AN initiative to give tenants and residents a bigger say in what happens to their homes has been introduced by Wear Valley District Council.

The council has invited two tenants and residents' representatives to join its housing committee.

The invitation to join was sent to Wear Valley's Customer Panel, following an inspector's report of the service.

Council leader Olive Brown said: "We are genuine about this. We really are listening to and working with our customers."

The customer panel representatives will be involved in helping the committee set policy and decide spending priorities. At the same time, a group of customers, councillors and council staff will work together to set up a formal agreement on joint working.