HOUSING THE STASI FACTOR ?

Balloons go up in

Berlin while

Longtown waits

Balloons along the former Wall...BERLIN TWO DAYS AGO

for another 

balloon...

Celebrations  a couple of days ago marked the end of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and with it the end of a hated  communist regime  based on spying and disruption.

Questions about that regime persist in Germany, even today.

Remarkably, here in Cumbria questions persist about the suspected spying and disruptive activities of a housing organisation, activities that many critical people say has something in common with that hated German regime.

The questions in Germany are about the activities of a government secret police, the Stasi which operated  in  East Germany on the other side of the  Wall.

The questions in Cumbria- in Longtown and Carlisle- are about  the activities of the giant Riverside Housing Association, one of the biggest in Britain, owning 50,000 homes.

These questions had to be faced by Dean Butterworth, the Carlisle Riverside boss  at his recent Longtown public meeting.

Mr Butterworth called the meeting to explain more about his organisation`s controversial solar heating  in the town, installed more than two years ago.

Mr Butterworth brought along an expert  to talk about a new report on the solar heating and its dodgy boilers.  Then he had to face a storm of his tenants`criticisms about what had followed from the solar panels and the dodgy boilers:   ice box tenants` homes and rocketing fuel bills which tenants cannot afford.

Then came another storm  of criticism for Mr Butterworth to deal with.  It was about the suspected spying and disruptive activities by a man who has previously been referred to as the Man from Riverside.

Mr. Butterworth`s critics  recalled that The Man from Riverside along with a colleague (describing himself as an electrician) attended two earlier meetings of the Longtown tenants.

What happened at those two earlier meetings was very baffling.

The Man from Riverside offered to help  the tenants to set up a tenants` action group. Then the Man from Riverside wanted the tenants to help him to “clean up Riverside.”

Then the Man from Riverside spoke about £250,000 in grants that he has at his disposal  to help tenants` groups.

The electrician colleague of the Man from Riverside talked about “ a scam” involving the solar panels and that he was being disciplined by Riverside for exposing that scam.

A few days later, the Man from Riverside was spotted trailing one of the Longtown tenants` leaders outside an Asda  supermarket and then inside the supermarket.

Why the Man from Riverside acted in this menacing and bizarre way is a mystery.

It was almost as big a mystery as the reaction of Mr Butterworth at his meeting during the storm of questions about the Man from Riverside.

Mr Butterworth said he knew nothing about  the Man from Riverside.

And when Mr Butterworth was handed  the printed visiting card of the Man from Riverside which gave his name, gave his job with a Riverside organisation and  gave his address as that of Riverside headquarters in Liverpool, Mr Butterworth still said he knew nothing about him.

Mr Butterworth is a member of the Riverside governing board. He is paid £85,000 a year plus a car to do that job.

Back to Berlin.There they celebrated the 25 years since end of the Berlin Wall with hundreds of balloons.

In Longtown, there are no celebrations. But tenants are wondering about Riverside`s balloon.

Will that go up too?

THE HEART OF THE MATTER:TO HEAT OR TO EAT?

PAUL`S SPEECH TO M.P`S  URGES  HELP 

FOR FREEZING TENANTS

Student Paul Dill (here) takes the  plight of  Longtown`s freezing tenants to the heart of Westminster and urges M.P`s to help.

Twenty-year-old Paul is now hoping that  this appeal - in a speech he is giving in a House of Commons committee  room - will speed up an end of the tenants` two year  struggle to get Riverside Housing Association to face up to  its responsibilities to its tenants suffering in their ice-box homes.

Paul is a supporter of  Fuel Poverty Action, a national  group  campaigning against the injustice of cold homes.

He joined a Fuel Poverty Action London demonstration about fuel poverty , together with about 100 other campaigners from all over the country.They lobbied M.P.s outside the House of Commons and  then addressed them  in the committee room.

Paul is in his second  year at Lancaster University studying computer science and is also keen member of the Longtown tenants`campaigning group, Longtown Action for Heat.

In  his speech to the M.P.`s, Paul related  the story  of Riverside`s solar panels on the roofs of its tenants` homes and the dodgy boilers that went with them.

He told of the failure of a protesting petition, and the failure of complaints and protests to Riverside and to local councillors about the suffering caused by these dodgy boilers which produce heat  which no one can afford.

Paul also related the story of how his own family  was suffering. 

He said:

“My nana and grandad are tenants. They did not want the solar heating system in their home. But like every else they were forced to take it and threatened with no landlord repairs if they didn`t. 

"Now, because they cannot afford to heat their homes properly, 
they have to make a choice between warmth or food.”

Back home in Longtown, Paul had this to say: “I was very impressed by all the speeches and by the way my speech was received. 

"Everyone was very interested and offered  help and suggestions. I think that  by drawing attention of M.P`s to the awful plight of the tenants I may have done something to help them.”

Jimmy Robb, Chairman of Longtown Action for Heat praised Paul for his efforts. He said:

"He has done a wonderful job at Westminster in bringing the issues to a national level. We feel sure some good will come from it”.

hOMES STRIPPED FOR HEROES

TODAY`S `HEROES`

`

ARE THE

ASSET STRIPPERS

The poppies are back again as we head for November 11. Armistice Day this year, as we know, has an added memory, coming so close to the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Armistice Day this year has another added memory, a memory without the horror of war. Armistice Day comes close to the centenary of the start of council house building in Britain. In Carlisle, this centenary was three years earlier with the first council houses built in Willowholme-on the present Sainsbury site- in 1911.

By the end of the war in 1918,  the cry was for homes fit for heroes-an election call made by the wartime prime minister, David Lloyd George- and council housing  on a massive scale was ordered by  his government. Council housing would change our towns for ever. 

An Act of Parliament in 1919 made housing for the first time a national responsibility. Local authorities were given the job of developing new housing where it was needed

Today, many thousands of council homes later, there is not much talk of heroes or  the responsibility of the nation to house those in need.

All that has been forgotten.

Sadly, today the talk is of stripping away that great legacy of houses built up  by generations of city councillors, and financed  with money collected in taxes from  people in the Carlisle area.

After today`s stripping away, the cash reserves of the housing associations are now bulging and housing association bosses get fat cat salaries.

Homes fit for heroes? Today`s heroes are the asset strippers.

How exactly that great legacy is being stripped away  made for a stormy meeting at Longtown-reported earlier on this blog- when the tenants of Riverside Housing Association  fiercely attacked  Riverside`s asset-stripping.

They also attacked  the  neglectful way this Liverpool property development organisation is caring for its former council houses and their tenants.

More questions followed that stormy meeting. First, questions to the man who organised the meeting, Mr Dean Butterworth, regional director of Riverside who had faced a barrage of criticism.

His questions came from the newly formed tenants` group, Longtown Action for Heat. It was a list of about a dozen questions concerning the dodgy Riverside boilers in about sixty homes  that have left their tenants freezing and fuming with no remedy in sight.

Mr Butterworth has promised answers to all the questions.

Second, questions to the man who chaired the  meeting, Councillor John Mallinson who represents Longtown on Carlisle City Council. He also faced  criticism at the meeting.

His questions came from Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation which is backing the tenants.A dozen questions  came in a letter and asked what help is forthcoming  for the freezing tenants from the two councils, Carlisle and Cumbria, and from the local councillors.

And  why the tenants had no one to turn to  two years ago when they first needed help.They were desperate for help.

And why the tenants, now coming up for their third winter without heat have still no one to turn to for help.

They have still no one to turn to for help.

Mr Mallinson has promised to address these issues.

Back to poppies and Armistice Day. That stormy meeting  was held in a building that is a legacy of the First World War, and was  built about the same time as council housing in Britain was getting underway. Longtown Memorial Hall was built in memory of the Longtown victims of that war .It is now a thriving community centre.

MR CAMERON, MR BUTTERWORTH AND A STORM

THE RIVERSIDE NIGHTMARE GOES ON AND ON…

It is the way THEY deal with US.  

The way OUR problems are dealt with by THEM.  

OUR leaders draw a line under OUR problems.  

David Cameron is now drawing a line under immigration before he loses more M.P.`s to UKIP and more seats in the Commons.

Dean Butterworth is at it here in Carlisle with an article in the weekly paper, the Cumberland News.  He says he is drawing a line in the sand under the problems he has inherited from his long-suffering tenants of Longtown.   

Mr Butterworth’s suffering tenants live in ice box homes because they cannot afford proper heating. He also has suffering leaseholders who live in utterly perplexed homes because of Riverside bills that they cannot afford and often cannot understand.    
 All of them need that line in the sand.

Suffering tenants and leaseholders were not the only problems Mr Butterworth inherited when he became Carlisle regional director of the giant Liverpool property development organisation Riverside Housing Association a year ago. 

Notably,  there was the problem caused by his predecessor, Mr Patrick Leonard.  Mr Leonard astounded Cumbria and the British social housing industry when he stood as Labour candidate in the election for Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner and then said that he was able to combine his Riverside  job - now worth £85,000 a year plus a car - with the £65.000 a year police commissioner`s job.
Mr Leonard failed to become commissioner and did not continue for very long afterwards as Riverside’s Carlisle regional director. But Mr Leonard’s outrageous claim left behind a difficult legacy for his Liverpool bosses
Has Mr Butterworth drawn a line in the sand under that difficult legacy?

And for the distressed tenants and leaseholders?
 There has been criticism in the city council of Riverside’s bossy culture in dealing with these problems. There has been damning criticism by a county court judge about Riverside’s “absolute mess" in its failure to negotiate with two of its leaseholders who had problems.
 There was a storm of criticism of Riverside by tenants at last week’s public meeting in Longtown. Mr Butterworth looked far from comfortable facing the tenants! In the Cumberland News article Mr Butterworth says of the tenants: “We are not chaining any of them to their properties they are free to go and find alternative accommodation should they wish to do so”.  
His callous “you-are-free-to-go” ultimatum has caused another storm of criticism from tenants, who are again kitting themselves out with extra jumpers and sleeping bags.

The Longtown residents are on the brink of their third winter in ice box homes. Their questions are still unanswered about broken tenancy agreements, failure of a duty of care, no financial compensation for the sky-high energy bills and no financial compensation for their personal suffering.

Can it really be believed that Mr Butterworth still keeps his line in the sand?  
The answer is in a letter to the Cumberland News last week which so far has not been published, the letter is from Jimmy Robb, Chairman of the recently formed tenants group fighting for justice, Longtown Action for Heat.     

 The letter says: 

"I would like to respond, on behalf of the suffering tenants of Longtown, to Riverside's Divisional Director, Dean Butterworth's comments in the article featured on 10 October regarding the long-standing heating issue. When Mr. Butterworth assumed the post, he talked of how he wished to work with the tenants to bring an end to the massive increase in bills since Riverside installed heating systems in 2012. However his most recent comments indicate an altogether different solution, the essence being that if, we the tenants don’t like it we are free to leave. This seems to be a rather callous, unsympathetic approach that disregards the emotional investment tenants place in their home, and seems to contradict his previous comments and indeed the Tenancy Agreement which stipulates a Duty of Care… A duty TO care by landlords. It is also interesting to note that Mr. Butterworth is able to denounce the Avoca Report, despite commissioning it and agreeing to abide by its conclusions, dismissing it as "wrong" yet claimed to be "not technically minded" during the Riverside/BRE presentation on the 9th. His assumption that the Avoca Report is unsound - which seems to clash with his statement that, “ Avoca…have come back saying heating systems work fine and there has not been any significant increase in utility bills as a result." (Cumberland News Feb. 17th) In reality the Report is quite clear: that the energy-guzzling boilers are unsuitable and have plunged tenants into fuel poverty. Mr. Butterworth has now taken the advice of a BRE consultant that expresses the opinion that £10 per day is a reasonable cost to pay to heat a 2-bedroom flat and has now drawn a line under the issue. I only wish the tenants of Longtown paying £80 per week to heat their homes, or the tenants, who like myself simply can’t afford to and have no option but to freeze, or the two pensioners that suffered almost numerous breakdowns between them last winter could end this nightmare so easily and conclusively.” YOURS,  JIMMY ROBB OCTOBER 14 2014 THIS POST WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 22 AND LATER ACCIDENTALLY DELETED

A MOVEABLE FEAST IN THE PARK

It was a festival day at home  ...and a big day in the park. 

So let`s join them together and take the festival to the park and have a combined festival - park - big - day.

So thought mother of two, Sunjeela Zeba (right) who  lives in Blundell Road, Petteril Bank, Carlisle which is just  a stone’s throw away from Dale End Park where her children played. 

Sunjeela and her friends  prepared for the Muslim Eid  festival at home with lots of Bangladesh dishes which they had cooked.

Then they carried the dishes to the park where the big day was in full swing ...it was the opening of a  spanking-new park play area by Carlisle City Councillor Elsie Martlew. 

The picnic table in the new play area was brought into use and a table cloth carefully laid. Sunjeela served everyone the scruptious food she had prepared at home ...curry, rice, meat curry, sweet dishes and chicken  dishes...lovely...as this picture shows.

Sunjeela, who is 32, explained:”Dale End is a lovely park which my children enjoy every day. I thought it would be nice to share our Eid festival to show our appreciation of the park. I am pleased that everyone tucked in and enjoyed  the food”. 

Everyone certainly did enjoy  the food, said Jenny Cray of nearby Welsh Road who played a big part in sponsoring the new play area and organising  the park open day for the local community group, Carlisle South Community Association.

Jenny said.” This was lovely gesture by Sunjeela which everyone appreciated. Her feast of lovely food rounded off a perfect day”. 

Jenny(back to the camera) is pictured second from the left.