(from a UK Local Authority perspective.) Useful People & Organisations to contact. Councillors: The UK is split up into wards and each ward has three councillors. Councillors are the elected representatives of local people for local government. Most councillors do Advice sesssions. For information about your local councillors contact your local council. Their number will be in the local phone book. Councillors will be able to offer you lots of help - and introduce you to other people and groups in your local area. Community Police Officers: In Manchester each area has a Community Beat Officer. Your local police station will be able to help you contact your Beat Officer if you have one. Your local police station will also be able to inform you of the Local Police Consultative group and where to get further information on this. In Manchester, Ardwick, the Police Consultative Committee Group meets monthly at various locations within the area. There is a mailing list to join to keep informed of where the meetings are and to recieve minutes. The Local beat officer is able to get crime prevention information, and UV marker pens. Tenant Participation team: If you're serious about starting up a tenants and residents group - and not just dealing with occaisional problems as a community then you'll need to contact your Tenant Participation Team. In Manchester the TP unit is based in the town hall and give plenty of advice on starting up a new group. Other groups, organisations and partnerships: Depending where you live there will be a whole raft of different organisations able and willing to help you. In Ardwick, Manchester, there is the Stockport Road Corridor Partnership. This acts as co-ordinator for many other groups, and sources of regeneration funding. In Manchester there is also Voluntary Action Manchester which is very useful to help in providing information and funding advice. Internet: www.vamanchester.org.uk There are also forums set up in other local regeneration areas. These should be contacted as they will be a useful source of friendly faces, experience, advice and help. Trafford Hall - home of the National Tenants Resource Centre Ince Lane Wimbolds Trafford Chester CH2 4JP Tel: 01244 300246 Fax 01244 300818 www.traffordhall.co.uk Shell Better Britain Campaign: king Edward House 135a New Street Birmingham B2 4QJ email info@sbbc.co.uk www www.sbbc.co.uk A huge range of leaflets and Information sheets. They also have their own funding scheme for environmental projects.

Hint: Keep every address, phone number, email address and business card your group ever gets given. Sort them by name of contact person and name of organisation. Find out about all local tenants groups and contact them. Experience is priceless and should be shared. Your local Councillors are often the best people to contact for help in finding other groups.