Meetup this Thursday at 7pm Royal Mackintosh Hotel

I’ve caught up with a good number of residents at our end of the town over the last week or so, by no means all of them and not necessarily a completely representative cross-section, but a good start.

It seems there is plenty of interest in developing some sort of grouping, a collective voice to help improve things at our end of the town.

So, I’ve reserved the upstairs room at the Royal Mac from 7:00pm (say til 9:00pm latest) for this Thursday the 15th March for an exploratory meeting. We can convene downstairs if only a few of us can make it and it’s quiet.

The purpose of this meeting is to decide whether there should be a residents association and how we go about setting one up, the area it might cover, and the organisation of a wider open public meeting.

We can also have a think about some (initial) aims and objectives, and best to keep in touch (I’ve kept the email recipient list private for now, but many of you are not on email). I will hand deliver this note to neighbours I’ve spoken with.

In fact because I don’t expect you’ll all be able to make it, please feel free to send in any initial thoughts you have by email, to the website or post. There will be plenty of opportunities to shape and influence what we do.

If we do chose to constitute as a “tenants and residents association” we should be able to tap into council supported facilities for creche and admin. I imagine we’ll also be able to bid for funds from Dunbar Community Council and other funding bodies. Importantly, DCC and ELC will have to take account of our views.

I’ll prepare a rough outline for the agenda before next Thursday, but lets keep it fairly informal for now.

If you have child sitting needs, I may well be able to offer a mature teenager’s services, let me know.

I hope I haven’t missed anything too important …

Many thanks

How to grow a tenants and residents group?

Most tenants and residents groups start with just a handful of people who are keen to do something for their area.

We are finding people by:

  • Talking to neighbours who share our concerns and may be willing to help;
  • We’ll be putting notices through people’s doors locally to see if others are also interested in setting up a group
  • Setting up this (free) website

If we find there are enough issues and strength of feeling, a small group will get together – an organising committee – to plan the next stages, which will include:-

  • public meetings to test our initial ideas
  • setup the group formally

And here’s a link to the Guide to starting a tenants and residents association.

How do we start?

Tenants and residents groups are just community groups made up of local people acting together to promote (and defend) the interests of tenants and residents in their area.

They can be organised in different ways, with the simplest form being an action group set up to work on a particular issue.

Typically the first meetings set the aims and objectives and for whom it is set up to represent.