A NEW scrutiny group has been set up to give Barnet residents more power to influence on housing in the borough.

Barnet Homes is setting up the Performance Advisory Group of eight residents, all selected after a formal process, in a bid to hold the company accountable to the people it serves.

Among their responsibilities will be deciding what areas the organisation needs to improve in and setting priorities for them to focus on.

Derek Rust, Barnet Homes’ deputy chief executive, said: “We believe the best way to find out how you can improve your services is to ask the very people who receive them. We want to place residents right at the heart of all we do.

“We’re very proud that both the Chair and Vice Chair of our Board are both Barnet Homes residents.

“The creation of our Performance Advisory Group is another step towards becoming even more accountable to the people we serve.”

Membership of the group will be restricted to two years and they will report directly to the board of Barnet Homes.