A GOOD TURN OUT...AND A GOOD TURN ON?

HOW MANY RIVERSIDE 

TENANTS ARE SHIVERING

 AND FOR HOW MUCH LONGER?

 How many housing association tenants in Longtown, near Carlisle, are being forced to shiver at home because they dare not turn on their central heating?

The exact number is disputed but  something like correct figure may be known  in couple of days after  the  shivering tenants  get together  to find a way of getting  the heating turned on again without the  astronomical bills they cannot afford to pay.

The shivering started a couple of years ago when the landlord, Riverside Housing Association fitted solar panels to 175 of its Longtown properties and the scheme went  wrong causing  energy bills to rocket. One elderly tenant is facing a bill of £3,500.

The get together is planned at meeting  in the town`s community centre  on Thursday (March 20) at 7 pm. It has been called by  a community group which is backing the distressed tenants--Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation.

A Federation spokesman said: “The tenants have shivered for two years- this is far too long  to get this problem solved.

“Riverside  is now claiming that only half a dozen tenants are affected and have offered to compensate them for the extra energy used.

“But the number is far more than six, say the tenants.We hope that the turnout at the meeting will prove the tenants are right in what they say  and there may  in fact be as many as fifty or more tenants affected

“And  when all that is settled, Riverside have still to say how they will tackle the problems caused by the boilers Riverside installed to work alongside the solar panels. 

“These boilers are causing the big bills. Until the boiler problem is solved , the  big bills will go on and on and the shivering will go on and on".

THE FIGHT MOVES TO LONDON

DISTRESED TENANTS: 

EVICTION THREAT

LIFTED

The fight for justice for the distressed tenants of Longtown moved to London today with a planned meeting between Mr Rory Stewart M.P. and Mr Dean Butterworth, the Carlisle boss of Riverside Housing Association.

Mr. Stewart has pledged to represent at every opportunity the  Riverside tenants-his Penrith and Border constituents- as they struggle with unheated homes and rocketing fuel bills after a big solar panel scheme went wrong.

News of the London meeting was revealed  earlier to two of the worst-suffering tenants when they met Mr Butterworth at his office  and asked him to remove a threat of eviction to one of them - he has complex health problems. Mr Stewart  had described the threat  as very alarming.

Mr Butterworth, who is Riverside`s regional director, denied there was a threat but said that it now no longer existed.

A CarlisleTenants` and Residents` Federation representative who supported the tenants at the meeting said: “This was a very real threat to the tenant -he felt he could not speak out in case he was evicted.He is now a very relieved man.

“We are  heartened by Mr Stewart`s support- it has helped to get the threat lifted. Mr Stewart also wants a timeframe for improvements to be made. Now he has got the London meeting.”

“We hope all these will push things along urgently.This scandal has gone on for two years and there  is still much work to be done  and many issues still to be tackled.”

WESTMINSTER ROCKET FOR THE SOLAR SYSTEMS

PRESS STATEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DISTRESSED TENANTS:

M.P. SAYS EVICTION THREAT

IS “VERY ALARMING”

Mr  Rory Stewart  M.P.  today said he was “ very alarmed” at a threat of eviction to a distressed tenant  who is struggling with an unheated home and rocketing fuel bills after a big  solar panel scheme went wrong.

The threatened tenant also has complex health problems. Mr Stewart says he plans urgent talks with the Carlisle boss of the giant Riverside Housing Association which owns the property  in Longtown near Carlisle.

Mr Stewart,  M.P. for Penrith and the Border,  says his office  has kept in touch with the threatened tenant- one of his constituents- and he had previously been pressing Riverside through the Carlisle boss, Mr Dean Butterworth, to help the tenant.

Mr Stewart says: My office speaks regularly with  the tenant and I am aware of his health condition. I find his threat of eviction very alarming and will raise the matter with Mr Butterworth”.

Mr Stewart`s concerns are expressed in a letter to the Carlisle  campaigning community group, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation which is leading the fight for justice on behalf of several distressed tenants.For two years they have suffered from unheated homes and rocketing fuel bills, one has a £3,500 bill.

Mr Stewart  is also concerned that Riverside is not acting on a an independent engineers` report that it commissioned. The report details the tenants` problems and advises solutions. Mr Stewart  says:”Yesterday I received a copy of the report and now have had a chance to digest its findings.

“I intend  to write further to Mr Butterworth raising my concerns and pressing for a timeframe  when necessary improvements will be made.

”Rest assured that I will continue to represent Longtown tenants on this issue at any opportunity I can”.

A Federation spokesman said:”Mr Stewart`s latest intervention is very welcome. He is backing everything the distressed tenants have been saying for two years, particularly about the independent report.

“Riverside commissioned this report but have never acted on it. It seems they are in denial about its existence.

“We are also particularly concerned about the eviction threat and the fact that this was issued to a tenant with serious medical problems.”

Issued by Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation

February 27 2014

SATISFACTION THROUGH THE COURTS.....?

PRESS STATEMENT

 

 DISTRESSED TENANTS:

RIVERSIDE INVITES FEDERATION FOR TALKS

 

The Carlisle community group, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation which Riverside Housing Association said would cease to exist  has been invited to meet the Riverside boss  Mr Dean Butterworth, the regional director,

The invitation follows Federation protests to Riverside on behalf of distressed tenants in Longtown, near Carlisle, who are struggling with unheated homes and rocketing fuel bills.

The meeting will take place this week.

The struggle has gone on for two years and in desperation the distressed tenants contacted the Federation for help.

A Federation spokesman said today: “The tenants urgently need  a face to face meeting with Mr Butterworth.The Federation hopes to arrange this.

 “If that face to face meeting fails to resolve the very serious situation, the tenants  are prepared to get satisfaction through the courts.”

The spokesman added: The Federation has other issues to raise with Mr Butterworth, particularly the threat to evict one of the protesting  Longtown tenants.

“Riverside denies making this threat. This  we do not accept.  A very real intimidating threat  continues  and the tenant is unable to speak out  about his very serious  situation for fear of being  forced on to the streets.This situation is completely unacceptable.

“The tenants are also concerned about the way this issue is being downplayed by Riverside in the local media.”

About the threats to the Federation, the spokesman said:“ For about five years, Riverside has wanted to to put the Federation out of business since it abolished  all the other community groups in the city and  at a city council meeting made the arrogant threat to abolish us.

“Now Riverside  is trying to undo its damage to communities  by  trying to form its own groups."

The spokesman added:”We welcome the chance to talk to Mr Butterworth and hope that our meeting will help the distressed Longtown tenants and make for better Riverside relations with the Federation”

 

Issued by Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation

February 24 2014

 

DAILY MAIL ....FAILED SUN AND FAILED TENANTS

This is what the Daily Mail says  today in an article about the distressed Riverside tenants of Longtown:

"How 'money-saving' solar panels actually INCREASED my heating bills by 220 per cent!

• Residents of Longtown, Cumbria, were forced to have solar panels fitted to homes under green scheme and now being charged £1,000 more for heating
• Given £38,000 grants, they were told the panels would generate spare electricity that they could sell back to the National Grid
• But the panels were incorrectly installed and, as a result, some residents have seen their bills rise by up to 220 per cent."

Read the full article by 

Larisa Brown

The link is:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2559902/How-money-saving-solar-panels-actually-INCREASED-heating-bills-220-cent.html

A VOICE AT LAST FOR THOSE WITH NO VOICE?

STOP PRESS:`COUNCIL 

EMERGENCY PLEA FOR 

DISTRESSED TENANTS``

The dire plight of  Riverside`s Longtown tenants is to be raised in an emergency move at the Cumbria County Council meeting in Kendal tomorrow according to an unconfirmed report .

Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation which has led the way in exposing the distressed state of about 80 tenants has learned that two councillors  plan a  surprise last-minute move.

And they also plan to raise other matters relating to Riverside.

The tenants cannot afford to heat their homes and are having to eat and sleep in one room because of rocketing fuel bills that are up to 400 per cent more than normal. The tenants said they had no voice- no one at Riverside was  listening.

The disastrous situation has lasted nearly two years and came after Riverside`s started to install solar panels and things went wrong. Boiler readings started rocketing.

Since the Federation exposure, other newspapers including the Daily Mail and the Cumberland News Carlisle have been working on the story.

And for several days the  lines have been buzzing like the soaring Longtown fuel bills as councillors and the local M.P. Rory Stewart,  lined up ways to help the distressed tenants of Longtown

THE PEOPLE WITH NO VOICE....

THE DISTRESSED TENANTS

OF LONGTOWN AT LAST

GET A CHANCE

TO SPEAK OUT

Things have moved quickly in Longtown, near Carlisle since the spotlight was turned on  a stormy meeting in the town and a large number of annoyed and frustrated tenants.

Longtown from the air.........

The town is at the northern

fringe of Cumbria

which was the centre of

Anglo-Scottish disputes for 

centuries and became known 

as the Debatable Lands. 

Four hundred years later,

the debate is resumed 

through the Scottish referendum 

on independence in September

What that spotlight vividly revealed is a far worse situation than annoyance and frustration. Tenants are in fact distressed. They are suffering serious fuel poverty as their fuel bills rocket  by up to 400 per cent.

They are forced to eat and sleep in one room because they cannot afford to heat other rooms. And this appalling situation has gone on for nearly two years with one old lady facing a fuel bill of £3,500.

Tenants are unable to understand why this has dragged on over two winters - and why tenants who complain have been threatened with eviction. Tenants suspect a cover-up.

A group of them, desperate for help, contacted Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation –the Federation publishes this blog- and at meeting in Carlisle they urged support for some emergency action.

The disastrous story started when their landlord,  Riverside Housing Association, a giant Liverpool property  organisation,  decided to install  solar panels in 175  properties in Longtown with the promise of cheaper electricity fortenants through reduced fuel bills.

But  it didn`t work out like that and  for about half the properties, fuel bills rocketed. And there has been no sign of the £70 a week that tenants estimate each property makes through the sale of electricity to the national grid.

The Federation quickly responded to the tenants` approach with a protest sent to Riverside  and  request for  an urgent investigation and  emergency action to help the  80 or so affected.

Supporting constituents ..Rory Stewart
 M.P (holding document)
He says "no heating is unacceptable"
Picture taken near Kirkby Stephen.

Two local councillors, Ray Bloxham ( Mayor of Carlisle) and  Val Tarbitt  are also very concerned and like Mr Stewart  are giving the tenants total support.And the four Carlisle city councillors on the board of Riverside have also been contacted for help.

A Federation spokesman said today:”This is a shocking story, particularly the threat to evict those who complain. Riverside seems to have no duty of care for its tenants >>>nor any respect for its  tenancy agreements.

“Tenants have no voice- no  democratic body to represent them.  Riverside abolished  about a dozen democratic local tenants groups when it took over  the council houses in the Carlisle area eleven years ago.

“That abolition was a disgrace. It now appears that Riverside`s answer to distressed tenants who complain is a threat to evict them.”

                                                            

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants and Residents` Federation. Information about  the Federation is on the first post of this blog, dated March 25 2013