REGRETS? WE HAVE A FEW...

Sarah Paton and `one farce after another`

Theresa May has her problems with the Brexit negotiations and with a new relationship with Europe. Housing boss Sarah Paton has her problems with her Carlisle negotiations and a new relationship with the city.

Ms Paton met sceptical Carlisle councillors a few days ago.She has been left wondering how to convince those councillors and  other critics that her flawed Riverside Housing Association can be trusted in any new relationship.

Riverside has a bad relationship with Carlisle councillors. So bad that the councillors are not slow to say that they to rue the day sixteen years ago that the city`s council houses were privatised and handed to Riverside, a Liverpool-based organisation.

And the councillors are also not slow to say much the same thing  about another planned Riverside takeover .That takeover is of the Workington-based Impact Housing Association and fears are now being expressed that based on the Carlisle experience, Riverside`s gross inefficiency and  bossiness will spread like a virus to Workington.

The meeting with councillors took place when Ms Paton addressed the city council`s Economic Growth Scrutiny Panel in her role of Riverside`s North Regional Director. She presented a report in which she outlined future board arrangements with the council.

These arrangements are needed because Riverside has abandoned the farce of its Carlisle regional board which suposedly had run the city`s  Riverside houses since the housing handover in 2002.  In fact  the board served no obvious purpose because it was accountable to no-one, was unable to deal with complaints and never appeared to  achieve anything.

Not surprising, what Ms Paton proposes as a replacement to the farcical regional board is something just as farcical. And that upset councillors at the panel meeting.

In place of the regional board, Riverside proposes what it calls a north regional liaison group with representatives from the council and Riverside. It will “discuss matters that are important to our customers and to Carlisle communities.But it will not be part of the Riverside formal governance structure,” said Ms Paton`s report.

 



 The councillors  wanted to know what powers the liaison group would actually have and  how tenants would be represented in the new set- up.

They were not satisfied with what Ms Paton had on offer.


”We have to make sure that tenants have a voice” said Tory Councillor Michael Mitchelson(left).

This view was echoed by Labour Councillor Pam Birks(right)

She said: “We need something that gives us some teeth to cater for those in need.

" We have to make sure that our representation on any planned body is not just cursory.”

And  panel vice-chairman Steven Bowditch(left),(Labour) reminded members of the farcical regional board, now abandoned. 


He said that in the past he had taken up complaints about Riverside but could not get them dealt with locally.

”Each  time, I had to go to the very top of that organisation to get them dealt with. That cannot be right.”

 MR ADRIAN WAITE, THE FORMER CHAIRMAN OF IMPACT AND ANOTHER  PROMINENT CRITIC OF RIVERSIDE, CONTINUES HIS ATTACK ON THE SECRECY SURROUNDING ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE MERGER OF IMPACT AND  RIVERSIDE.

HE IS ALSO CONCERNED THAT THE IMPACT BOARD HAS ABANDONED IMPACT`S VALUES AND HAS ALSO ABANDONED IMPACT`S TENANTS.

HERE IS WHAT HE SAYS IN HIS RECENT BLOGS:

“ Along with others, I have expressed concern about the secrecy with which the process is being conducted and the lack of engagement with the shareholding members of Impact (of which I am one), Impact’s tenants and the communities in which Impact works.

“Last Thursday, Impact finally agreed to meet with shareholding members for two briefing meetings – one in Workington and the other in Penrith. I attended the meeting in Penrith and despite being disturbed about some aspects of it, found it interesting on many levels. However, at the end of the meeting shareholding members were told to keep all the information that had been discussed secret and consequences were threatened for anyone who did not!

“I would be interested to know how Impact reconciles this secretive approach with the letter that Mark Costello, the current Chair, wrote in the ‘Cumberland News’ last week that was headed: ‘Secrecy accusations unfounded and unhelpful’.

Executives get together:From the left, Mark Costell Impact Chairman, Byronie Shaw Impact Interim Managing Director, Sarah Paton Riverside Northern Director, and Carol Matthews Riverside Chief Executive Officer

“In this blog and in my letter to the ‘Cumberland News’ last week I urged tenants to apply to become shareholding members of Impact so that they could have a vote on Impact’s future. Impact Housing Association has always encouraged tenants to become members and I understand that over the last few weeks, several tenants have applied to join. However, Impact has abandoned this policy of many years and is now refusing membership to any new applicants including te.

“Impact have confirmed that there will be no tenant ballot. Instead there will only be an advisory consultation that the board will be free to ignore.

“Based on the Penrith meeting, it also appears to me that there has been a change in the ‘culture’ of Impact. When I first joined Impact and when I was Chair we welcomed different points of view and, even when people had serious disagreements, any discussion was conducted in an environment of mutual respect. However, it now appears to me that the board, management team and their consultants are not interested in other people’s opinions; and people who are concerned about the current direction of Impact or who would like more information are treated with disdain.

“I think that this situation represents an abandonment of Impact’s values and Impact’s tenants by the board”.

 Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803