Hawthorn Fields (also known as Sandwell PFI) is a twenty-five year partnership between Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and Riverside, to deliver housing management, repairs and community services to the residents of the Harvills Hawthorn and Millfields estates in Sandwell.

PFIs (Private Finance Initiatives) are agreements that allow public services to use the finance and expertise of the private sector or, in the case of Riverside, a specialist provider, to deliver specific services under a contractual arrangement.

Tenants within the PFI are tenants of Sandwell MBC rather than Riverside and due to the contract between the two organisations the services offered by Riverside on the PFI area are slightly different to those offered by Riverside elsewhere in the UK. Because of this, Sandwell tenants have a separate customer service centre number (0345 111 0022) and the PFI team work to separate procedures. If you are a PFI tenant in Sandwell you may find it helpful to get in touch with your local team at Hawthorn Fields Neighbourhood Office to understand more about how the PFI affects you.

Hawthorn Fields Neighbourhood Office, St Vincent Crescent, West Bromwich B70 0LG

Report a repair: Report directly to the customer service centre on 0345 111 0022, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Report fly tipping: Please report online to Sandwell MBC via the My Sandwell portal.

Contact my Housing Officers: Visit the Hawthorn Fields Neighbourhood Office or contact the customer service centre on 0345 111 0022.

Pay my rent/service charge: The most important thing is ensuring that your rent/service charge is paid and therefore do not get into arrears. So we recommend that the first thing you do is call or visit our Riverside Neighbourhood Office to set up a new payment option. The quickest and easiest way to pay is via Direct Debit. If we need to change the amount we are collecting, we will give you 10 working days’ notice. It comes with the guarantee that if we make a mistake, we will refund the payment immediately to your bank. It’s easy to set up, just give us a call and leave the rest to us. You no longer need to remember to make the payment, it happens automatically giving you peace of mind.

There are also alternative methods that you can pay your rent/service charge as listed below:

• Visit our Riverside Neighbourhood Office and pay at the reception desk using your Allpay Card payment reference or at any Paypoint or Post Office.
• Register on My Riverside using your Allpay Card payment reference.
• Contact our Riverside Customer Service Centre on 0345 111 0022 and using your Allpay Card payment reference.
• Contact the automated Payment telephone line on 0844 557 8321 and using your Allpay Card payment reference.

Housing: Find out about an allocation, banding decision or property application. All allocations, homeless applications and bids are managed directly by Sandwell Council and not by Riverside. Please contact Sandwell Council on 0121 569 6000 or please visit the website here, for further information or to register for Housing within the Borough of Sandwell.

Report anti social behaviour: Report it directly to the customer service centre on 0345 111 0022, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The details will be passed to your Housing Officers, Belinda Morton and Sarah Turner, to follow up who will contact you directly. Please remember to ring 101 (Police non-emergency number) and report it directly to the Police too, and always ring 999 if it’s an emergency.

Request aids and adaptations: If you require any aids and adaptations to help you live in your property independently, contact Denise Heginbotham via the customer service centre on 0345 111 0022 to find out about your options.

Apply for Right to Buy: Visit the Hawthorn Fields Neighbourhood Office or contact the customer service centre on 0345 111 0022 to request a Right to Buy application form.

Get involved in my community: Your community needs you! We are always looking for public-spirited individuals to help us improve our services in a way that benefits your community. Please get in touch with Denise Heginbotham via the Customer Services Centre on 0345 111 0022 to find out about all the ways you can make a difference in your area, including access to funding for community projects and upcoming local events.

Make a complaint, compliment or suggestion: Make any comments to the customer service centre on 0345 111 0022, or in person at the Hawthorn Fields Neighbourhood Office. If you would like to email your comment, contact [email protected]. If your comment relates to a member of staff, please look in our “Meet the Team” section to find their line manager’s contact details.

Community Bungalow: We currently have many events taking place at the Myra Harris Community Room, including Warm Hub Coffee Morning on Tuesday 10am-12pm, Family Therapy on Wednesday, Bingo on Thursday 12pm-2pm and Helping Hands (ADHD) on Friday. Lots more to come in 2025 including Helping to Stop Smoking and Chair Yoga. If you would like more information or wish to set up your own group, please contact Denise Heginbotham on 0345 111 0022 or via email at [email protected]

Sharon Deol: Operations Manager

Sharon oversees the delivery of our contracts in Sandwell and Cosford. Contact Sharon by email to [email protected]

Pritesh Dumasia: Neighbourhood Supervisor

Pritesh supervises the Housing Management team and is ultimately responsible for ensuring tenants get access to the housing services they need. Pritesh is supported by Pinkie Kumari (Income Management Assistant), Jagwant Singh Badesha (Income Collection Assistant), Belinda Morton (Housing Officer), Sarah Turner (Housing Officer) and Denise Heginbotham (Community Engagement Officer). Contact Pritesh by email to [email protected].

Lakhy Ralh: PFI Project Supervisor

Lakhy leads the Project team, including all performance monitoring and reporting, such as administrative functions. Improvement and change programmes affecting all four contracts are also delivered by the Projects Team. Lakhy is supported by Kellie Smith (Customer Service Assistant) and Yasmeen Muhammad (Customer Service Assistant/Lettings). Contact Lakhy by email on [email protected].

Mohammed Bhamji: Contracts Manager, Asset Strategy and Delivery

Mohammed manages the Assets Delivery Team, including the overall performance of our Contractors working on the PFI properties. His team is responsible for the effective delivery of Responsive Repairs, Grounds Maintenance, Caretaking Services, Voids, Compliance, Programmed and Cyclical works.

Mohammed is supported by Terence Beard (Asset Officer), Jonathan Hogan (Continuous Improvement Manager, Planned and Cyclical Works) , Luke Morton (Trainee Asset Officer, Delivery and Performance) and Sarah Perry (Property Services Administrator). Also, within his team we have our Caretakers Stephen Gorton, Lawrence Young, and Alex Monk.

To get in touch with the Assets Team you can email [email protected].

Resident Conference: We will be confirming our next Resident Conference soon.

All residents are welcome to attend to learn more about our activities, add your comments and feedback on our services, and speak directly to the teams delivering services to you. Please come along! Contact Denise Heginbotham via the Customer Services Centre on 0345 111 0022 for more details.

Residents Surgery: We want to invite all our tenants, residents and neighbours to our Resident’s Surgeries on the below dates:

Wednesday 22nd January 2025
Gough Arms, Jowetts Lane,
West Bromwich, B71 2QR
12pm – 1pm

Wednesday 5th February 2025
Myra Harris Community Room,
Brickhouse Lane, B70 0DZ
2pm – 3pm

Estate Walkabouts: Walkabouts are held every month on both the Millfields and Harvills Hawthorn estates, to give residents the opportunity to advise their Housing Officers Belinda Morton and Sarah Turner of estate issues and point out particular problem areas. These walkabouts are vital to help us understand the concerns of local residents and to address them, so get in touch if you would like to help improve your neighbourhood. You are welcome to join them both and can find the dates of the walkabouts here.

Wellbeing Walks: Every month you can join your community engagement officer Denise Ann Heginbotham and other members of the Riverside team on our wellbeing walks around the estate – it’s a chance to get a bit of exercise and they are a great opportunity to get to know your local team better and meet other residents.

Wellbeing Walks take place every month at 10:00 am on the below dates. So please come and join us.

Harvills Hawthorn Estate (starting from the Riverside Neighbourhood Office)

• Wednesday 8th January 2025
• Wednesday 5th February 2025
• Wednesday 5th March 2025
• Wednesday 9th April 2025

Millfields Estate (starting from the Cottage Spring)

• Wednesday 22nd January 2025
• Wednesday 12th February 2025
• Wednesday 19th March 2025
• Wednesday 23rd April 2025

Your Neighbourhood Reps work as volunteers on your behalf to help improve the services in your community. They check we’re doing what they say we will! More than that, they also give us your feedback, help you resolve any complaints or enquiries with us, and bid for funding for community events and projects. If you would like to know who your local Reps are and how you can contact them, please contact Denise Heginbotham via the Customer Services Centre on 0345 111 0022 for more details.