Neighbourhood services
Making sure the communal areas around your home are safe, clean and tidy.
Our Neighbourhood Services team are out and about making sure the areas around your home are clean, safe, and secure. They work in partnership with other agencies and supervise and mentor volunteers too.
The Neighbourhood Services team is also responsible for the management of a 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
Our colleagues undertake a variety of different jobs including:
- 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 such as needles, drug paraphernalia and glass.
They’re a friendly bunch so feel free to say hello and ask them any questions you might have.
Our colleagues 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 three high rises at this location.
If you’ve found something you think needs sorting in your neighbourhood, then please get in touch with us.
Our Neighbourhood Standard
Our neighbourhoods will be safe, clean and tidy places where people want to live. Our Neighbourhood Standard makes it clear what our tenants and residents can expect from us around neighbourhoods, communal areas and the outdoor environments where they live. We will consult and work with our tenants and residents to make improvements to the neighbourhoods where they live.
Internal communal areas
- We will carry out scheduled cleaning for all internal communal areas.
- We will ensure that a painting program for internal areas within our communal blocks is in place.
External communal areas
- We will work with partners to improve and enhance the environment.
All communal areas
- We will work with residents to ensure communal areas are well maintained and kept clean and tidy.
- We will carry out planned and ad-hoc internal and external inspections of communal areas. These inspections will be carried out by Ongo Homes colleagues and our involved tenants.
Gutters
- We will keep guttering clean and well maintained, putting in place preventative measures to reduce issues occurring.
Compliance checks of internal communal areas
- We will monitor and enforce our Communal Areas Procedure, to ensure they remain a sterile environment, to enable us to reduce accidents and risks in these areas.
- We will carry out scheduled fire safety and emergency lighting checks in line with our internal policies, procedures and appropriate regulation and legislation.
Keeping our neighbourhoods safe
- We will make sure the lighting in our neighbourhoods is efficient and adequate.
- We will keep Ongo owned communal pathways maintained to a safe standard to minimise any health and safety risk.
- We will work with partners to tackle breaches of tenancy, crime and anti-social behaviour, using the most appropriate resources and strategies
Adverse weather
- We will publish a winter weather plan, which will detail areas that Ongo will grit when required.
- We will provide assistance to partners in incidences of adverse weather.
Trees
- We will work with the Local Authority and our contracted tree surgeon to carry out appropriate tree work where they are situated on land maintained by Ongo.
Door entry systems
- All Ongo owned door entry systems will be regularly maintained.
Environmental
- We will have a plan in place to carry out ongoing environmental and communal projects.
FAQs
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 council’s website or request a leaflet be sent to you with all the information.
Report all faults within your communal areas to our customer centre by contacting us here.
