Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation
| Flooded link...Carlisle Civic Centre recently |
Annual report for the year 2015/16 by the Chairman at the annual meeting on
January 21 2016
The Federation has
had another very successful year with regular
monthly meetings and committee meetings held in Eastern Way Fire Station.
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:
Openness
and accountability: The Federation is disappointed at the failure of the government`s
plans for increased openness and accountability by public bodies. A gigantic
increase of openness and accountability is sorely needed in the Carlisle area as far as the principal
landlord, Riverside Housing Association, is concerned. Riverside, in the view
of the Federation is accountable to no one but itself. It is no longer a housing association but is
in effect a profit-making property
development company.
Links with other campaigning
organisations: The Federation has continued
to strengthen working links with the North West Tenants` and Residents`
Assembly. Nationally, housing stock transfers continue to be questioned and successfully
challenged, Locally, questions persist
in the city and district about the
wisdom and legality of the Carlisle transfer of its housing stock to Riverside
fourteen years ago.
City Council and questions for
Riverside: The Federation has continued to hold
Riverside to account with the very small
number of written questions allowed (two,
and possibly three) about its activities
which are addressed to the chairman of the the city council Community
Overview and Scrutiny Panel a month after each Riverside six-monthly report to
the council. This minuscule amount of questioning has now been been further
reduced by fifty per cent to only one Riverside report to the panel during
2015.The Federation has protested to the council about this reduction. It followed
a deplorable ruling by the council`s Deputy Chief Executive, Mr Darren Crossley that the Federation`s questions were not to be allowed. The Deputy Chief Executive in his ruling said: “The facility for questions
is an opportunity for residents to
engage with the council and not to provide organisations with a platform
to make statements of discontent”
The
Federation considered this ruling to be offensive and asked that the ruling be withdrawn.The council
decided not to withdraw the ruling .
The
future of this panel questioning now
seems more hopeful.There has been a surprise change of policy by the council. It
invited two other housing associations
to take part in the first 2016 meeting of the panel. This is the first time
since the takeover in 2002 that other housing associations have been invited to panel meetings. This move appears to be a welcome end to Riverside`s charmed but
flawed solo act at panel meetings which
has lasted 14 years.
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 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 statement by twice attempting to block the Federation `s participation in the business of the city council`s 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. Nor has Riverside explained its frequent use against the Federation of its obnoxious Persistent Complaints Procedure.
Council
nominees on the Riverside governing board:The Federation continues to challenge the city council
arrangement of four council nominees on
the Riverside board. It appears that
these nominees cannot be held to account by either organisation.The legality, the purpose and the
effectiveness of the four nominees continues to be questioned particularly
after it was estimated that Riverside had an interest in twelve per cent of the
council`s elected members through employment by Riverside or through membership
of its governing board,
The
tenure of Mr Dean Butterworth as regional director of Riverside Carlisle: Since Mr
Butterworth arrived from Sheffield two
years ago and made various statements about improving Riverside Carlisle, there
appears as yet to have been none of the promised improvement. Mr
Butterworth has however now decided not to recognise the Federation.
The Federation has lost count of the number of times a Riverside non-recognition decision has been issued.For Mr Butterworth this is his first Federation non-recognition decision. More may follow in the months ahead. Since the takeover of the city council houses in 2002 this is Riverside`s umpteenth non-recognition decision .A bit like confetti, really.
Mr Butterworth inherited a flawed legacy from his predecessor Mr Patrick Leonard, a fact which was recognised during the year by Ms Carol
Matthews, Chief Executive of Riverside . Mr Leonard`s flawed legacy persists through Riverside`s continued deplorable
use of incomprehensible gobbledegook in communications with tenants and others.
His legacy also persists in Riverside`s
failure to adopt an acceptable effective
complaints procedure and its failure to to have any democratic arrangements
available for effective tenant and leaseholder community representation on the
Riverside board. It is a scandal that all the previous tenant and leaseholder community groups which existed
before Riverside arrived on the scene
were abolished at the takeover and their grants terminated.
Mr
Leonard`s flawed legacy also
persists through its deplorable bossy culture which has been publicly
criticised by a Carlisle city council member. It has been reported that Mr
Butterworth agrees with much of this
criticism and is actively working to change this..
Riverside`s
excessive rents and unfair charges:A lot
of time has been spent challenging Riverside about its excessive rents, unfair charges and its incomprehensible chaotic
business practices.
Lobbying councillors : The
Federation has continued to hold meetings with councillors .An important and
significant step forward in lobbying came when Councillor Colin Glover, Leader
of the city council agreed to address the Federation. The address- mainly
questions and answers- lasted all the two hours of a monthly Federation meeting. It followed considerable and admirable work by Councillor Glover in
helping to address complaints about
Riverside made to city councillors.
That
Federation meeting was followed by a
further similar meeting with Councillor Glover in the Civic Centre attended by
representatives of Longtown Action for Heat
and Councillor Heather Bradley, the council`s housing portfolio holder
and Mrs Jane Meek, the council`s economic development officer. Councillor
Glover has agreed to a third meeting in the near future.
Much or the credit for pioneering these meetings should go to Michael Gee, a former city councillor who, as well as attending Federation meetings was active within the city council in raising concerns about Riverside.
Much or the credit for pioneering these meetings should go to Michael Gee, a former city councillor who, as well as attending Federation meetings was active within the city council in raising concerns about Riverside.
Cumbria
Riverside Action Group: Michael Gee has also
pioneered awareness about Riverside` failures
through Cumbria Riverside Action Group (CRAG) which has been supported
by the Federation since it started about two years ago. This group has links
with the Church of England through its Chairman, Canon Michael Manley, Carlisle
Cathedral Missioner and Carlisle Rural Dean. The group meets at Canon Manley`s
home at the Cathedral every two months and attracts all those wishing to hold Riverside to
account. The Federation Secretary, John Barker is also secretary of CRAG.
.
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. Many of the affected
properties now have new tenants on short term tenancies but the properties are still affected and 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.
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 new 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.
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, entitled Botcherby ... a Garden Village. Pat has attended all our meetings along with many residents, all very keen to help the planned publication which is expected during 2016. Altogether, Pat has had help from more than 1000 local people, many of them linked together through Botcherby Forever meetings which have been a great success and are now held in Eastern Way Fire Station.
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.
Thanks too, to Kenny
Simpson and George Cornish and other members of Carlisle South Community Association
who have helped at our meetings.
Denise Moses, Chairman Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation
CarlisleTenants`
and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the
Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803.
No comments:
Post a Comment