Carlisle Tenants` and
Residents`Federation
Chairman Tony Clifford Vice Chairman Denise Moses
Secretary John Barker
Residents`Federation
Chairman Tony Clifford Vice Chairman Denise Moses
Secretary John Barker
Loss of
treasurer Kenny Simpson is a massive blow
Report for the year 2019/20 to be presented by the
Chairman
at the annual meeting
The Federation has had another very successful year with regular
monthly meetings and committee meetings held in Eastern Way Fire Station
and at the home of our vice-chairman. All our meetings have been stimulating
and enjoyable and have attracted people from other groups in the city.
The
following are the highlights of the year:
Death of
Kenny Simpson: For the
Federation,the biggest event of the year was the death of our long-time and
highly-valued treasurer Kenny Simpson, a friend to
all .And the death shortly afterwards of his friend and fellow Federation member Steven Hall.
all .And the death shortly afterwards of his friend and fellow Federation member Steven Hall.
Kenny(pictured below) who was 74 died in the Cumberland Infirmary,Carlisle. Steven who was in his fifties died in his sleep at home two days later.
Since
Kenny`s death tributes have been paid by community transport
colleagues- up to recently Kenny spent
several days a week as a volunteer driver for community buses. In the early
days of computers he led the way in giving away dozens of second-hand computers
to needy local people .
Tributes
have also been paid to his other community work- he won awards for
environmental work clearing the nearby River Petteril.
Then, twenty years ago, he went on to help Carlisle
City Council to form a registered local
charity, Carlisle South Community Association.
Carlisle
South Community Association: The Federation continues
to be actively involved in the work of
Carlisle South Community Association which does excellent work supporting
communities, particularly in tackling dog fouling and improving the facilities in Dale End Park at Petteril
Bank. A group, Friends of Dale End Park
was formed by the association which is now planning further improvements to the
park, particularly the provision of a
BMX Track. The association continues to have the active help and co-operation
of the
city council Green Spaces and of the county council..
The Addison Act: The
Federation joined the celebrations during the year to mark the 100th
anniversary of the Addison Act, a piece of legislation that gave the go ahead to council housing
which has transformed every town and city in the country.
Nowhere was that transformation greater than in
Carlisle.The city, proportionate to its size, led Britain in the provision of
council houses in the years between the two world wars
Riverside “abandons” the city: The Federation protested at Riverside`s closure of its Carlisle office.
Councillor Gareth Ellis told the city council
the closure was a “a sad deterioration”
of service to Carlisle tenants
and leaseholders.“It does feel like
Riverside are just abandoning the city. This organisation has 7,000 to 8,500
tenants in the city.
Leading the way is Denton
Holme and Morton South councillor Ruth Alcroft . She is working with her
Denton Holme councillor colleague, Lisa Brown.
Stinging attack: The Federation supported the stinging attack against the housing organisation behind the fat -cat salary row at Workington.Mr Adrian Waite a former Workington housing boss warns of the dangers of a new agreement for tenants in the town which is planned by Riverside Housing Association
Housing organisations and tenants in
other parts of the country should take note, says Mr Waite who is head of
Appleby-based AWICS,
a management consultancy and training company.
The warning comes a year after Riverside took over the much smaller Impact
Housing Association which is based in Workington and has 2,770 homes. Mr Waite was chairman of Impact for
four years prior to the takeover which he criticised at the time.
Salary protest:The
Federation joined critics of a massive
salary increase for Ms Carol Matthews, Chief Eexecutive of Riverside Thetwenty per cent rise rise to £234,563 will take a lot of
explaining say critics.
Carlisle
South Community Association: The Federation continues
to be actively involved in the work of
Carlisle South Community Association which does excellent work supporting
communities, particularly in tackling dog fouling and improving the facilities in Dale End Park at Petteril
Bank. A group, Friends of Dale End Park
was formed by the association which is now planning further improvements to the
park, particularly the provision of a
BMX Track. The association continues to have the active help and co-operation
of the
city council Green Spaces and of the county council..
Links
with other campaigning organisations : The
Federation has continued to strengthen working links with the North West
Tenants` and Residents` Assembly .It also strengthened links with Mr David
Young a former Federation Secretary who now lives in Scotland. Mr Young and Mr
Jimmy Devlin, Chairman of the Assembly are thanked for their contributions to
the blog.
City
Council and questions for Riverside: The Federation has continued to hold
Riverside Housing Association to account through meetings with city councillors and officials. Riverside is
the city`s biggest landlord with 6,000
homes The council` s relationship with Riverside continues to be no longer
passive and tame but is now very pro-active and critical when necessary.
Longtown Action for Heat: Much of the Federation work during the year has involved much active help for the
very unfortunate tenants of Riverside who live in Longtown.
An estimated sixty of them, together with others at
Crosby- on- Eden were victims of appalling Riverside mismanagement following
the installation in their homes of dodgy heating systems which are so expensive
to run the tenants cannot afford to use them.
Some of the affected properties now have new tenants on short term tenancies and many have been vacated and are still not let. Riverside faces an uphill battle in letting these properties and has been offering extra incentives to prospective tenants but with little success. Longtown Action for Heat, led by Jimmy Robb and backed by the Federation are tackling this problem together with problems arising from undesirable tenants being moved into the town by Riverside.
Some of the affected properties now have new tenants on short term tenancies and many have been vacated and are still not let. Riverside faces an uphill battle in letting these properties and has been offering extra incentives to prospective tenants but with little success. Longtown Action for Heat, led by Jimmy Robb and backed by the Federation are tackling this problem together with problems arising from undesirable tenants being moved into the town by Riverside.
Federation blog: Most of
the issues raised in this report have been previously covered by the Federation
blog. The blog`s viewing figures have risen consistently since the blog
started in March 2013. The blog is increasingly seen as a very
useful Federation publicity and information tool.
The blog is
named Community Voice Carlisle.The link
is:http://carlisleruraltenantsfederation.blogspot.co.uk/
Thanks to
everyone: I wish to thank everyone who have helped the Federation during the year
and thank all who have attended our meetings and contributed to our many
interesting discussions and debates.Patricular thanks to Denise Moses our
vice-chairman for allowing her home to be used for meetings.
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