SHOULD TENANTS HAVE A VOICE OR ARE THEY JUST CUSTOMERS?

Riverside boss

struggles as

councillors

probe

It was just like the election ding-dong that is filling the airwaves at the moment.There was a lot of “ding”. But in this case, the “dong” was a bit flat.

The “ding” was from  Carlisle city councillors shooting questions about a Riverside Housing Association`s  six-month  summary of its work in the area.

The “ dong” came from what the local Riverside boss, Mr Dean Butterworth said in answer to those questions

The  councillors`“ding” was loud and clear ... Carlisle councillors have recently found a new spring in their step  in facing up to Riverside.The “dong” was barely audible as Mr Butterworth and  a colleague struggled with answers.

Question master....Chairman Rob Burns

The first “ding” came seconds after proceedings got underway at the meeting, the council`s Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel on April 9.

Chairman Rob Burns interrupted to ask about “the BRE report” which was included in the summary. Councillor Burns wanted to know what the initials, BRE stood for.  Mr Butterworth did not know, nor did his colleague.

This  lack of knowledge was a surprise because Riverside itself had commissioned the  fairly-lengthy BRE report and Mr Butterworth himself recently held a public meeting with  Riverside`s Longtown tenants to go through the report  and explain it. Mr Butterworth is Riverside`s Carlisle regional director.

A second “ding” came shortly afterwards when Mr Jim  Heywood, Mr Butterworth`s colleague at the meeting,  made a presentation. Mr Heywood is Chairman of Riverside`s Tenant Scrutiny Panel.

The Panel  is composed of tenants representing most areas, said Mr Heywood`s report .The Panel`s job is to  “scrutinise customer satisfaction”.

Then came a surprise admission. Mr Heywood said that apart from the tenant members of the Panel, Riverside also has members.

 Riverside`s

Jim Heywood

But, insisted Mr Heywood, the Panel was independent of Riverside.

At this, Chairman Councillor Burns commented: “It doesn`t sound very independent when members of the organisation are also members of the Scrutiny Panel.”

But Mr Heywood would have none of this. He again insisted that the Panel was independent of Riverside.

Independent or not, Councillor Burns has  a lot of experience of these  matters going back to the  years prior to 2002 when the Liverpool Riverside organisation took over the city`s council houses.

Councillor Burns was a respected and popular employee of  the city council in charge of strengthening democratic community  groups. Nothing to do with   the ridiculous “scrutinising customer satisfaction.”

Councilor Burns is now retired but no doubt will remember the slaughter of those democratic community groups by Riverside  immediately it took over. It was in order to strengthen Riverside`s grip on the city.

Following that slaughter, Carlisle now has the ridiculous Tenant Scrutiny Panel which no doubt is composed of  yes-men tenants and Riverside`s  yes-men employees.

Yet somehow, according to Mr Heywood, the Panel remains independent.

As for the mysterious BRE initials. It was no surprise that Riverside produced a baffling report which people could not understand.

It happened previously under Mr Butterworth`s predecessor, Mr Patrick Leonard. Mr Leonard`s report was incomprehensible and  riddled with gobbledegook.

Hopefully, Mr Butterworth will by now have discovered that BRE stands for the prestigious Building Research Establishment which has been  carrying out research, consultancy and testing for nearly 100 years...it was formed in 1921.During World War Two BRE played a big part in developing the Dambusters` bouncing bomb.

Sadly, the BRE report has not convinced Longtown tenants  that Riverside cares about their plight.

Councillor Michael Gee put the tenants` position clearly when he  said this  to Mr Butterworth: “Longtown does not believe what Riverside says."