Riverside
boss
struggles
as
councillors
probe
It
was just like the election ding-dong that is filling the airwaves at the moment.There
was a lot of “ding”. But in this case, the “dong” was a bit flat.
The
“ding” was from Carlisle city councillors
shooting questions about a Riverside Housing Association`s six-month summary of its work in the area.
The
“ dong” came from what the local Riverside boss, Mr Dean Butterworth said in
answer to those questions
The councillors`“ding” was loud and clear ...
Carlisle councillors have recently found a new spring in their step in facing up to Riverside.The “dong” was
barely audible as Mr Butterworth and a
colleague struggled with answers.
 |
| Question master....Chairman Rob Burns |
The
first “ding” came seconds after proceedings got underway at the meeting, the
council`s Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel on April 9.
Chairman
Rob Burns interrupted to ask about “the BRE report” which was included in the
summary. Councillor Burns wanted to know what the initials, BRE stood for. Mr Butterworth did not know, nor did his
colleague.
This
lack of knowledge was a surprise because
Riverside itself had commissioned the
fairly-lengthy BRE report and Mr Butterworth himself recently held a
public meeting with Riverside`s Longtown
tenants to go through the report and explain
it. Mr Butterworth is Riverside`s Carlisle regional director.
A second
“ding” came shortly afterwards when Mr Jim
Heywood, Mr Butterworth`s colleague at the meeting, made a presentation. Mr Heywood is Chairman
of Riverside`s Tenant Scrutiny Panel.
The
Panel is composed of tenants
representing most areas, said Mr Heywood`s report .The Panel`s job is to “scrutinise customer satisfaction”.
Then
came a surprise admission. Mr Heywood said that apart from the tenant members
of the Panel, Riverside also has members.
 |
Riverside`s | | Jim Heywood |
But,
insisted Mr Heywood, the Panel was independent of Riverside.
At
this, Chairman Councillor Burns commented: “It doesn`t sound very independent
when members of the organisation are also members of the Scrutiny Panel.”
But
Mr Heywood would have none of this. He again insisted that the Panel was
independent of Riverside.
Independent
or not, Councillor Burns has a lot of
experience of these matters going back
to the years prior to 2002 when the
Liverpool Riverside organisation took over the city`s council houses.
Councillor
Burns was a respected and popular employee of
the city council in charge of strengthening democratic community groups. Nothing to do with the
ridiculous “scrutinising customer satisfaction.”
Councilor
Burns is now retired but no doubt will remember the slaughter of those democratic community groups
by Riverside immediately it took over. It was in order to strengthen Riverside`s grip on the city.
Following
that slaughter, Carlisle now has the ridiculous Tenant Scrutiny Panel which no
doubt is composed of yes-men tenants and Riverside`s yes-men employees.
Yet
somehow, according to Mr Heywood, the Panel remains independent.
As
for the mysterious BRE initials. It was no surprise that Riverside produced a
baffling report which people could not understand.
It
happened previously under Mr Butterworth`s predecessor, Mr Patrick Leonard. Mr Leonard`s report was incomprehensible and
riddled with gobbledegook.
Hopefully,
Mr Butterworth will by now have discovered that BRE stands for the prestigious
Building Research Establishment which has been
carrying out research, consultancy and testing for nearly 100 years...it
was formed in 1921.During World War Two BRE played a big part in developing the Dambusters` bouncing bomb.
Sadly,
the BRE report has not convinced Longtown tenants that Riverside cares about their plight.
Councillor Michael Gee put the tenants` position clearly when he said this to Mr Butterworth: “Longtown
does not believe what Riverside says."
