Sheltered homes for the elderly are being demolished in Carlisle and  Kenny Simpson is concerned, he says in this letter to the Editor of the News and Star ,Carlisle, published today. Kenny is Treasurer of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation which is equally concerned and is campaigning to support the vulnerable old people needing sheltered accommodation and to stop the vanishing sheltered homes:

WE SHOULD BE ALERT TO

WHAT RIVERSIDE IS UP TO

I find it very difficult to understand the very disturbing developments around Carlisle sheltered homes for the elderly-or what is left of these homes.

I also find it very difficult to understand why city council and the county council members seem to be completely unconcerned about these disturbing developments.

For example, I have yet to hear a word about  these developments during the current  county council election campaign.

The disturbing developments follow the takeover of the city` former council houses ten years ago by the giant Riverside organisation, one of the biggest housing associations in the country.

With these houses to Riverside went other properties including something like seven sheltered homes in various parts of the city, built and  run in a caring way by the council.

Since Riverside took over, some of these homes have been demolished. The latest to go is Arnside Court in Harraby where the site is  to be developed to make it more financially profitable by  becoming housing.

Every one of these demolitions has a human cost. Every demolition represents the uprooting of several elderly residents, many of which I know personally were moved under duress.

And the warden service   for the homes has been repeatedly cut back over the years. That also represents a human cost involving many vulnerable people.

Last week (April 25) you reported that  charges are now to be levied by Riverside if the elderly and vulnerable people in these homes wish to retain what is left of the warden service.

Altogether, since Riverside appeared on the scene, sheltered housing has been decimated  in the interests of profitable housing development

The inmates of these homes have now become Carlisle`s forgotten elderly. And finally, through these new charges, the screw is being applied to clear all residents from what remains of these homes and make Carlisle  sheltered housing a forgotten service

Where have  the councillors been while all this is going on? One solitary Botcherby councillor is concerned about what is happening  at one of the remaining homes, Freshfield Court, in his ward.

Where do the other two Botcherby councillors stand?And where does Councillor Joe Hendry stand in his dual role as Leader of the city council and also a Riverside director?

Three other members of the council are Riverside directors and another councillor is a full-time executive employee of Riverside. Another Riverside executive employee is standing for Labour in Thursday`s election.

Is all this Riverside involvement in the city council`s affairs a  healthy state of affairs?

Particularly as Riverside is now increasingly seen as a firm of property developers  in process of carving up the city estates.

Information about the Federation and Carlisle South Community Association is contained in the first entry of this blog, published on March 25

RESTORE THE ANCIENT COUNTIES AND END THE QUANGOS

It is good news that our historic county names are coming back. But it is bad news for the quangos.

The communities secretary Mr.Eric Pickles said this week that the names Cumberland and Westmorland- and the dozens of other ancient county names- should now be used as much as possible to remind us that our proud local history makes us who we are are. We agree with all of that.

But Mr Pickles forgets one thing:  as well as local history of which we are proud, there is also national history, the sort of history made in Westminster and Whitehall. And we are not proud of that.

Why should we proud of the part Westminster and Whitehall played in ending the power of these historic counties in the early seventies?

These fine old counties vanished on the orders of Prime Minister Mr Edward Heath.

Mr Heath believed in big centralised government

And his  1974 local government act, as well as  ending centuries of heritage, gave Whitehall all it needed to  grab power from local communities.

With all that local power safely tucked away in Whitehall, the quangos- unelected and non-accountable  governing bodies-  started to flourish.

Quangos were safe to do exactly as they wished, in the knowledge that any power to check them had been removed by Mr. Heath.

Those of us who have fond  memories of Cumberland and Westmorland hope that newly-innovated community efforts here in Cumbria mean that a start has been made to restore that power to local people.

And, who knows, a start on the road to restoring full power to a revived Cumberland and Westmorland?

These admirable community initiatives  are going ahead in Upper Eden-the Kirkby Stephen-Brough area- initiated and strongly supported by the government and local  M.P. Mr Rory Stewart (Penrith and the Border).

Ironically, a quango  in that area, has been upsetting Kirkby Stephen people with its apparently bossy ways.

Two Castles Housing Association appears to be behaving in  simiar bossy ways to another Cumbria housing quango, the giant Riverside Housing Association of Penrith

POLICE COMMISSIONER ROW...HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING

The national storm around the  Cumbria  police commisoner and his serious lack of judgement follows very closely on a similar serious lack of judgement by his rival, the housing boss who wanted his job.

The  housing boss, Mr Patrick Leonard, Carlisle regional director of Riverside Housing Association,   became a Labour politician so that he could fight the recent election for the Police and Crime Commissioner job.

Then Mr Leonard  provoked a storm with his preposterous  idea that he could run both jobs together side by side-Riverside director and Police Commissioner.

The  commissioner , Mr Richard Rhodes, is now under fire  over  chauffeur-driven car expenses and the arrest of whistleblowers .The whistleblowers allegedly  contacted the local paper, the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald , known as the Herald, in Penrith its home-town.

The future of Mr Rhodes now is very uncertain. However, the future of Mr Leonard, back  as a housing boss, is  very certain-  since his defeat by Mr Rhodes he has decided to quit and take another job.

A future more certain than ever is that of the Herald.   because of its outstanding courage in holding Mr Rhodes to account.

The  Herald says it was only doing its job and should not be compared with the whistleblowers-in America whistleblowing is called singing.

In the Herald, these whistleblowers are described as “the truly courageous people who have put their careers in jeopardy”

MAGGIE`S DING DONG AND

THE BELL THAT IS RINGING

The Maggie Ding Dong Song goes on and on and tenants hit by her policies met this week to talk about these policies and what is happening now.

The tenants live in what once were Carlisle  council houses. They missed the chance of Mrs Thatcher`s right to buy and the small fortunes for the lucky few that followed

But the tenants also got something that followed from the sale of council houses in the big Thatcher sell-off. That something was  a new landlord. And with the new landlord came a new policy. It was called privatisation.

The new landlord was a giant housing association run from 100 miles away in Liverpool, Riverside Housing Association, and its privatisation policy.

Gone for ever with the privatisation went  local control of the houses through local people, the local councillors. And gone for ever with the privatisation went the right to have a proper say in how the houses are run.

Today the tenants would like a proper say about Riverside`s demolition of flats which seems to make no sense at all alongside the huge demand for small homes caused by the bedroom tax and  alongside the chronic shortage of houses.

Riverside,despite  many protests, is pushing ahead with its policy of demolishing flats in several parts of the city. Many of these flats are modern and well equipped. The tenants-  at the monthly meeting of Carlisle South Community Association- seek answers about the demolitions.

No one from Riverside was at the meeting to explain what was happening. And questions to Riverside seem pointless- the questions don`t  always get an answer.

Today,the tenants seeking answers will not be singing the Maggie Ding Dong Song: they are too respectful.

But the tenants seeking answers are greatly concerned with another Ding Dong, a Ding Dong  Bell.

That concerning bell is ringing out much more loudly than the Ding Dong Song.

That concerning bell is an alarm bell.

Note: Information about the Federation and Carlisle South Community Association is contained in the first entry on this blog, posted on March 26.

 ROOM AT THE TOP AND THE CHILL FACTOR

Room at the top at Riverside Carlisle has given the Federation a chance to sit back a little, and to chill out.

And also to think of the Federation`s past and to think of its future.

And also to consider this: what has Riverside Housing Association  achieved in the ten years since it bought the 7,200 Carlisle council houses and ran them from Liverpool 100 miles away.

And what has the Federation achieved in trying to speak up for the tenants after Riverside`s controversial privatisation?

Mr Patrick Leonard `s resignation a couple of weeks ago gave the Federation  an opportunity at its committee meeting this week to think on these things. And to reflect on Mr Leonard`s decade in charge of Riverside since the handover from the council.

The ten year anniversary also gave the Federation an opportunity to reflect on its tremendous difficulties over ten years in trying to speak up  for tenants and holding Riverside to account.

It also gave the Federation an opportunity to plan for the future and  to thank M.P.`s, and city councillors (of all parties) who have helped and supported the Federation in its efforts.

Mr Leonard, Riverside`s regional director,  is expected to leave in three months time to take a job at Whitehaven. It is rumoured that he has ambitions as a Labour politician to become an M.P. following his recent failed entry into the political arena  to become Cumbria police and crime commissioner.

A spokesman for the Federation said: ”Riverside has been involved in controversial issues with the Federation since it took over in Carlisle. Some of these issues are still  outstanding- they have yet to be   addressed  by Riverside.

“The taxpayers of Cumbria will also be interested in Mr Leonard`s  coming departure following his decision only four months ago to  stand  for election as police and crime commissioner.

“He said then that he was prepared, if elected, to share the commissioner`s job  with the Riverside job he is now leaving.

“Sensibly, Mr Leonard had second thoughts about this. It was a sharing of jobs that was impossible”

FEDERATION TO MEET FOLLOWING

RIVERSIDE BOSS SURPRISE

Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation has questions  it wishes to ask following the  unexpected  news last week that Mr Patrick Leonard is to leave  Riverside Housing Association Carlisle.

Mr Leonard is regional director and is expected to leave in three months time to take a job at Whitehaven. A special meeting of the Federation committee to discuss the matter was today called  for Thursday (April 4).

The Federation special meeting   will also deal with the disappointing  result of the Federation`s representations about Riverside at a city council`s scrutiny panel meeting last week. The Federation claims that there is no proper scrutiny