, drug paraphernalia and glass
They are also our eyes and ears, reporting any neighbourhood-based issues or repairs to the relevant teams. This can include H&S issues (e.g. street furniture inspections) and helping to answer queries from you. They’re a friendly bunch so feel free to say hello and ask them any questions you might have.
Your Neighbourhood Services Cleaning Operatives check all blocks of flats, with an internal communal stairs and landing, at least every two weeks. The work carried out includes:
- Ensuring that communal entrance doors and lighting are working correctly and reporting faults where needed
- Litter picking the front and rear communal areas
- Checking for any fire hazards (e.g. items left in communal areas) and reporting them
- Checking for, and reporting, graffiti
- Removing cobwebs
- Sweeping down, vacuuming and mopping floor surface areas where appropriate
- Wiping down handrails and glass work that are within reach
The Concierge Team are based at Market Hill, assisting contractors in gaining access for work within the 3 high rises on site.
If you’ve found something you think needs sorting in your neighbourhood then please get in touch with us.
FAQs
Our Neighbourhood Services Operatives work for you to ensure the areas around your home are kept clean and tidy. This could be by removing graffiti, litter picking, looking after communal entrances or maintaining your car parks.
The Neighbourhood Services Cleaning Operatives work on a rota and check all blocks of flats which have an internal stairs and landing. If they identify fly-tipping they’ll report it, they check for any faults or hazards, report hazardous items and clean the internal stairs, glass work and landings.
In 2007 we broke away from the Council. All of our Neighbourhood Operatives and Cleaning Operatives are employed by us. While we still do work in partnership with the Council, we are our own organisation.
We often have volunteers come to us through Ongo Recruitment, who join an eight week programme to enhance their skills and gain experience to hopefully help them gain employment.
You may see them working alongside our Neighbourhood Services Team, who are responsible for supervising them.
If the settee is in good condition, there are a number of Furniture reuse schemes that you can take advantage of to avoid bulky items going to landfill.
If the settee is not in good condition, you can use your local council’s bulky item collection service, prices for each differ and some are free depending on your area.
Bins are supplied by your council and you will need to contact them to arrange a new bin
All tenants are responsible for their own bins, if these are contaminated it will be your responsibility to clear them.
If you need more information on recycling to avoid your bin being refused, you can visit your Local Councils website or request a leaflet be sent to you with all the information.
Report all faults within your communal areas to our call centre by contacting us here and our repairs team will come out to fix it for you.
