`HORENDOUS DILEMMA NO-ONE SHOULD FACE `

  `Heating -or- eating`

election plea by

Riverside tenants

The plight of the shivering tenants of Longtown(Cumbria) is being raised as an election issue.

For three years, the tenants have faced  high energy bills  and cannot afford to heat their homes properly.They claim the high bills are caused  by dodgy boilers fitted by their landlord, Riverside Housing Association of Liverpool.

Now the shivering tenants are asking for support from the five candidates in their constituency, Penrith and the Border and  are also asking what  help the candidates  can give if they are elected on May 7.

Paul Dill, Secretary of the  tenants`community  group, Longtown Action for Heat said today: "The tenants have suffered long enough “We would like whoever is elected  to  support long term solutions and  bringing Riverside into line as a landlord who cares ".

An estimated 60 tenants claim to have dodgy boilers.The high bills force many of them to face the dilemma of either heating their homes or having enough food...heating or eating?"

 Mr Dill said:"This  dilemma is horrendous. It is something no one should have to face.We  look forward to hearing from each of  the candidates of what they could do to help”

Penrith and the Border candidates are Bryan Burrow(Green Party) Neil Hughes(Liberal Democrats) Lee Rushworth (Labour Party} John Stanyer(UKIP) and Rory Stewart.

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation. Information  about the Federtion is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803.  

 

SEEING RED AND FEELING BLUE

House painting 
outrage: "Is Riverside
hitting back?”

First, it was  red and white stripes painted on a London  upmarket home. Now, homes on a former council estate in Longtown(Cumbria) have had a similar paint job in blue and cream.

And like the outraged neighbours of the striped  home in Kensington, the estate tenants are furious.

In Kensington, the neighbours claimed  in the Daily Mail last week that the stripes - they cover all the front of the house - were ordered by the woman who owns the property.

She ordered  the painting, they say, because they  objected to her plans to demolish the £15 million  and rebuild it with a much bigger house that would include a two-storey basement.

In Longtown  the “stripes”  were ordered by the estate landlord, the giant Riverside Housing Association of Liverpool. Tenants are wondering why  Riverside chose the garish colour scheme. It is still being completed.

Longtown tenants`relations with Riverside are at an all-time low and have been for three years, ever since Riverside installed dodgy boilers in about sixty homes in the town. Tenants cannot afford to use the boilers because of sky-high energy bills.

Complaints about the blue and cream paint jobs were made at this week`s meeting of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation. Longtown members of the Federation said the town was outraged  by the way the houses had been disfigured and there had been talk of a petition.

One member told the Federation:”The blue is particularly objectionable- it is a psychedelic blue and can be seen for miles around. Tenants were not properly consulted- they understood that any painting would be in keeping with the other property in the area”

Other tenants were more forceful. One, speaking outside her home said: “Since the trouble started about the dodgy boilers, we have  kept up the pressure on Riverside to give us proper boilers that we can afford to use. Is the paint job Riverside`s way of hitting back.

“The houses look appalling”

SHOULD TENANTS HAVE A VOICE OR ARE THEY JUST CUSTOMERS?

Riverside boss

struggles as

councillors

probe

It was just like the election ding-dong that is filling the airwaves at the moment.There was a lot of “ding”. But in this case, the “dong” was a bit flat.

The “ding” was from  Carlisle city councillors shooting questions about a Riverside Housing Association`s  six-month  summary of its work in the area.

The “ dong” came from what the local Riverside boss, Mr Dean Butterworth said in answer to those questions

The  councillors`“ding” was loud and clear ... Carlisle councillors have recently found a new spring in their step  in facing up to Riverside.The “dong” was barely audible as Mr Butterworth and  a colleague struggled with answers.

Question master....Chairman Rob Burns

The first “ding” came seconds after proceedings got underway at the meeting, the council`s Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel on April 9.

Chairman Rob Burns interrupted to ask about “the BRE report” which was included in the summary. Councillor Burns wanted to know what the initials, BRE stood for.  Mr Butterworth did not know, nor did his colleague.

This  lack of knowledge was a surprise because Riverside itself had commissioned the  fairly-lengthy BRE report and Mr Butterworth himself recently held a public meeting with  Riverside`s Longtown tenants to go through the report  and explain it. Mr Butterworth is Riverside`s Carlisle regional director.

A second “ding” came shortly afterwards when Mr Jim  Heywood, Mr Butterworth`s colleague at the meeting,  made a presentation. Mr Heywood is Chairman of Riverside`s Tenant Scrutiny Panel.

The Panel  is composed of tenants representing most areas, said Mr Heywood`s report .The Panel`s job is to  “scrutinise customer satisfaction”.

Then came a surprise admission. Mr Heywood said that apart from the tenant members of the Panel, Riverside also has members.

 Riverside`s

Jim Heywood

But, insisted Mr Heywood, the Panel was independent of Riverside.

At this, Chairman Councillor Burns commented: “It doesn`t sound very independent when members of the organisation are also members of the Scrutiny Panel.”

But Mr Heywood would have none of this. He again insisted that the Panel was independent of Riverside.

Independent or not, Councillor Burns has  a lot of experience of these  matters going back to the  years prior to 2002 when the Liverpool Riverside organisation took over the city`s council houses.

Councillor Burns was a respected and popular employee of  the city council in charge of strengthening democratic community  groups. Nothing to do with   the ridiculous “scrutinising customer satisfaction.”

Councilor Burns is now retired but no doubt will remember the slaughter of those democratic community groups by Riverside  immediately it took over. It was in order to strengthen Riverside`s grip on the city.

Following that slaughter, Carlisle now has the ridiculous Tenant Scrutiny Panel which no doubt is composed of  yes-men tenants and Riverside`s  yes-men employees.

Yet somehow, according to Mr Heywood, the Panel remains independent.

As for the mysterious BRE initials. It was no surprise that Riverside produced a baffling report which people could not understand.

It happened previously under Mr Butterworth`s predecessor, Mr Patrick Leonard. Mr Leonard`s report was incomprehensible and  riddled with gobbledegook.

Hopefully, Mr Butterworth will by now have discovered that BRE stands for the prestigious Building Research Establishment which has been  carrying out research, consultancy and testing for nearly 100 years...it was formed in 1921.During World War Two BRE played a big part in developing the Dambusters` bouncing bomb.

Sadly, the BRE report has not convinced Longtown tenants  that Riverside cares about their plight.

Councillor Michael Gee put the tenants` position clearly when he  said this  to Mr Butterworth: “Longtown does not believe what Riverside says."

AFTER 12 YEARS...AN HISTORIC CHANGE OF POLICY

Council backs

Riverside critics as

election rows loom

Carlisle City Council is showing a growing interest  in tackling the Riverside problems following a recent initiative by an all-party group of councillors.

This initiative has now got the full council`s backing and the  council Leader,  Councillor Colin Glover is working  with individual  councillors to tackle  problems as they arise in their wards.

The councillors are using the Riverside complaints procedure  with the problems and if that does not work, they are ready to report Riverside to the Housing Ombudsman.

The  coming council elections  next month and the general election on May 7   are likely to concentrate the minds of councillors on the issues as Riverside and its problems are likely to be an  election issue.

In the  city`s Morton ward, a Liberal Democrat plans to fight on  an anti- Riverside ticket.A similar fight is planned in Yewdale  where a UKIP candidate plans  the same attack. There is also considerable interest in getting an anti-Riverside campaign underway in Longtown

where about 60 Riverside  tenants have struggled through their third winter in freezing homes which they cannot  afford to heat.

 Riverside is expected to  be an issue in  the Penrith and the Border constituency where both the UKIP and the Liberal Democrat condidates are members of the Cumbria Riverside Action Group.This group which aims to  make Riverside more accountable meets again later this month.

These critics of Riverside also welcomed the city council`s intervention as historic.This is the  first  time the   council has challenged Riverside since the city council houses were privatised and handed to Riverside twelve years ago.

Critics of Riverside  have been led by the Carlisle community group, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation. For many years, the Federation has been threatened by Riverside, particularly  when it urged the council to intervene and help Riverside tenants and leaseholders.Riverside  attempted to abolish the Federation after it abolished other community groups in the city.

A Federation spokesman said today: “The council has always backed away from intervening against Riverside. It  always said Riverside  was a separate body and the council had no power to intervene.

“This intervention marks a clear change in the policy of councillors from the policy that has continued for  12 years.

“ We wish Councillor Glover and  the councillors well in this intervention and hope that it brings a quick resolution of all the many problems that Riverside tenants and leaseholders  are now battling with.”

THIS BLOG WAS MEANT FOR "FIGHTING"

A birthday

boy

reflects on

Riverside`s

bossy ways

It`s celebration time...this blog is a birthday boy, two years old this week.

Irresponsible claim....PATRICK LEONARD

After those two years, it`s time to reflect just how successful the Community Voice Carlisle blog has been in what it set out to achieve: putting a stop to the bossy ways of Riverside Housing Association of Liverpool and keeping a check on all Riverside activities.

We have had our successes and sadly, we have failed in some  things. But the fight against Riverside`s incompetence goes on.

Chief among our successes was the resignation of the former Carlisle regional director, Mr Patrick Leonard. He  sealed his fate when he made  a fatuous and irresponsible claim after he stood for election as Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner.

The claim was that he hoped after that election that he would  combine the police commissioner`s job with his Riverside job.

Only one job up to now...Dean Butterworth

Mr Leonard has been succeeded at Riverside by Mr Dean  Butterworth. Up to now, Mr Butterworth   has not promised to combine
his job with any other job.

Another success  was reported only very recently. It is that Riverside have decided to  shed all the work attached to running its 270 Carlise leaseholdings. It is moving the work
to  its head office at Liverpool.

News of the shift to Liverpool is  no surprise 
to the Carlisle leaseholders. They have suffered for years from Riverside`s incompetence... rocketing bills that no one understood and  numerous failures to deal with outstanding problems and difficulties.

And the fact that Riverside has had to make this shift indicates just how incompetent is its Carlisle operation.

Tenants` leader...Jimmy Robb

Will the shift to Liverpool make any difference?The only difference seems to be that Carlisle letters of complaint will have 100 miles further to travel.

 There has been success too in ending  thei advertisements Riverside has been running every week for two years in  the Cumberland News, Carlisle.

The advertisements claimed that Riverside was ”transforming lives and re-vitalising neighbourhoods.”

  

The advertisements  suddenly stopped appearing this month. Riverside may have pulled the plug on them, Or the Cumberland News may have pulled the plug.

The advertisements claimed that Riverside was supporting (presumably, financially) the page of the Cumberland News where the advertisements appear,  the district news page.

Possibly, the Cumberland News came to the conclusion that it is just not good policy to have the support of Riverside on one page  of the newspaper and to have articles criticising Riverside`s shameful record at Longtown on another page.

Whatever the reason: Good riddance to the Riverside page!

The big failure in the fight against Riverside has been over the appalling neglect of the Longtown  Riverside tenants . 

These unfortunate people are now emerging from their third winter in ice-box homes that they cannot afford to heat because of the dodgy  boilers installed by Riverside.

Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation has   fought continuously for these tenants, backing Jimmy Robb leader of their   pressure  group, Longtown Action for Heat.

OUR DRINKS HAVE NOT BEEN SPIKED

No truth in this

malicious

Riverside

 gossip

The long absence of a new post on this blog was not caused by Riverside Housing Association  of Liverpool as has been rumoured. The Federation is happy to deny the  malicious  gossip that Riverside has been spiking the drinks of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation members in order to shut us up. 

That is not to say that Riverside would not like to shut us up. Riverside in the past has tried to ensure that we cease  to exist-...Riverside told  Carlisle City Council  exactly that. And over the years, Riverside has threatened us several times with its obnoxious Persistent Complaints Procedure.

That was after Riverside withdrew a £1,200 a year grant to the Federation for no apparent reason.

But spiking drinks in order to shut us up?

Riverside would never stoop so low.

For the record, the absence of a new post on the blog was caused by illness. Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation apologises for this.

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 532803.