IRAQ CRISIS MISSION AND LONGTOWN CRISIS MISSION

RORY  MP TACKLES 

TROUBLE SPOTS

  HOME AND AWAY

RORY STEWART in Iraq ... crisis zone report for fellow M.P.s

Rory Stewart yet again is at the centre of one of the world`s trouble spots with an important part to play.  Back home  among his Penrith and the Border constituents, the fight  rages at another trouble spot.  

And  there also, his influence is playing a big part.

Mr Stewart  is in the Iraq crisis zone on a fact-finding mission.  He broke off a holiday in America  to make the trip and will report to fellow MPs, also  in his role as chairman of the powerful Commons Defence Select Committee.

Here in his constituency, his role a local M.P. is proving no less powerful in the long-running Longtown heating row.

Mr Stewart is a former Black Watch officer and a former  government administrator.  In recent years he has had other important roles at the heart of  previous conflicts in Iraq and also in Afghanistan.

In Longtown his role over many months as M.P.has been actively  supporting distressed tenants in their battle with the giant  landlord organisation, Riverside Housing  Association.

As the Western  world rallies  against the Iraq extremists, the people of Longtown are  also rallying to help the estimated sixty distressed tenants  in the town who  for two years have not been able to  afford to heat their homes because they are victims of botched Riverside solar panel heating installations  in their homes.

The tenants have formed their own group, Longtown Action for Heat  and this week at  the  group`s well-supported third monthly meeting  there were new revelations of distress.

One tenant reported 43 breakdowns in two years in her heating system.Another tenant said she had been unable to turn her heating off  for two days  despite colossal energy bills of £190 a month.

The meeting heard messages of continued support from Mr Stewart who also cast doubt on the value of yet another report by Riverside about the situation.

Mr Stewart`s support  is crucial because no one else can help. Efforts to help by the three Longtown councillors have come to nothing .

The tenants have now come to realise that  councillors have no power  to influence Riverside, which is one of the largest housing organisations in the country owning 50,000 homes.

Liverpool-based Riverside is also a big property developer,  getting an increasing profit year by year.

Mr Stewart says he wants  to know what Riverside plans to do to put an end to  all the Longtown heating problems.

As he says “without further delay.”

Just in case Riverside do nothing, Longtown Action for Heat has other plans. One is an approach for help to the Bishop of Carlisle.

Another is  a return of the 6.500 Riverside houses to ownership by Carlisle City Council through a claw-back clause said to have been included  in the  Riverside takeover agreement eleven years ago.

At  about that time, another agreement, an international agreement, led to Mr Stewart`s first visit to Iraq.

It was the  agreement by  the Americans and British to invade Iraq.

And that also led to the present crisis and his visit now.


Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation. Information about the Federation is on the first post of this blog, dated March 25 2012.