THREE YEAR OLD HOSPITALISED 7 TIMES

 

Riverside failures  lead to prolonged

illness

 The giant Riverside Housing Association has come in for criticism after a three-year-old child living in damp and mould in one of its homes was hospitalised for the seventh  time.

Ian Gregg, executive director of asset services at Riverside, said they initially believed previous work done on the child’s home in Middleton, Greater Manchester, had addressed concerns, but a further inspection following the child’s ill health found that this was not the case. 

Damp and mould....effects are very visible

  He said: “Unfortunately this inspection has highlighted the need for further action to tackle damp and ventilation problems within the property, and we are in the process of preparing a schedule of works.”

Riverside had previously moved the family into a hotel to carry out repair work on the home.

Liverpool-based Riverside  is coming  increasing the focus for critics. These include Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation, which publishes this blog.  For twenty years the federation has attacked  the association saying it is  bossy, inefficient and undemocratic.

  Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522

NO TALK OF SEX, WE `RE TAKING PICTURES

 

David has a beast of a problem

The  large pictures each week on the second section of the newspaper The Herald, Penrith (Cumbria)   are quite outstanding says a correspondent, with  their lovely shots taken by readers of the Lake District`s mountains, villages and  gardens

Older readers  will  see these classic pictures  as  being in the same tradition as that of many years` ago when the front page  of the Herald always had an attractive black and white  picture of one of the lakes, mostly in the same position on the page, and mostly  taken by the noted  Kendal photographer, James Hardman.

Everyone  is more sophisticated these days and everyone  now has a smartphone is a photographer.The Herald has also moved on,  with colour pictures replacing black and white and a much greater number of subjects than ever before, chosen by the enterprising Herald reader cameramen.

Having said all that, perhaps I can comment on the  very appealing  Highland cattle picture that appeared in the paper`s issue of November18 and say that to me, the picture was somehow incomplete. 

The photographer, David Satterthwaite of Tebay chose a magnificent subject but failed to say   whether the animal was male or female

Perhaps David doesn`t  know. The the tell-tale sexual “bits” are certainly hidden  by strands of the animal`s thick floppy red  coat. A  flick of the hand would move those strands.

Perhaps David, though possibly very brave was not brave enough to go and confront  the animal – it looks very much like a bull - and find out its sex for himself.

So, David, congratulations on your picture. But as I have said,  the picture to me is incomplete without  the animal`s sexual  identification. Is it a bull or is it a cow?

Your effort to get round the problem by calling the animal “a beast” is, frankly, a copout. Be brave David,go and find out and let us know one way or another.

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522

 

EXTRA EXPENDITURE WAS INHERITED

 

 

Takeover

Riverside in

downgrade

blues

It will have come as no surprise to the  critics of the Liverpool  housing association Riverside that its credit ratings have been downgraded by the credit agency Moody`s.

 Riverside is one of the UK’s biggest social landlords. It is aso one of the most unpopular because of its authoritarian culture and inefficient operation. Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Association has campaigned against  these Riverside failures for many years.

Riverside’s downgrade reflected its“weaker operating performance relative to peers”, Moody’s said.

The agency flagged Riverside’s “poorly performing care business and higher fire building and safety expenditures” inherited from taking on G15 landlord One Housing in 2021.

These problems are “exacerbated” by high inflation and increased demand for repair and maintenance, the agency said, which is prevalent across the sector.

In its last full-year to March 2023, Riverside reported a post-tax surplus of £869,000 on a turnover of £625.4 million.

 

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522

UNPRECEDENTED EXPLOSION OF HOMELESSNESS

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522

Housing crisis may bankrupt

councils

England’s housing crisis will push many local authorities into bankruptcy as the increasing cost of emergency accommodation for thousands of homeless families threatens to overwhelm council budgets,  says an article in The Guardian newspaper.

HOUSING CRISIS TOWN...HASTINGS

The worst-hit councils are now spending millions of pounds a year – in some cases between a fifth and half of their total available financial resources – to try to cope with an unprecedented and rapid explosion in homelessness caused by rising rents and a shrinking supply of affordable properties.

The scale of the crisis means smaller councils, often in affluent shire counties, are struggling to supply enough emergency homes to meet their legal duty to support homeless families. Homelessness rates in some districts have more than doubled year on year.

Councils that have enjoyed housing stability for years are now reeling at the accelerating cost of the crisis. Basildon borough council in Essex has seen spending on temporary accommodation rise from £7,000 in 2017 to £2m in 2022. Hastings borough council, in East Sussex, spent £750,000 in 2019 but expects its annual bill to be £5.6m by next April.

There is cross-party consensus in local government about the need for urgent ministerial action, with even Tory-controlled councils calling for rent controls, increases in housing benefit rates and investment in new social housing to prevent the crisis from dragging smaller districts into insolvency.

“Unless the government acts now, many of us will go over the edge financially, with a devastating impact on local services. The decline of the safety net which district councils provide will hit the most vulnerable members of our communities hardest,” said Hannah Dalton, housing spokesperson for the District Councils’ Network.

The housing charity Shelter in a statement this week said:”A new generation of social rent homes is the only sustainable solution to the housing emergency and the way the country rebuilds its housing system long term.

“Social rent is the only housing tenure that’s truly affordable because rents are tied to local incomes. To provide people with safe, secure and affordable homes, political parties across the spectrum must commit to building 90,000 social homes a year for 10 years.”

  Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277

GRAVEYARD STONES TELL A STORY

 

 Mr Hatton 

has got

his hat on!

 Really fascinating! writes a correspondent about Mark Hatton`s  recent historical studies of Keswick  that he made from inscriptions  in the town`s Crosthwaite  churchyard (pictured).

I was surprised too by the studies ,particularly by his revelation that Keswick had once been what he called “the beating heart of the industrial revolution” and that fact had been “whitewashed from history. “

 

  I was  so interested that I decided to  check whether  or not that in fact was true.

So I consulted a fairly recent history of the town, “Keswick, a Lake District town” published thirty years ago by the greatly-respected  Keswick man, George Bott, a retired teacher.

A great amount of research was done for his 210 page book and Mr Bott lists more than 400 books which he consulted.

But my consultation of his book  failed to reveal any  references to  Mr Hatton`s discovery of industrial activity in the town that could amount to the beating heart of anything.

So, as far as George Bott`s book is concerned, Mr Hatton`s assertion is correct.  I am happy to  leave it  at that, particularly as there is so much other similar research waiting to be done: Mr Bott reveals in his book that an amazing number-50,000  books- have references to the Lake District and Cumbria.

That number is impossible to tackle in order to justify Mr.  Hatton`s claim. Let us  simply congratulate chartered accountant  Mr Hatton on his reseach and say: Mr Hatton has got his hat on!

Perhaps when all his  churchyard investigation work is complete he will put pen to paper and produce a a book about his graveyard  discoveries.

 That book will be streets ahead of all the 50,000 predecessor books and also streets ahead of Mr Bott`s book on Keswick.

It will be streets ahead  because it will  deal  only with facts that cannot be disputed by anyone.

Those facts are set in stone!

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277