Sadiq Khan and an arrogant Riverside
The fall-out from the Grenfell
tower disaster goes on with the public inquiry and now action by the Mayor of
London aimed to ensure that everywhere in the country - even here in
Carlisle - the voices of social housing tenants are heard.
At Grenfell these tenant voices warned
of danger ahead. But they were were
ignored - with the terrible consequences we all now know.
Today with the action by the
Mayor, Sadiq Khan (above) future warnings of danger ahead will do much to prevent
further disasters. And equally important, the action by the Mayor will give
tenants everywhere a democratic right to be heard.
For too long social housing tenants have been denied that
democratic right. That is particularly the case in Carlisle where Riverside Housing
Association runs a dictatorial regime to
govern its 6,OO0 tenants.
Sadiq now proposes
that the Prime Minister appoint a Commissioner for Social Housing Residents
which he believes should be independent of Government whose job will be to act as a watchdog.
Here in Carlisle - 300
miles away - there has also been moves to help tenants. But -very fortunately- there has been no Grenfell disaster to give impetus to efforts to reform. And there is no powerful
Mayor with access to Downing Street to ensure that any reforms are underway.
What we have in
Carlisle is long-stamding dissatisfaction
with the Riverside regime. The dissatisfaction rumbled on until city
councillors became involved.
The councillors took
up the challenge but found that Riverside was not only intransigent but also
accountable to no one but itself.
However after a
struggle, councillors did manage to get dialogue going with Riverside and set
up a workshop of councillors to work out a way forward.
This workshop reports
its proposals on Thursday at a meeting of the council`s Economic Growth
Scrutiny Panel.
The workshop wants
the Riverside governing board in Liverpool in future to discuss with the
council any major plans for Carlisle before implementing them. They do not
expect councillors to read about Riverside plans in the press after they have been implemented. (This has been
the infuriating Riverside practice up to now).
The workshop also wants
a strong relationship between the council and Riverside with
regular joint meetings, a council liaison officer and a special email address
for council enquiries. (In the past councillors have been greatly annoyed by
the Riverside habit of not responding to phone enquiries.)
The workshop says that
local representation is important but makes no mention of reviving
local tenant groups or other democratic bodies- the sort of groups that
existed before Riverside took over in Carlisle 15 years ago.(One of the first
acts of Riverside in Carlisle was to abolish these groups and any other sort of
democratic representation.Under Sadiq`s proposals, these silent voices may now be heard again).
Fifteen years later,
Riverside`s attitude to democracy hasn`t changed. This can be seen in Riverside`s arrogant
obfuscation in its response to the workshop`s
assertion that local representation is important.
Riverside said: ”We will maintain a tenants’
scrutiny panel or other arrangement for the same purpose locally to ensure that
Carlisle residents can scrutinise and influence services.
“ Riverside will make reasonable
efforts to recruit residents in Carlisle to get involved in customer involvement
opportunities – Riverside will engage with involved customers on any changes in
services.”
Compare that Riverside drivel with what Sadic Khan
proposes, as reported by the trade newspaper, 24 Housing:
“The proposal for a new Commissioner is one of a
package of measures for social housing residents – alongside opening up access
for residents to the housing ombudsman and social housing regulator – that
Sadiq will begin consultation on when he publishes his draft London Housing
Strategy later this month.
As a minimum, the Mayor believes the system for
regulating social housing must be genuinely responsive to the concerns of
tenants and leaseholders on social housing estates.
Sadiq is concerned the regulator – a statutory body
with oversight of standards in social housing – fails to give sufficient
attention to issues such as tenant involvement. Of more than a thousand
complaints from residents to the regulator in the last two years, just 10
triggered regulatory action.
He is keen that City Hall and Government consult
residents and work together to develop key reforms to ensure the voices of
social housing residents are heard.”
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803
