Following the success of the customer services hub at the Town Hall in August, Tamworth Borough Council have scheduled additional ‘pop-up’ Resident Engagement Hub sessions, to provide face-to-face information and signposted support to those living within Tamworth.
The first ‘pop-up’ took place on 22 August and delivered advice and support to residents who visited, discussing options and solutions available to them. The focused hub sessions are being planned for every second Tuesday of the month plus occasional weekends. The next hub will take place on 19 September in the Town Hall, with the focus on Community Safety.
Community Safety Officers will be available to talk to residents about concerns around topics including anti-social behaviour, energy efficient homes, beat the cold scheme, fly-tipping, regulations, loan sharks, violence, crime prevention, modern slavery, safeguarding and a whole range of other community safety aspects.
The pop-up provides opportunities for residents to make general enquiries with council officers and receive a supportive chat. Booking is not required. The hubs add to the ways residents can currently access services.
Currently Tamworth Borough Council offer several different contact options. These services include webchat, telephone and email, front office at Tamworth Assembly Rooms, along with offering appointments on request for private face to face meetings.
Each month the customer service teams handle on average 8,500 calls, 1,700 emails and 650 chat enquiries with support being offered across a multitude of services including food vouchers and housing support applications.
Officers from across the council currently provide pre-booked face to face support across many areas with a variety of needs and complexity.
The ‘pop-up’ engagement hub will work with a number of partners and contractors to offer an alternative way for residents to contact the council and access services.
Hubs have also been confirmed for October and November, taking place at the Town Hall:
10 October – Residents’ Survey– An opportunity to meet with officers from the Communications Team and take part in the council’s annual survey. The survey asks what Tamworth is like as a place to live, thoughts on local council services and how people think money collected from council tax and business rates should be spent in Tamworth.
24 October - Housing Options - Lettings officer and Housing Solutions officer will be in attendance to discuss with residents the ‘Finding a Home’ website, choice based letting queries, tenancy sign ups, homeless applications and general housing advice.
7 November– Environmental Health – An officer will be on site to discuss with residents any issues relating to food hygiene, health and safety, licensing matters and environmental issues such as noise and air pollution.
21 November - Economic Development and Regeneration Service – the Economic Development Team will be available to talk to local groups and businesses about schemes, initiatives and plans to support the local economy and its businesses, plus pathways to anyone in the community looking to start a business or become self-employed. The regeneration team can help with understanding on developments and scheduled changes to the town centre and exciting projects to shape the borough.
Council customer services colleagues will also be on hand at all to help people with general enquiries.
Andrew Barratt, Chief Executive of Tamworth Borough Council, said: “Since the lifting of covid restrictions in late 2021, the customer service front door offer has been provided through the Tamworth Information Centre (TIC) within the Assembly Rooms. Whilst demand for front line face to face contact hasn’t returned to pre covid levels, we recognise that there is a need for this level of support for some members of the community.
“Therefore, we are using these pop-up hubs as a trial to see if there is a greater need for specialised face-to-face resident engagement. The hubs will also give us an opportunity to help some residents access our services online or show them how they can contact us remotely and on the phone.”