Your Neighbourhood Services team
The Neighbourhood Services team works to ensure that service requests and complaints are dealt with promptly and that any issues such as safeguarding, harassment or anti-social behaviour issues are promptly investigated. Alongside this they also deal with any tenancy matters and can refer tenants to other agencies for assistance.
The team is led by Tom Harding, Neighbourhood Services Manager. He also oversees the regular programme of estate inspections and manages our caretakers. Alongside this he oversees our cleaning contractors.
View the areas your Neighbourhood Officers look after. You will often see them when they are out and about on your estates, but please remember that your first point of contact for any housing-related enquiries should always be to email housing.service@folkestone-hythe.gov.uk or call our Customer Support team on 01303 853300.
Meet the team
We sat down with Debbie Helliwell one of our Neighbourhood Officers to get to know her a little better and find out more about her role in the housing management service.
You recently won the council's ‘Employee of the Year’ award, how did that feel?
I felt completely overwhelmed to win Employee of the Year but incredibly delighted at the same time. My managers put me forward for this award following some very difficult cases that I had been involved with throughout the year, but on hearing the other nominations that were also in contention for this award, I was truly amazed that I had been selected. It was important to me that although I was chosen for this award, my colleagues were also acknowledged, as we all work extremely hard as a team to ensure we give a good service to our tenants.
What does a typical day involve?
The role of Neighbourhood Officer is a varied one, every day is unique and can involve a number of different things from tenancy and estate management to tenancy audit checks and antisocial behaviour investigations. We also work closely with other colleagues and external agencies to provide support and advice to our tenants when they require it.
Due to the nature of the job there is no such thing as a typical day; even though you may plan your day in advance, things more than often change at the last minute.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
One of the most enjoyable areas of my role is being able to help tenants in managing their tenancies. It is very rewarding to help support those tenants that want our assistance. This can often ensure they sustain their tenancy and remain in their homes.
How long have you been with F&HDC?
My career started back in 1988 working for Shepway District Council. I initially started working in the health and housing department within part of the administration team. This included helping to support both the environmental health officers and housing team.
During this period, I experienced many different roles before progressing onto the role of Housing Officer. The role has changed immensely over the years much of this is due to the change in modern technology.
Is there anything else you’d like tenants to know?
Neighbourhood Officers try their best to support those tenants that need our help but unfortunately, we cannot agree to everything and at times cannot always fix your problems, but please be assured that we always try our hardest to do as much as we possibly can.