Environmental charity gives Wheatley five-star rating for its communities

Dumfries and Galloway’s largest social landlord has received top marks in a report from a leading environmental charity.

Wheatley Homes communities across the region were assessed by Keep Scotland Beautiful, the national environmental charity helping create cleaner and greener local environments.

Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) joined Wheatley Homes staff and tenants to assess neighbourhoods in March, inspecting back courts and open spaces as well as foyers and stairwells.

As part of the assessment, KSB staff inspected homes across Annan, Dumfries, Kirkconnel, Kirkcudbright, Lockerbie, Newton Stewart, Stranraer and Thornhill.

Wheatley Homes has now been awarded five stars – the highest grade possible – and a score of 83.4%, an increase of 2.2% on the previous report.

Alex Lamb, Managing Director of Wheatley Homes South, added: “We want our communities to be places people are proud to live in and this award from Keep Scotland Beautiful is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of our environmental staff.

“They work hard to make sure our neighbourhoods always look their best for our customers.”

The report highlighted the impact made by Wheatley’s Neighbourhood Environmental Teams (NETs) in creating clean and green communities, saying: “These properties have set a high standard across Wheatley Homes South, an achievement which is testament to the dedication, work, and effort applied on a consistent basis by the NETs.”

Wheatley Group, Scotland’s leading housing, care and property-management group, teamed up with Keep Scotland Beautiful in 2016 to help improve neighbourhoods. The partnership was extended to Wheatley Homes South in 2021.

Paul Wallace, Head of Operations with Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “I’d like to congratulate Wheatley Homes for achieving such high standards in our recent assessment.  We were so impressed to see excellent commitment and pride of all the staff and tenants involved who are working hard to improve and make their communities better.

“Our assessors spent two days with Wheatley staff and clearly saw their commitment to delivering a wide range of work. The properties and surrounding areas assessed were free from litter, really highlighting the support being provided to tenants to ensure they live in clean, green communities.”

It was previously reported that more than 1330 tonnes of waste were lifted, including over 450 mattresses and almost 200 televisions, from streets across Dumfries and Galloway by Wheatley Homes NETs staff in 2024.

Wheatley’s NETs have trained 27 Wheatley Homes customers, in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful, to assess green spaces and identify any areas where improvement can be made.

Monday, July 14, 2025