THE New Year could herald a fresh start for the residents of one North Swindon community.

Redhouse is among the newer areas of the town which has been built as part of the northern expansion.

Many talk about the broken promises of developers with regards to the village centre and numerous parking issues on the narrow roads when speaking of the area.

However, the chairman of the Redhouse Resi-dents’ Association feels the time has come to take a proactive approach in building up a sense of community.

Terry Custance, 53, believes that if the group spends its time focusing on the negatives then nothing will be achieved.

He said: “If everyone simply complains about everything, things will not change.

“I want there to be a greater focus on the positives in Redhouse as a way of building up a community feel.

“We accept that not everything is perfect and if there is something which needs to be fought against then we will do so but I don’t want us simply to be an organisation which fights everything.

“We have to make the most of what is here.

“In the next year we will be holding far more events which will be a chance for everyone to meet their neighbours.”

Terry has been in charge of the association for more than a year but initially there was a shortage of volunteers.

However, in recent months a number of people have come forward and more than 35 people attended last month’s meeting and many local businesses donated prizes at a raffle.

“I was pleased with the attendance and all the feedback I’ve had from people has been positive,” said Terry.

“That is what I want to take forward into 2014. The more who get involved then the easier it will be to put on events.”

Terry was inspired to get involved with the association having seen the lack of togetherness compared to where he used to live in Oxfordshire.

He said: “Because everyone has moved here, and I would say about 50 per cent have come from outside Swindon there is not that natural connection between people.

“If we can build those links I am sure there is a lot of things people can offer.

“It doesn’t have to be anything major, simply saying hello in the street can make a difference.”