Keep up to date with what's happening in the world of resident involvement.
New Homes Advisory Group's visit to Woodland Place- West Kent’s new build estate
The Resident Involvement Team recently organised a visit to West Kent’s new development in Allington, Maidstone. Catherine from our New Homes Advisory Group had the opportunity to explore the site to observe the build at different stages of the development process.
Her account offers a first-hand perspective on the quality, design, and accessibility of the homes, which include a mix of shared ownership and rented properties and commented on the high standards of both and attention to detail.
“I was very impressed at how the outsides of the homes had a mixture of different facades some brick and tiles, brick and cladding and some with buff stones. Sarah showed us the plans of the development and pointed out all the outside areas from a playground to tree and flowering beds.”
Guided by Sarah, the project manager, and Adam, the site manager, Catherine explored the thoughtful layout of the development—from varied exterior finishes to modern energy-efficient features like solar panels and air source heat pumps.
“Each home has sockets with USB charging points, an air source heat pump, solar panels, electric car charging points and parking for 2 cars. All homes have patio doors leading to a reasonable size garden, some of it with a patio then grass and a garden shed.”
A highlight of the visit was the discussion around adapted properties, which sparked particular interest from our resident Catherine. She was keen to understand how West Kent is supporting residents with specific accessibility needs. Sarah from the development team shared that West Kent has exceeded expectations in this area, delivering a greater number of adapted homes than originally planned
Catherine reflects:
“As a tenant of West Kent for over 35 years, and having moved into a new build 30 years ago then I will say that West Kent have certainly improved the specifications of their homes to suit modern requirements.”
Her observations provide valuable insight into the development’s strengths and its potential to meet the diverse needs of future residents.
Scrutiny Panel members attend TPAS National Tenants Conference in Coventry
In July, the Resident Involvement team, accompanied by two dedicated members of the Scrutiny Panel, attended the TPAS National Tenants Conference 2025 in Coventry. The two-day event brought together over 200 tenants, housing association staff, and sector professionals from across the country.
The conference featured a range of informative workshops and keynote sessions, including insightful presentations from the Regulator of Social Housing. Attendees had the opportunity to share ideas, explore best practice, and strengthen their commitment to resident influence and service improvement.
We returned inspired and full of fresh ideas to enhance resident involvement and collaboration within our communities!
To find out more about the Scrutiny Panel and see some of the changes that have been made from their past reviews, visit the Scrutiny Panel page.
Resident Inspectors - Nurture
We work with residents across the county to ensure the grounds maintenance is being carried out to our three star standard, as documented in our new Estate Standards.
Resident inspectors complete online monthly surveys to feedback what has gone well and not so well. We then share this feedback with Nurture and West Kent’s Contracts Manager to help improve the service we deliver to you. At West Kent we believe it’s important that we listen to you, encourage you to take part and make giving feedback as easy as possible.
We hold regular prize draws to recognise and reward the ongoing efforts of our Resident Inspectors. We recently launched a competition where every inspection survey submitted earned an entry into our prize draw for a cash gift voucher. We’re delighted to announce that the lucky winner is one of our Resident Inspectors in Palmers Orchard, Shoreham!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved on this project for the time you take to help us keep our communities clean and enjoyable places to live.
If you are interested in becoming a Resident Inspector for your area, please complete this survey to register your interest.
RESIDENT INSPECTORS NEWSLETTER - August 2025
RESIDENT INSPECTORS NEWSLETTER - JULY 2025
Read previous Resident Inspectors newsletters
It is important that we continue to collect feedback and share your findings with Nurture, so that they know what is going well and what improvements need to be made.
If you would like to join our inspectors then please get in touch by emailing residentinvolvement@wkha.org.uk or completing a short online form to register your interest.
New Homes Advisory Group - June meeting
On Monday 9 June we had our first full meeting with the newly formed ‘New Homes Advisory Group’. Seven residents kindly gave up their time on a Monday evening to join an online meeting with our Resident Involvement and Development teams to discuss their experiences of living in a new build West Kent home.
To prepare for the meeting, we had sent the group a survey beforehand to find out what they like about their home, what they’d improve, and what features are most important. We then used this feedback to have some more in-depth discussions and covered topics such as built-in storage, hard flooring vs. carpets, layouts that improve soundproofing, energy efficiency, and water butts!
We are so grateful for the enthusiasm this group brought to the meeting, and everyone had something valuable to contribute. Their feedback will be applied to the design briefs for an upcoming regeneration project, and we’ll meet again later this year to show them how this feedback has been put into action.
Involving residents in the design of new homes is so important to West Kent. We want to build homes that work for people - not just on paper, but in practice!
If you'd like to know more about this group, or other ways you can get involved, please email residentinvolvement@wkha.org.uk or visit our opportunities available page.
Mystery shopping
In September 2024 a group of nine residents volunteered to be mystery shoppers of our Customer Contact Centre - carrying out 'shops' by both telephone and email.
Mystery shopping is a way for us to involve residents in shaping the delivery of a service that is designed for them. Our mystery shoppers play a very important role by giving us a true picture of how West Kent interacts with residents.
Read the full 2024 mystery shopping report
Our 2025 mystery shopping results will be published soon.
That's our news - but what are your views?
Find out more about opportunities to get involved and keep an eye on our consultations page to have your say on our policy consultations.
Register your interest in an opportunity by completing this short survey.
Get in touch with the team by completing our web form,
emailing residentinvolvement@wkha.org.uk or calling 01732 749908.