TENANTS SAY
THEY ARE GETTING
NOWHERE
Reports
last week of a stormy meeting...now,
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation has been called in.
And
a special Federation get together of members will take place in a couple of
days to help Riverside Housing Association tenants who were at that stormy
meeting.
The
meeting was at Longtown, near Carlisle last week, and was also attended by
Riverside representatives. The Longtown
tenants are very annoyed and frustrated. They
say they are getting nowhere in their long-standing dispute with the
Liverpool housing association which is increasingly being seen in the Carlisle
area as a property developer.
The
Longtown tenants have asked the Federation
for help.
It
is the third request to the Federation for
help so far this year. A couple of weeks
ago, the BBC Five Live radio programme, Five Live Investigates sought help for
a programme about the extra charges
Riverside is imposing on its Carlisle Leaseholders.
Shortly
afterwards, the campaigning magazine, The Big Issue sought Federation help
about Riverside`s soaring rents which the Federation has discovered have risen
nearly a third more than equivalent rents in Barrow where the social houses are
still owned by the local authority.
The
three requests to the Federation for help indicate a busy start to the year.The
previous year was busy too, according to the Federation`s 2013 annual report,
presented by the Chairman, Denise Moses, at the annual meeting a few days ago
This is what the report says:
The
Federation has had another very successful year with regular monthly meetings and Sub Group meetings held
in the Family Church, Petteril Bank. Carlisle, by kind permission of the Church
Elders. 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:
Open-ness and accountability: The Federation has
welcomed the government`s plans for increased open-ness and accountability by
public bodies. A gigantic increase of open-ness and accountability is sorely
needed on the housing estates of Carlisle as far as the principal landlord,
Riverside Housing Association, is concerned. The Federation continues to
campaign against Riverside for proper open-ness and accountability.
Links
with other campaigning organisations: The Federation has this year continued to
strengthen working links with the North West Tenants` and Residents` Assembly.
The Secretary has attended meetings in Birkenhead of the assembly executive.
Information from the assembly for distribution to Federation members has been
received on an almost a daily basis. Nationally, housing stock transfers
continue to be questioned and successfully challenged nationally. Locally,
questions persist in the city and district about the wisdom and legality of the
Carlisle transfer of its housing stock to Riverside eleven years ago.
Bedroom Tax: The Federation
supported the Carlisle Axe the Bedroom Tax campaign and attended several of the
group`s meetings in the city Enterprise Centre and also attended demonstrations
in Botcherby.
Thamesmead Residents: The Federation
recently succeeded in linking up with Thamesmead Residents, an organisation in the London area opposing Gallions Housing Association in a
similar way to the Federation`s opposition to Riverside .Residents in several
London boroughs support the organisation, mainly as a result of Gallions
charges and way it is operating. The
link was established through a radio
programme about Thamesmead by BBC Radio Five Live. Gallions is based at Sidcup
in Kent. The link is : http://www.thamesmeadresidents.co.uk/
Carlisle
City Council and questions for Riverside: The Federation has continued to hold
Riverside to account with written questions about its activities which were
addressed by the city council Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel . The
Federation has been in helpful
correspondence about the work of the Panel with Mr Jason Gooding the city
council Chief Executive and Mr Mark Lambert, the council`s Head of
Governance.However, during the year it became increasingly difficult to get these questions accepted by the
council and it was decided that the questions were leading nowhere and were not
worth the considerable trouble involved in preparing them.
Riverside
campaign of hostility to the Federation: The Federation has continued to challenge
Riverside`s campaign of hostility to the
Federation which started when Riverside
provocatively, deplorably and outrageously, told the city council that the
Federation would cease to exist This
statement was noted by the
council and entered in the minutes.
Riverside followed this by twice attempting
to block the Federation `s participation in the business of the city council
Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel.Riverside has still not explained why it wishes the
Federation to cease to exist and how it proposes to ensure that the Federation
ceases to exist.
The late Councillor Joe Hendry:The Federation continued to pursue the issue of the late
Councillor Joe Hendry Leader of the city
council, who for nearly two years failed to attend to a Federation request for
help about Riverside issues by failing to
acknowledge or reply to a letter making the request. The issue was
concluded during the year with Councillor Hendry`s death. Councillor Hendry was
one of the four city council nominees on the board of Riverside and the
Federation issue was raised with both the city council and with Riverside.
Neither the council nor Riverside could help the Federation and it appears that
council nominees on the Riverside board
cannot be held to account by either
organisation.The legality of the council`s arrangements for the work of
the four nominees continues to be challenged.
Resignation of Mr Patrick Leonard: During the year, Mr Leonard resigned as
Carlisle Regional Director of Riverside and took up a new job in Whitehaven.
During his ten years with Riverside he gave no encouragement or support to the
Federation and more than once refused to have dealings with us. Mr Leonard`s
lack of judgement was criticised by the
Federation and others after he stood
for election as Labour candidate for the
post of Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner and amazingly said through an
article in the Press that if elected he could do two jobs, the commissioner`s
job alongside his Riverside job
Riverside`s excessive rents and unfair
charges:A lot of time has been spent challenging Riverside about
its excessive rents and unfair charges.
A detailed and extensive investigation of rent increases in Cumbria found that
Riverside`s increases were thirty per cent larger than comparative rents in
Barrow where the social houses have
remained in council ownership. Unfair
charges to Riverside leaseholders introduced fairly recently have added
twelve per cent to bills.
The Federation blog: During the year, the
Federation was encouraged by community activists in West Cumbria to start a
blog on the internet which since it started has been contributed to by
several Federation members.The
activists, Rebecca Hanson and Geraldine McNamara and her son, Cain, gave
considerable help to get the blog up and running and we thank them. Most of the issues in this
annual report have been covered by the blog at various times and the blog`s viewing figures have risen consistently
since the blog started in March . The
link to the blog is:
Radio Five Live and the magazine The Big
Issue: It was through the internet and Federation blog that Radio
Five Live and The Big Issue contacted the Federation and invited our help.The programme, Radio
Five Live Investigates needed help with a programme about excessive and unfair
charges faced by housing association leaseholders following Right to Buy purchases.The
Federation was happy to give examples of these outrageous charges by Riverside
in Brampton and in Dixon`s Court, Carlisle.
The Big Issue needed help with an
article about excessive rents charged by
Riverside.
In both these cases, the Federation was happy
to help.
3
Lobbying
councillors and M.P.`s: The Federation has
continued to hold meetings with councillors and has been in touch with Mr. John Stevenson M.P.
for Carlisle and Mr Rory Stewart M.P. for Penrith and the Border.
Carlisle
South Community Association: The Federation continues to give active
support to Carlisle South Community Association which does excellent work supporting
communities, particularly in tackling dog fouling and improving the facilities in Dale End Park. A new group,
Friends of Dale End Park, has been formed by the association and is working
with the city council on a £80.000 improvement scheme for the park`s children`s
play area.The association continues to have the active co-operation of the NHS
in Carlisle and the city council Green
Spaces and Environmental Health departments.
Botcherby
Forever . The Federation has continued to give active support to
those members of Botcherby Residents` Action Group(BRAG) who were banned from
BRAG meetings following the takeover of the group by a
group of Durranhill residents and other residents living outside the original
Botcherby estate. These banned members
formed a new community group. Botcherby Forever, which meets monthly, helped by the Federation.
Botcherby Forever has spent much of the year
helping local author Pat Hitchon who is writing a history of Botcherby.Pat has
attended all our meeting along with many residents, all very keen to help the
planned publication. Altogether, Pat has had help from more than 50 local people, many of them linked together through Botcherby Forever meetings. Botcherby
Forever has had many difficulties in
finding suitable places to hold its
meetings and has met in five different places-including one member`s home.
However, with kind and helpful
cooperation from all members, all meetings have been a great success.
Thanks to everyone: I wish to thank everyone who has helped the Federation
during the year and thank all who have attended our meetings and contributed to
our many interesting discussions and debates. Special thanks to the Elders of
the Family Church, Petteril Bank who have made available their church, with its
excellent facilities, with no charge to the Federation.. Thanks too, to members
of Carlisle South Community Association who have helped at our meetings,
particularly Joan and Kenny Simpson and their friends and family who have
continued to provided excellent refreshments at all meetings throughout the
year.
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