N.I.T.A.P. Background

N.I.T.A.P. was formed in 1991 through the merger of the Estate Action Project and the Tenants Participation Advisory Service. However, its origins stem from a Community Development Project in the Doury Road Estate, Ballymena which, due to its success, prompted the establishment of the Priority Estates Project; to become the Estate Action Project some years later.

1979-83 | 1983-86 | 1986-88 | 1988-90 | 1991-92 | 1993-97 | 1997-99

The Development of N.I.T.A.P. from 1979 - 1999

Since its inception N.I.T.A.P. has given priority to well resourced fieldwork in disadvantaged areas. Adopting an ethos of 'self help' it focuses on the problems of individual neighbourhoods, providing support and guidance to local community organisations. A wide range of expertise in Housing, Social, Environmental and Economic issues has been built and developed over the past 20 years and N.I.T.A.P. continues to provide a high quality service to meet the growing demand from local communities. These pages outline the history and development of N.I.T.A.P. from a single Estate Strategy in 1979 to involvement with around 600 community groups 2 decades later; identified in 7 distinct stages.

FIRST PHASE	(1979-83)	Doury Road Experience
SECOND PHASE	(1983-86)	Priority Estates Project - Experimental Projects set up in Brownlow, Craigavon and Ballymena
		Tenant Participation Advisory Service Formed
THIRD PHASE	(1986-1988)	Tenant Liason Officers Project
FOURTH PHASE	(1988-90)	E.A.P. (N.I.) Ltd., actively involved in almost 40 Housing Estates in Northern Ireland developing Strategies and other initiatives e.g. Co-op.
FIFTH PHASE	(1991-92)	Merger of E.A.P. and T.P.A.S. Evaluation of N.I.T.A.P.
SIXTH PHASE	(1993-97)	Creation of Community Advisory Group, Tenant Consultation, Consumer Panels, Community Association Handbook, Specialist Support Staff and the second N.I.T.A.P. Evaluation.
SEVENTH PHASE	1997-99	Area C.A.G., Development of P.S.E.P., Tenant Involvement Framework, Anti-Social Behaviour Framework, N.I.T.A.P. New Structure and the first Community Conference and Involvement Awards.

First Phase 1979-1983

The Doury Road Experience

The Doury Road is an estate built by the Ballymena Borough Council in the late sixties. Within 10 years, though, it had become a problem estate. However, its transformation from an estate with 120 of its 526 houses vacant in 1978 to 56 vacancies, 28 of which are under homesteading schemes by 1985 has been in no short measure due to tenants becoming actively involved in developing their community.

In 1978 the local Housing Executive District Manager asked the Tenants Association to put forward its own solution for the improvement of the Doury Road. Immediately the residents came up with numerous proposals for renovation and a survey by the University of Ulster illustrating current problems and proposals for remedy, was formulated.

Improvements

In 1980, just over two years after the Executive's District Manager invited tenants to express what improvements they would like to see, the Executive embarked upon a £1.1 million improvement scheme.

It must be recognised, therefore that without the growth of Community Development the success of the Executive's £1.1 million improvement campaign would have been limited to physical structures of house and environment. Half the battle was raising the communities level of awareness and belief in themselves and every activity created by the Community Association goes one step further in eradicating the stigma attached to the Doury Road.

Second Phase 1983 - 1986

Priority Estates Project

Arising from the success of the Waveney Community Association Project in Ballymena and working with the N.I. Housing Executive and other Bodies to improve the Doury Road Estate the Priority Estates Project was established by the N.I. Voluntary Trust in conjunction with the N.I. Housing Executive in April, 1983.

The Terms of Reference of The Project Were:-

To continue involvement in the Doury Road Project and the extension of the Project to the Ballykeel Estate.
To write up the Doury Road Experience
To assist the Executive in conjunction with local groups in identifying the underlying cause of its difficult-to-let estates and preparing a package for each estate. The immediate area for priority as far as the Executive was concerned was Brownlow, Craigavon.
To act as a resource through the N.I. Voluntary Trust to Tenant Groups throughout the Province.

The Tenant Participation Advisory Service

A N.I.C.V.A. Project

T.P.A.S. was established in 1984 as a project of the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action at the request of the Department of the Environment; the request stemming from a statutory duty placed on public landlords in the 1983 Housing Order. The first three years of T.P.A.S. work involved contact and support for some 60 tenants groups, important training, policy and information work with the N.I.H.E. and major reports on Joint Management Agreements and the Resourcing of Tenants Associations.

Back to Top

Third Phase 1986 - 1988

Tenant Liaison Officers Project

The Genesis of the T.L.O. Initiative

The T.L.O. initiative was based on experience gained from results of the Doury Road Project, Ballymena.

As a result of the relative success of the Community Development Officer (C.D.O.) in the Doury Road, the N.I.H.E. and N.I.V.T. decided that other estates in Northern Ireland should also be given the chance to benefit from similar work. Furthermore, in an effort to differentiate the kind of work undertaken by the C.D.O. in the Doury Road from that normally, the preserve of Community Workers, the Executive and N.I.V.T. adopted the name Tenant Liaison Officer.

Although funding the initiative, the N.I.V.T. and N.I.H.E. thought that T.L.O.'s should be employed by local Community Groups and Tenants' Associations. Thus in April 1986 Community Groups and Tenants' Associations were invited to apply for grants enabling them to employ a T.L.O. Proposals were submitted by various Community Organisations, which they thought would greatly improve the estates in which they lived and which would be facilitated through the work of a T.L.O.

Six Community Associations/Tenants Groups were selected on the basis of their proposals and geographical location. Each of the six T.L.O.s took up employment with their respective Community Association or Tenants Association during the period May - August, 1986.

Tenant Liaison Officer - Evaluation

Policy Research Institute (P.R.I.) undertook a Review of the Tenant Liaison Officer Initiative and the main recommendation of the Report was that the T.L.O. service should be retained but not in its present form. It suggested that a new body should be allowed to develop its own programme for meeting the objectives of the P.E.P. (E.A.P.).

Back to Top

Fourth Phase 1988 - 1990

Estate Action Project (N.I.) Ltd.

The Estate Action Project (N.I.) Ltd., (E.A.P.) was a non-profit making company which had its origin in the pilot Priority Estate Project (P.E.P.) and the Tenant Liaison Officer (T.L.O.) project which the N.I.H.E. undertook in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust (N.I.V.T.).

The N.I.H.E.'s objectives in co-promoting these initiatives was to facilitate independent support service for Tenants/Residents/Community Groups which were involved in participative arrangements with N.I.H.E. The experience of the N.I.H.E., other Statutory Bodies and Community Groups in regard to these projects was that the developmental role played by the P.E.P. Co-Ordinator and the T.L.O.s was a key element in achieving meaningful tenant involvement in estates.

It was in this context that N.I.H.E. agreed to finance the Estate Action Project (N.I.) Ltd.

Future Role: Tenant Participation

It was considered that the emphasis on tenant participation would intensify over the next decade. The Government, while confirming that it did not intend, at that stage, to legislate for Tenants' Right to Transfer, had nevertheless indicated that it expected the Executive to apply the philosophy of the Tenant's Choice Scheme by means of interaction, facilitating a greater involvement of tenants in housing. In this context the need for support services for Tenants Groups would increase.

Fifth Phase 1991 - 1992

The N.I. Tenants Action Project

The N.I. Tenants Action Project came into existence in July 1991 as a result of the merger of two existing bodies.

- the Estate Action Project (N.I.) Ltd., based in Ballymena.

- the Tenants Participation Advisory Service based in N.I.C.V.A. - Belfast.

N.I.T.A.P. is based in Ballymena, Co. Antrim. It was managed by an interim committee comprising equal representation from D.O.E., N.I.H.E., N.I.F.H.A. and N.I.C.V.A., prior formal establishment of a Company Limited by guarantee with Charitable Status, legally known as Northern Ireland Tenants Action Project.

Aims

N.I.T.A.P. seeks to promote the participation of communities, particularly in estates and neighbourhoods, in the management of their homes and of the adjoining physical and social environment in partnership with relevant Statutory and Voluntary Agencies.

Objectives

The broad objective which follows from these purposes and aims is to promote and facilitate community and tenant participation through activities embracing;

- development work, advice, information, policy issues, training and administration.

Back to Top

Sixth Phase 1993 - 1997

Community Involvement & N.I.T.A.P.

Implementation: Evaluation 1993

After examination of the suggestions offered by the Evaluators it was agreed to implement a number of changes to the structure of N.I.T.A.P. with the introduction of 2 Senior Liaison Officers to replace the Deputy Director's post. Findings from the evaluation also led to the introduction of Group Contracts and Annual Evaluations, both put in place to help set and maintain fieldwork targets between the groups and N.I.T.A.P.

New Staff Structure 1993

Key Areas of Work

Community Association Handbook Launched 1994

The Community Association Handbook, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, was launched in October 1994. The Handbook which contained information needed to establish and maintain a Community/Tenants Association also included details of the structure and processes of N.I.H.E. to ensure that communities fully understand the Executive's role in community development.

Tenant Consultation in Planned Schemes

The document "Tenant Consultation Standards in Planned Schemes" was launched in 1997. The 'Working Group' made up of representatives from N.I.H.E., N.I.T.A.P. and C.A.G. designed a programme that for the first time ensured a meaningful role for the community in the way their estates are managed.

Specialist Support Staff

As the workload and experience of N.I.T.A.P. grew so did the need for more specialised staff in the areas of:-

Funding, to identify new funding opportunities for groups;
Training, that would offer free and flexible courses in response to the needs of groups;
Information/Policy, that would provide relevant information to help groups respond to policies that effect local communities
Administration, back up.

By 1996 4 new posts were created through funding from Physical and Social Environment Programme to act as specialist staff for the efficiency of N.I.T.A.P.'s work as was identified in the 1993 evaluation. The new posts of Funding, Training, Information/Policy Officers and an Administrator were established.

1997 Evaluation

As part of N.I.T.A.P.'s ongoing development and in line with government policy the organisation undertook a further evaluation in 1997.

Back to Top

Seventh Phase 1997 - 1999

N.I.T.A.P. Into The Millennium

Implementation: Evaluation 1997

The findings of the evaluation led to a few changes in N.I.T.A.P., the most notable being in the staff structure (Fig 1), the setting up of an Annual Self Sufficiency Evaluation system and the introduction of an Assessment Criteria for new groups, all these measures were designed to improve the efficiency of services provided. The evaluation also led to the rewriting of N.I.T.A.P.'s Mission Statement.(below)

Mission Statement

"N.I. Tenants Action Project as an independent body aims to increase the awareness of residents as to their rights and responsiblities in order to facilitate their effective participation in addressing their communities housing related needs."

C.A.G. Elections

The re-elections of C.A.G. in 1997 at 6 Regional Conferences was also marked with the adoption of a new Mission Statement.

C.A.G. MISSION STATEMENT 1997

"The Central Community Advisory Group aims to promote the development and involvement of communities in the formation of Housing Policies and Procedures as well as identify and promote best practice across the province in partnership with N.I.T.A.P./N.I.H.E."

The new members of C.A.G. were the first to be elected through the newly established Community Involvement Framework. The new Framework ensures maximum involvement from community groups in the selection of their representatives to act on their behalf on issues relating to community development with both N.I.T.A.P. and N.I.H.E.

Anti-Social Behaviour/Crime Watch Scheme

N.I.T.A.P. along with Fermanagh District N.I.H.E. were instrumental in the initiation, in April '98, of an innovative approach to tackling anti-social behaviour in the Fermanagh area. The initiative was built on the Community Crime Watch schemes N.I.T.A.P. had been involved with in Bangor, Lisburn and Ballymena. This inter-agency approach was the outcome of a seminar held by Fermanagh Consumer Panel and N.I.T.A.P. to explore the topic of anti-social behaviour and what structure could be put in place to ensure effective and confidential reporting and monitoring of incidents of anti-social behaviour. The seminar which was attended by representatives from N.I.H.E., Fermanagh District Council, Social Services, R.U.C., Probation Board and N.I.T.A.P. led to the Scheme co-ordinated by N.I.T.A.P. being established. The scheme consists of an Implementation Team meeting fortnightly to ensure a constant flow of information between all relevant bodies. The scheme also encourages all bona fide Community Groups to become involved through liaison with the relevant agencies.

Re-launch of the Community Association Handbook

The first Community Association Handbook was launched in 1994, it took 4 years hard work for the second and new improved version to be launched in May 1998.

Community Conference and Involvement Awards

The first Community Conference and Involvement Awards for Northern Ireland jointly organised by N.I.T.A.P., C.A.G. and N.I.H.E. took place in September 1998.

The Awards were in 4 categories with a winner for each N.I.H.E. Area and one overall winner. The 4 categories were:

District Consumer Panels	NIHE Staff
Community Group	Individual

The awards and conference were hailed as a great success for the sharing of ideas and the promotion of best practice and have now become an annual event.