Almost 300 people logged on last week when Tamworth Borough Council held a live question and answer session on rents, benefits, council housing and other housing-related matters.

From 10am to 12 noon on May 20, the council’s Head of Housing Operations, Tina Mustafa, and Cllr Mary Oates, Cabinet member for Quality of Life, were on hand to answer housing questions submitted through the council’s blog.

Other members of housing staff were available at Thomas Hardy Court in Leyfields, where anyone without computer access or who needed help getting online was invited to drop in, log on and join the conversation.

Some of the questions submitted covered topics including housing allocation, eviction, benefits, repairs, tenancy agreements, grass cutting and setting up a direct debit to pay rent.

The blog remains open at http://tamworthcouncil.wordpress.com/, so that anyone who was unable to join in the live Q & A can post a question. Housing staff will then try to respond as quickly as possible.

Tina Mustafa said after the session: “The live blog went really well and hopefully, helped to improve customer access to our services. There was a lot of interest from tenants and a lot of questions asked and answered.

“Improving our customer services and access to the right information is very important to us. Being able to do this live is an exciting opportunity to further engage with our customers.”

Cllr Oates said: “We were delighted to be able to respond immediately to customer questions about rent and income-related matters which affect our tenants.”

Tamworth Borough Council is now looking to run more live questions and answer sessions through its blog on other subjects.