CATHEDRAL GROUP ACTS TO SUPPORT THE VULNERABLE

Why was

Riverside

`let off

the hook?`

Community supporters came together today in the shadow of Carlisle`s  10th century cathedral to help the city`s elderly and vulnerable to keep alive the vital telephone support system they depend on.

The get-together was the latest in a growing protest about the threat to end the Careline telephone support system  by the Liverpool-based Riverside Housing Associaiton which has run the system for the last 15 years.

Canon Michael Manley

Twelve hundred elderly and vulnerable now depend on Careline for support in their homes. Careline is now in crisis.

Councillors and many others have strongly condemned the Riverside decision and the city Labour Party is running a Careline support petition. 

The Cathedral get-together was held in the Cathedral Close and was organised by Cumbria Riverside Action Group activists, led by the chairman, Canon Michael Manley, the Carlisle Rural Dean and  Cathedral Missioner.

Afterwards the action group contacted the city council  leader Councillor Colin Glover with questions about the Careline crisis.

Here are the questions:

  
This group is perplexed why Riverside , who runs the vital service Careline, (which has always been self-funding); has suddenly started to demand an increase from its clients way above inflation, and then when its clients have responded negatively, has announced the closing of the service.

2.      This group asks Carlisle City Council how Riverside has been allowed to renege on the believed 15 year agreement it accepted , to maintain the provision of sheltered accommodation and the Careline service : which is not due to end until December 2017.

3.      If this original agreement has in fact been amended, would the Council please publish the date it came before councillors and the new terms accepted.

4.      This group wholeheartedly supports the retention of Careline  and the vital service that it provides to so many people.

 Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803.