with thanks to thisisnorthkensington.wordpress.com
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
IN SUPPORT OF CLLR CONDON-SIMMONDS
A local resident has written to the Dame in support of the Mayor....
Dear Dame
I have read the 172 comments regarding the TMO and the Mayor.
The TMO's reputation is an such a low ebb that anyone on the council connected with it seems to get tarred with its negativity.
Somehow, Cllr Condon-Simmonds seems to have got herself-wittingly or unwittingly, tied to the TMO.
This is a shame as this coucillor means well and is a very caring person.
Her lack of guile means that she probably goes where angels fear to tread and, as a result, attracts unfair and sometimes harsh comment.
Anyway, I just wanted to try and give another view of someone who is basically a good, well meaning person.
Please do not reveal my name.
Yours etc
xxxxxxx
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I support that. Whatever the faults of the TMO Maighread has been a fantastic and kind hearted Mayor.
ReplyDeleteHave the TMO been pointing a gun to Mayor's head then?
DeleteExactly. No one forced Maighread to do the things she is alleged to have done. Certainly not anyone at the TMO.
DeleteOh no, the TMO would never encourage anyone to do wrong.
DeleteYes, she means well.
ReplyDeleteWhether you mean well or not is irrelevant. If she was involved in that dodgy HRP bid in the manner that has been described and if she really does do her "friends" questionable favours in return for their support she has no place on the Council. And neither does any other Councillor who acts in a similar manner. Corruption is a slippery slope. Tolerating any kind of corruption, however minor it may appear, is a fatal mistake.
DeleteSadly it is clear that this kind of minor corruption is now so commonplace that we have become desensitized to it, possibly even accustomed to it, and are happy to tolerate it. If any of our Councillors believe otherwise they should act to have this matter investigated. I suspect none will. They will turn the other way and pretend it never happened.
DeleteThe person writing to the Dame is right in what they are saying about the TMO. The standing of the TMO has a reached an all time low under, Robert Black, the present Chief Executive, far worse than it was in the days of Kingsford, Perry and Evans. I suppose the caring Condon Simmonds and her Tory chums couldn't give a dam about those whose lives are blighted by the excesses and incompetence of TMO Executives.
ReplyDeleteAt least the person writing to the Dame is honest enough to acknowledge that the TMO is ghastly- so why is the Council doing nothing about it. I can only conclude that the Kensington and Chelsea Tory elite believe that the lower orders who depend on services provided by the TMO should be kept in their place. Let them suffer- do you know Council tenants keep coal in their baths.
Maighread Condon Simmonds meant well when:-
(i) she stitched up the residents of the Cremorne Estate with her desire to side with the monied interests of Crossrail, TfL, Property Developers and the Tory Council; socially cleansing the Cremorne area of the lower orders who are unlikely to vote Tory.
(ii) she supported a £ 60, 000 bid stating that the Residents' Association had "requested" estate improvements which was a. bare faced lie. These improvements were worked up for a friend's personal benefit, She let poor Miss Dascombe, a middle management official at the TMO, take the blame a lose a well paid job. She has guile alright.
I have personally been on the receiving end of nasty comments made by Maighread Condon Simmonds. I do not share the writer's opinion of the Mayor although I defend the writer's right to put a different view which is admirable.
The Cremorne Neighbourhood Officer must have known that the Mayor's particular friend had a private garden to which she controls the key. Did the Neighbourhood Officer report this to her manager and if the manager did nothing which would not surprise anyone, did the Neighbourhood Officer tell Robert Black.
DeleteI have been giving some thought to the question ' What did Robert Black know' about the private garden for the benefit of the Mayor's friend. I think the question needs enlarging because although it is a good question, it is deficient for the following reasons.
DeleteI would have thought that the people who complained to Greg Hands MP about the deception surrounding the £ 60, 000 HRP bid would have raised the matter with the TMO, in the first instance, before going to their Member of Parliament for help and representation.
Most Residents, particularly tenant leaders, know that they can complain
to:-
i) The Housing Office.
ii) The TMO Complaints' Team,
iii) The TMO Chief Executive,
iv) The Council's Monitoring Officer
v) The Chief Executive of the Council
If my experience is any thing to go by, I should imagine that the complainants approached the TMO and got nowhere and felt like they were banging their heads off a brick wall.
So the investigative questions should be,
Did anyone write to the TMO Chief Executive to complain about this matter before reporting the issue to Greg Hands MP? If so, what did the TMO Chief Executive do about the situation and why did it become necessary for Greg Hands MP to intervene?
AND
If a complaint or concern about the HRP bid was received by the TMO was it:-
a) recorded by the Complaints' Team, if not why not,
b) and if it was recorded by the Complaints' Team to which Executive Director(s) of the TMO did the Complaints' Team refer such a serious allegation for investigation,
c) Did the Complaints' Team refer this matter to the Council's Internal Audit for investigation as the administration of the HRP bid was the province of the Council, not the TMO,
d) TMO Executive Directors are required to judge where the public interest lies and exercise sound judgement in deciding which issues to bring to the attention of the TMO Chief Executive,
d) Did any Executive Director of the TMO refer the matter to the TMO Chief Executive? If not why not ? If so what did he do about it?
We are entitled to accountability over the spending of £ 60, 000 of public money and sweeping this under the carpet will not wash.
Well said Shane. The TMO would never manage it. They' re useless.
DeleteIt is time that Cllr Condom started to learn that she has no business going "where angels fail to tread"
ReplyDeleteCllr Condom!
DeleteHow appropriate
The Mayor is pretty much a bystander. Activist is SO wrong to say the TMO was better under Perry and Evans. This is when the real scandals began that Black is trying so hard to overcome. Most of the complaints on the Hornet relate to events that took place under Perry and Evans, ably assisted by Rawlings, Beverley, etc. The Housing Regeneration Programme does remain a scandal but is now being addressed.
DeleteAnonymous at 08.58 is probably a TMO employee crawling around Black hoping for preferment.
DeleteThe TMO is definitely worse under Black than it was under Perry and Evans. It is wrong to say that the complaints on this blog refer to matters before his time.
Perry and Evans never banned a Residents' Association from writing to any officer of the TMO. Black banned the Cremorne Residents Association from writing to anyone other than the TMO Complaints' Team. Black is a bigger control freak than Perry or Evans ever were. Black knows which side is bread is buttered. He nailed his colours to the mast of his Tory paymasters by supporting their plans for demolition of the Cremorne estate. Come to think of it Maighread did the same thing - she is reported to have told Cremorne Estate shopkeepers that they would all get lovely new shop. She is clueless about compulsory purchase legislation.
The cover up of the £ 60, 000 regeneration bid in which Ms Dascombe was sacrificed happened under Black.
08.58 says that the HRP scandal is now being addressed. How wrong he is,. The TMO Operations' Committee is set to take charge of the process. More unchecked power to Black's TMO. i don't think so
DeleteUnfortunately services have actually deteriorated under Black. This is perhaps not entirely his fault as the TMO had been ordered to reduce costs. Unfortunately it has done so by securing ever cheaper maintenance contracts and the end result is a long line of poor performing contractors and a deteriorating maintenance record.
DeleteYou are quite correct that Black has been trying to sort out some of the mess left by his predecessors. The problem is that he clearly needs to try harder. Many of the staff that behaved questionably under past regimes are still there happily behaving just as they always have. He needs a bigger broom and more power to his elbow. There's still an awful lot of rubbish that needs to be cleared away.
DeleteRe: 08:58. If the HRP is a scandal it's because of the TMO. The TMO staff dealing with HRP bids abuse the process in numerous ways, often without the knowledge of the residents whose name they attach to bids. How handing complete control of the HRP bidding process to those abusing it is supposed to rid it of scandal is beyond me. It sounds like the perfect recipe for further disasters.
DeleteRobert Black has not cleaned up the gardening man's activities.
DeleteDear 8:58. The dodgy HRP bid occurred under Black. Not Kingsford, Perry or Evans. The paperwork is still on the Council's website and it is dated 2010/11. Black joined the TMO in 2009. This scandal happened TWO YEARS into Blacks tenure. He did not inherit it from his predecessors.
DeleteNow Black may not have been to blame for what happened. But as CEO he is responsible and he should have ensured that it was dealt with properly. He did not. He bowed to his political masters at the Council, sacked one of his underlings and covered up for the dodgy Ward Councillor who was behind the whole thing.
10.23 acknowledges that services have deteriorated under Mr Black and attributes this to Council funding cuts.
DeleteWhen the austerity measures came in, I wrote to Mr Myers, the then Town Clerk, to enquire if there would be any cuts to the TMO's funding. Mr Myers replied that the Council did not intend making any cuts to the TMO's funding which means that the TMO was in a much stronger financial position than most local authority housing services in London. (I still have the e-mail from Mr Myers).
There is no excuse for any deterioration in TMO services. The Organisation is obliged to ensure that its contractors, regardless of how much they are paid, perform and deliver the services which they are contractually bound to deliver. Failure to monitor the contractor and default the contractor for under performance is the responsibility of TMO officials. If services are not up to scratch, the TMO Monitoring Officer should be challenged and, ultimately, so should Robert Black.
Sadly I suspect Mr. Myers was being "economical with the actualité". The TMO's management fee has been reduced year-on-year for several years now and more than one recent maintenance contract has been awarded based solely on cost (a fact the TMO do little to hide). Now that doesn't excuse the TMO's piss-poor contract management but the cuts are real.
DeleteHow right you are 12.36. Even if the cuts are real, the TMO's Contract Management Monitoring is abysmal. It has always has been abysmal even with numerous changes to staffing at the TMO since 2008.
DeleteThe heating in my block of flats broke down this morning for the sixth time in four months . The TMO Contract Monitoring Official identified the problem in December 2013, when the system broke down three times in six weeks, but failed to ensure the problem was put right when the heating was turned off on the 30th April 2014 for the summer season. So there you have it , residents suffer repeated heating interruptions courtesy of the Executive Team at the TMO whose complacency is breathtaking.
Councillors Maighread Condon Simmonds and Emma Dent Coad have both served as Directors of the TMO for most of the time that Robert Black has been in charge but neither of them has been successful in holding the Executive to account so that basic service improvements are implemented.
No one from the TMO has been in touch this morning either by e-mail or telephone to say sorry. A phone call costs very little and an e-mail costs nothing so lack of money is not the issue.
10.27 maintains that Black must try harder to sort out the mess. Black has been at the TMO since 2008, nearly seven years, and very little has changed or improved. Every TMO Chief Executive has been very good at saying that things have improved. This blog shows that people are less than impressed with Robert Black. He has had seven years to improve things. Gordon Perry moved on after seven years in the job when people would not listen to him saying how much the TMO had improved.
DeleteHere, here 11.08. THE HRP fraud occurred under Black. Black was not responsible for the fraud but it suited him to save Condon Simmonds and sacrifice Amy Dascombe. Disgraceful.
DeleteThe Dame's anonymous correspondent maintains that negativity about the underperformance and unethical practices of the TMO have tarnished Maighread Condon Simmonds and, by implication, tarnished the mayoralty. If the TMO tarnishes the mayoralty, it tarnishes the Council too.
ReplyDeleteWhy hasn't the good kind hearted Maighread spoken out publicly about the failings of the TMO so that something can be done about finding a better housing management solution for the Borough's housing stock. Many of my neighbours are regularly stressed out by the TMO but what has caring Maighread done about it. Nothing, she toes the RBK&C Tory Party line about the TMO.
I am sorry to say that I do not recognise Maighread Condon Simmonds in the same terms as those described by the Dame's Anonymous Correspondent. A few years ago, I copied an e-mail which I sent to the TMO to Maighread Condon Simmonds in the expectation that, in her capacity as a Council Nominated Board Member, she would take an interest in the situation. She copied my e-mail to a Councillor whom I had never met, a Councillor who later had to resign over the Barry Phelps lewd images scandal. She made a derogatory remark about me and then rather stupidly circulated that e-mail to my neighbours who rounded on her One of my neighbours told her that she should "emulate my qualities and not denigrate them." I reported Maighread to the TMO's Standards & Ethics Committee who did very little.
So Maighread goes where Angels fear to tread, don't make me laugh.
The Mayor tarnishes the TMO. She places undue pressure on RBKC and TMO officers to benefit her friends and herself. Most officers find themselves in impossible positions.
DeleteI hear that she has also placed pressure on police officers at times.
DeleteWe do have Maighread to thank for stopping the lovely Juliet Rawlings becoming a Tory councillor in Cremorne ward. Fortunately we have Gerard and Adrian instead, who at least have brains and know what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteThe mind boggles at Juliet Rawlings being a Councillor. Maighread knew better than anyone just how politically toxic Juliet would be.
DeleteA TMO Board Member told me that Juliet Rawlings before she left the TMO wrote to Robert Black to say that his probationary period had been satisfactorily completed and his appointment could be confirmed permanently. The Board Member who told me this was annoyed because the Board had not been consulted.
The jury's most definitely still out on Gerard and Adrian.
DeleteBut Maighread has a 13-year long track record as Ward Councillor. I wonder if one of her fans could provide us all with a list of her achievements during that time?
This email is unbelievable naive.
ReplyDeleteMaighread stands accused of grossly inappropriate, if not quite simply illegal, behaviour. It needs to be investigated properly not brushed under the carpet.
As for going "where angels fear to tread". What utter tripe. Maighread has not and is not the only Councillor on the TMO Board. And others have a far better track record of getting the TMO to fulfill its duties than Maighread. The TMO does not tarnish Maighread's reputation. She appears to be doing that perfectly well all by herself.
So the TMO Board did not have a vote of no confidence in Maighread when her involvement in the HRP bid came to light. Never mind, they can have one now because we all know that Gardening Competition was rigged in favour of her best friend, the Keane Gardener.
DeleteHer best friend has been winning gardening awards for years. Without a garden. She has also been given a Mayor's award. She has been rewarded for services given to the Mayor's electoral campaign. She leaflets and party workers meet in her house.
DeleteThe very large carpet under which RBKC scandals are invariably brushed, now sits atop a pile of sh*t the height of Ben Nevis.
ReplyDeleteThey're aiming for Everest.
DeleteEverest. The sky's the limit for the TMO's sh*t pile.
DeleteSounds like the condom burst
ReplyDeleteHave found the original bids in the HRP scandal.
ReplyDeleteAmy Danscombe confirmed that the Mayor, the ex-Housing Director and the special friend had met on site, gave a date and agreed the project. Residents and the police knew nothing of this agreement.
ReplyDeleteIs the ex- Housing Director, Mr Manson?
DeleteI think the police should now be called in to investigate this fraud / deception.
Aimee Dascombe did what was expected of her and carried the can when Greg Hands MP got wind of what was going on. The real naughty girl in this is Maighread.
Neither did council officers.
ReplyDeleteMartyn Kingsford was cock of the walk at the TMO and the Housing Department for over 20 years with an exemplary record. Then it all came to an end when the Council shafted him which coincidentally coincided with a change of Council Leader when Baroness Hanham retired.Gordon Perry talked the talk but didn't walk the walk and left suddenly leaving some of us to wonder was he pushed or did he jump. The Council will be grateful to Robert Black for letting Amy Dascombe take the blame for Maighread Condom Simmonds dodgy potentially fraudulent HRP bid but when it suits the Council he will be toast. Robert Black should try to contain the dissatisfaction and criticism of his administration because too many bad reports to the Council results in the inevitable. There were no hornets at the TMO under Robert Blacks predecessors. Funny sort of morality in the RBKC Conservative Party.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous to suggest that the Mayor is being vilified because of her association with the TMO. Yes, the TMO is a joke - a laughing stock The Mayor is deservedly being hung out to dry because she appears to have broken the rules about procuring advantages for personal friends.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Dominic Davies, The TMO Gardening Man?
ReplyDeleteHe has his hands on the money from the ARB projects, HRG projects and he maintained healthy relationships with the current and potential contractors. Who is investigating that?
Is Robert Black aware of what this Gardening Man is up to?
ReplyDeleteWe now know that Maighread has been a very naughty girl. Has this Gardening Man been a very naughty boy too?
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the TMO, I have removed better from the sole of my shoe. It is a morally derelict organisation - it is no better than vermin.
ReplyDelete17.49 COMPARES THE TMO TO DOG EXCRETA. TIME TO LOOK AT WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE TMO FROM THE TOP DOWN.
ReplyDeleteThe TMO is sh*t. Full of guttersnipes and sewer rats.
ReplyDeleteThe TMO gives tenants who stand up to it hell. When the tenant dies, the TMO sends a representative to the persons funeral. The TMO woman who attended Robert Hertners funeral was a hypocrite
ReplyDeleteVermin, hypocrites, guttersnipes and sewer rats = TMO
ReplyDelete13.07 forgot to put dogs muck in the equation
ReplyDeleteDid the TMO send a woman to John Arthurs funeral? Is this encouraged by Mayor Condon Simmonds
ReplyDeleteMystic Meg says that Black will be toast. I work at the TMO and a few of us will raise a glass when Black goes.
ReplyDeleteCondon Simmonds, if she were any good, would be holding Black to account for the incompetence visited on tenants. I suppose she is grateful for the sops which she obtains for her best friend and her favourite local restaurant.
ReplyDeleteI went to Robert Hertners funeral and saw the woman from the TMO. If you don't want some ghastly woman from the TMO at your funeral, make sure you tell your nearest and dearest today.
ReplyDelete