What you need

These resources guide you through the steps to plan, agree and run your Local Management Agreement.

Testing Support

A Local Management Agreement will only work if most of the people who live in an area actively support it. So, before you get into the detailed planning to set up an agreement, you need to test local support for the idea.

You can do this either before the Council’s formal consultation (to decide whether it’s worth pursuing the idea of a Local Management Agreement) or at the same time. See ‘Landlord consultation’

How to do it
There are lots of different ways of gathering views and feedback from local residents. The key is to offer a variety of methods to suit people’s circumstances, and use the mix of methods that is most likely to get a response. Possible methods include:

Meetings An old technique, but still a good way to get people together and air their views. You may need to offer people an incentive to come to a meeting, or ask someone independent to set up and run it.

Letters Another traditional method, but a good way of making sure everyone gets the same message at the same time. Include a feedback sheet for people to respond, and a pre-paid envelope if you can (or offer to collect their forms). You can adapt the letter the Council uses. See 'Consultation letter'

Surveys and questionnaires Useful for getting to people who can’t or won’t come to meetings. You can do surveys by post, over the phone, by email/Internet or door-to-door. They can be very time-consuming and expensive though. See below for suggested questions.

Suggestion boxes/walls Instead of asking prepared questions, you can give people freedom to make suggestions and express their own ideas. A simple box with slips of paper or a blank wall and postcards/Post-its can generate lots of useful ideas – particularly if it’s combined with a meeting or focus group. This also allows people to give their views more anonymously.

Using technology Depending on what resources you’ve got, you may be able to use telephone conferencing, mobile phone text messaging or Internet chat sessions to get people’s views.

What else to ask
Don’t just think about residents – there may be other people you should tell and ask about the proposed Local Management Agreement. See ‘Getting started’.

What to ask
Whatever methods you use, you’re basically after the same kind of information:

• How satisfied are you with the Council’s (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service in the area at the moment?
Very satisfied satisfied neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
dissatisfied very dissatisfied

• What do you like most about the way the Council provides the (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service in the area at the moment?

• What do you like least about the way the Council provides the (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service in the area at the moment?

• What would you most like to change about the (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service in the area?

• Have you heard about the proposal to set up a Local Management Agreement for residents to take over the (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service?
Yes No Don’t know

• Could anyone in your household take an active part in delivering the (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service?
Yes No Don’t know

• If so, who is this, and what could they do?

• Do you know of any reliable contractors or suppliers who might be able to provide the (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service? If so, please give their name and contact details.

• Are you in favour of forming a special body to take responsibility for the Local Management Agreement, with residents acting as trustees?
Yes No Don’t know

• Do you have any other ideas or suggestions on how to improve the (gardening, cleaning, caretaking etc) service in the area?
If so please say what.

The answers to these questions will help you work out how you want to provide the service and run the Local Management Agreement. See ‘Getting started’, ‘Why do it’, ‘Outline plan’ and ‘Detailed plan’