SHADOW LEADER TOOK LEGAL ADVICE

Riverside,

"Brexit” and

yet another

Tory war

To leave...or not to leave? No, not the European Union and the national referendum debate. This is about  an equally controversial authoritarian organisation, Riverside Housing Association and whether the  Carlisle City Council should cut its long-standing links.

In Carlisle, there are uncanny similarities to the  Brexit debate and the referendum, As David Cameron struggles to hold the Tory party together nationally  and the Guardian proclaims “Tories at War”, there is a parallel divide in the Tory party locally 300 miles away.

The Carlisle Tory  “war” surfaced  during the current public storm about the Carlisle Careline service,  Riverside`s vital telephone helpline organisation for  the elderly and  vulnerable.

During that storm, Councillor Ray Bloxham, a well-respected  long-serving Tory councillor slammed Riverside over Careline in an attack in front of fellow councillors. 

Then, five weeks later he again faced councillors and  returned to the attack. He said Riverside falls far short of other housing associations which are open in their dealings and transparent in their operations.

SHADOW LEADER MALLINSON

Councillor Bloxham  said he doesn`t  like Riverside`s bossiness and he doesn`t like Riverside`s secrecy - their failure to be  open and transparent with everyone including their 50,000 tenants. Councillor Bloxham`s  critical views about Riverside are shared by  some other Tory councillors.

But other Tory councillors - notably, the shadow Council Leader, Councillor John Mallinson - have a much more supporting view of Riverside, particularly Councillor Mallinson when he dealt with the Longtown heating scandal- sixty of his Longtown electors  living in Riverside  ice box homes who cannot afford to heat them.

The sixty could get no one to help them fight Riverside. So, as a desperate last resort they called in a tenants` organisation. That organisation, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents Federation met Councillor Mallinson to urge him to press Riverside to do something about its dodgy boilers in the ice-box homes which were  causing  the problem.

Mr Mallinson could be  only partly supportive. He told the Federation that he wanted to be neutral between the tenants and Riverside, But amazingly, he agreed with Riverside and wanted the talks   to be kept secret in case of possible press interest.

The Federation refused to be secret. The press, radio and TV gave the sixty tenants maximum publicity, But today two years later despite all that support, the ice-box homes remain ice boxes.

Longtown`s ice box tenants are very critical of the claimed neutrality of Councillor Mallinson .They say he sides too much with Riverside and is not supportive of them.

RIVERSIDE DIRECTOR MRS MALLINSON

Within the city council, the fight goes on against against bossy Riverside and its ramshackle organisation.

 And searching questions are being asked about those wider Carlisle council links to Riverside that have lasted since that Merseyside organisation took over the city`s  7,000 council houses 14 years ago. 

Nearly twelve per cent of the present council has divided loyalties and conflicts of interest through their direct links to Riverside.

The searching questions are being asked particularly about the five city councillors who sit on the Riverside governing board.

 One of the  council Riverside directors is the Carlisle Mayor, Councillor Steve Layden who has been criticised in the past about his divided loyalties and conflicts of interest. Another director is Councillor Mallinson`s wife, Councillor Elizabeth Mallinson.

RIVERSIDE DIRECTOR MAYOR LAYDEN

Councillor Mallinson was asked about  his wife`s Riverside directorship when he was approached about the Longtown ice-boxes. He  assured the Federation that there were no divided loyalties and conflicts of interest.. To be absolutely sure, he said he had taken legal advice .

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

CATHEDRAL GROUP ACTS TO SUPPORT THE VULNERABLE

Why was

Riverside

`let off

the hook?`

Community supporters came together today in the shadow of Carlisle`s  10th century cathedral to help the city`s elderly and vulnerable to keep alive the vital telephone support system they depend on.

The get-together was the latest in a growing protest about the threat to end the Careline telephone support system  by the Liverpool-based Riverside Housing Associaiton which has run the system for the last 15 years.

Canon Michael Manley

Twelve hundred elderly and vulnerable now depend on Careline for support in their homes. Careline is now in crisis.

Councillors and many others have strongly condemned the Riverside decision and the city Labour Party is running a Careline support petition. 

The Cathedral get-together was held in the Cathedral Close and was organised by Cumbria Riverside Action Group activists, led by the chairman, Canon Michael Manley, the Carlisle Rural Dean and  Cathedral Missioner.

Afterwards the action group contacted the city council  leader Councillor Colin Glover with questions about the Careline crisis.

Here are the questions:

  
This group is perplexed why Riverside , who runs the vital service Careline, (which has always been self-funding); has suddenly started to demand an increase from its clients way above inflation, and then when its clients have responded negatively, has announced the closing of the service.

2.      This group asks Carlisle City Council how Riverside has been allowed to renege on the believed 15 year agreement it accepted , to maintain the provision of sheltered accommodation and the Careline service : which is not due to end until December 2017.

3.      If this original agreement has in fact been amended, would the Council please publish the date it came before councillors and the new terms accepted.

4.      This group wholeheartedly supports the retention of Careline  and the vital service that it provides to so many people.

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

BEGINNING OF THE END OF PRIVATISATIONS?

Riverside

danger after

the Corbyn

attacks

Jeremy Corbyn(left) joined  the battle this weekend as attacks on Riverside Housing Association continued unabated.

The Labour leader  did not mention Riverside by name but his speech at Nottingham clearly had organisations like Riverside in mind when he said that Labour aims to reverse years of forced privatisations.

The forced privatisation of Carlisle`s 6,000 council houses was planned and engineered  in Whitehall 14 years ago by Mr John Prescott, then  Tony Blair`s Community Secretary. Today, while Mr Corbyn attacks such privatisations, similar attacks are made  by Carlisle City councillor Ray Bloxham who  played a leading part in the actual handover process of the houses to Liverpool-based Riverside  in 2002.

Councillor Bloxham`s attacks  are very significant. He speaks with a lifetime experience of work in social housing. He also knows at first hand about Riverside`s sixty suffering tenants in ice-box homes at Longtown  caused by that organisation`s dodgy boilers. He knows because he represents that town on the city council .

From being an enthusiast for Riverside, Councillor Bloxham is now a disillusioned critic.This may be considered surprising because as a Conservative he is politically the opposite of Jeremy Corbyn.

This what Councillor Bloxham said following Riverside`s decision last week to scrap  its vital Carelne service for the elderly and vulnerable in order to save money:

Coun. Bloxham.." I despair..."

“I despair of Riverside because when we handed over the housing stock to them, we did so because they were community minded.

 “I don`t like their dictatorial attitude. This is no way to treat people. Riverside should not be in the housing business if they cannot talk to people”

Not community minded. Dictatorial in dealing with people.This is what Councillor Bloxham says and it is exactly what has been said for 14 years by critics of Riverside led by Carlisle Tenants and Residents` Federation.

Councillor Bloxham with his detailed knowledge of Riverside`s suffering Longtown tenanrs, could have added something else. That is that Riverside is organised in ramshackle way and is grossly inefficient.

Riverside`s dictatorial decision about Careline contrasts markedly with many other housing associations.These associations are doing ground-breaking work for their tenants and others.

Gentoo Housing Association of Sunderland is one of these. Its work was described   in a recent post on this blog.( See Carol Matthews and an organisation put to shame).

Gentoo`s outstanding work  is hopefully to be the subject of discussion by the city council later this month following questions submitted for oral answer by thecouncil`s Community Overview and Scrutiny Panel. The submiited questions are:

QUESTION ONE

“Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation welcomes the Panel`s decision to invite other housing associations to take part in those of its hearings when reports from Riverside Housing Association are discussed. The Federation asks if this wider discussion can please be extended to other housing associations, particularly those associations which are doing ground-breaking  work for their tenants and others, and  who unlike many associations are not principally motivated  by  profit  and the desire to boost  their financial reserves.

“Gentoo Housing  Association based in  Sunderland  is a good example of these ground-breaking associations. It is running a pilot scheme jointly  with the NHS, targeting fuel-inefficient homes occupied by people - irrespective of any connection they might have or might not have with Gentoo - who have respiratory problems likely to be worsened by cold and damp, These people are given a boiler on prescription by the NHS. The prescription comprises  a new boiler and insulation work including double-glazing, supplied by Gentoo.

“In the first six months of the pilot scheme, GP appointments were reduced by 28% and outpatient appointments by 33%. Tenants’ energy bills were reduced by a third on average and the scheme has saved the NHS many thousands of pounds”.

QUESTION TWO

“Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation  in the past has criticised the limitations of the Panel`s scrutiny role when reports from Riverside Housing Association are discussed. The Federation has also criticised the Panel`s very  limited allowance of oral  questioning  by taxpayers.

“In the spirit of the Panel`s new wider remit as referred to in the previous question,  will the Panel now please move to further increased scrutiny and questioning  to emulate the excellent work of parliamentary select committees.

“This question partly arises from what the Federation  was previously  told by the council i.e. that the basis of the  work of the Panel is founded on the work of these select committees and that nationally all local government overview and scrutiny bodies are the local government equivalent of these committees,”

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