Who we are and what we do
Dryfe East Tenants and Residents Association is based in Lockerbie. We have a core group of committed residents - tenants and owners - who meet regularly. With support from Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership and the council, we decided on a practical, hands-on approach to meeting a specific local community need - lack of play facilities for our children. As a result we feel we have now become an influential body across the whole town.
Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership is the second-largest housing association in Scotland, with 10,500 homes. Based in Dumfries, it was set up in 2003 to take on the local authority's housing stock, following a successful tenant ballot. We work with a network of 13 tenants and residents associations across the area.
How we got going
Dryfe East Tenants and Residents Association started up in 2003, with initial support from the council. A small group of residents decided that the local park, built to commemorate the Lockerbie bombing disaster, was good for older children, but not for toddlers. We decided to raise money for new equipment. The council then declared the existing play equipment unsafe and removed it with no warning or consultation. We promised the community that we would get it reinstated. We spent the next five years lobbying and trying to raise funding.
When the housing partnership took over the council housing, we had a lot of support from their Community Involvement Manager. She helped us with funding bids and finding sponsorship. One of our members joined its district management committee. We are still represented on this group.
How we organise ourselves
Dryfe East runs on an entirely voluntary basis - we have six active committee members, all local residents. Graham Tait, our chair, is an 18-year-old who is also a member of the local community council.
Dryfe East is one of 13 tenants and residents associations (TARAs) spread across this large, mainly rural part of the country. Together, they play an important role in empowering local communities, particularly where they are well-organised, bring everyone in a community together and are determined to find practical solutions to local problems. Some of them are very active, with an impressive track record of empowering their communities. They are supported by Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership and the Federation of Dumfries and Galloway TARAs.
Where our funding comes from
It took Dryfe East TARA five years to raise the money for our play park project in Lockerbie. With an initial target of £19,000, we eventually raised no less than £40,000. £10,000 came from the Big Lottery's Awards for All programme, - a first for Scotland - just over £5000 from Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership, £900 from the Lockerbie Initiative and smaller amounts from the local Rotary Club and Lions Club and the community council. Lloyds TSB provided us with a picnic bench.
Angela Brydson, Dryfe East's Secretary, feels its been a long hard struggle that has paid off for local residents...
"Through the TARA we raised more than £2,000 ourselves, with horse racing betting in the local pub, car boot sales, toddlers sponsored walks and quizzes. Fundraising is never easy, but if you have a good cause, organisations and local people will support you. We were advised to avoid the big funders and go for the local ones and that approach has worked well for us."
What we've achieved so far
Ronald Richie from Dryfe East TARA has been involved from the start…
"When the council made a decision to dismantle the original play equipment in King Edward Park five years ago, the local community began work to get it reinstated. We consulted everyone here, we visited the Alness Initiative in the Highlands, through the Communities Scotland Seeing is Believing Fund. We raised all the money and we helped to design it. But the best thing is that the kids - even the teenagers - really do look after it. They have a real sense of ownership."
Consultation was the key to getting community support for the proposals. We talked to everyone overlooking the park. Many of them had young children and were happy to back the idea; no-one objected. We also carried out consultation with children in our local schools and nurseries and in the park, especially on the weekends.
This led directly to us installing a kick wall for teenagers, something they police themselves. The park is often used until 8pm and it's safe because it is overlooked - people keep an eye on things.
The success of the park project has given us the confidence to take on new projects - small-scale, but important to us nevertheless. Our members have been planting daffodils, donated from a local farm, working with our local primary school. We have also helped to get the Lockerbie Citizens Advice centre re-opened.
What we've achieved so far
The housing partnership has always placed tenants at the heart of its governance arrangements; seven of the association's 15 board members are tenants, including the chair. Four district management committees are exclusively tenant-run; 43 tenants from across the area are actively involved. They are used mainly as a sounding board by the association, but also make decisions on distributing the £50,000 a year Community Pride Fund. This fund supports a wide range of community-led initiatives, including the Dryfe East TARA project.
The housing partnership is currently leading two of the largest housing regeneration programmes in Scotland in Stranraer and Dumfries. With funding support from the Scottish Government, it has leased a redundant factory in Stranraer, provided more than 60 construction training places and created 28 local jobs in the industry, many of them for its own tenants.
But it is still early days. Less than one per cent of the partnership's annual turnover is currently invested in these sort of initiatives; community empowerment is an aspiration, but not yet a priority.
The problems we've overcome
The housing partnership's support for our play park project was crucial - it provided us with the help and advice we needed and gave us the credibility we needed to attract funders.
The biggest problems we had were being recognised as a group that meant business, knew what it was talking about and had the support of our local community. Once we had overcome those hurdles, council support fell into place and fund-raising became easier.
Inevitably we have had to deal with questions about how representative we are and how we deal with large sums of money, but we have managed to satisfy everyone on these issues.
Robert Lowther, from Dumfries and Galloway Council, has been managing the King Edwards Park project for the past four years…
"Despite the early problems when the play equipment was removed, the council now has a good relationship with Dryfe East TARA; they are a pleasure to work with. They are nice people who are switched on and interested.
They have taken the lead and the council have responded to them. The housing partnership has been very supportive, so far. The park isn't yet finished - there is more funding to be raised."
What we've learned
In Lockerbie, we've learnt that it always takes much longer to achieve things than you think it will or should; that it pays to be persistent; that you have to take local people with you - especially young people in our case - and that raising a lot of money is not always as difficult as it may seem. We also found that visiting others to see how they do things is invaluable; it can be inspiring and give you confidence.
Running a tenants and residents association can be quite demanding - there are never enough active people to share the load, but if you stick together you can really make a big difference in your community.
What's next for us?
Angela Brydson from Dryfe East TARA knows that strengthening its role in Lockerbie is the key to its future…
"There are 2000 households in Lockerbie and we have just 30 members on our mailing list - most people still think we only represent partnership tenants. We haven't been included in community planning consultations and weren't even consulted on proposals for a 40 home development in our core area, so there is still plenty of work to be done!"
Zoe Forster, the Housing Partnership's Chief Executive, feels community empowerment is now rising up the association's agenda…
"We do not have a clear strategy for community empowerment yet; our focus has been on involvement and participation, particularly with our tenants. Governance and investment have dominated our first five years as a new association. Now we are a more stable and mature organisation, community empowerment will be a key priority for the next five years."
Want to find out more?
If you want to know more about either the Dryfe East TARA or the Housing Partnership, please contact us at:
Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership
Grierson House The Crichton Bankend Road Dumfries DG1 4ZS
Dryfe East Tenants & Residents Association
Phone: 0800 011 3447
Email