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| London Assembly |
Dear Dame
I have been asked by a senior member of the London Assembly to give an appraisal of things that are wrong in the 'south ' of the Borough .
These are the issues that hit home to me but could Hornets perhaps add theirs?
- Social Housing(Sutton Dwellings)
- Basement Digging
- The closure of Thamesbrook
- Crossrail 2
- The potential eviction of the houseboats from Cadogan Pier
This is the moment for us all to comment with a little detail on other concerns facing the southern Borough.
Best wishes
A resident
Thank you very much for inviting concerns from the South of the Borough.
ReplyDeleteIf you could kindly include the following:
An investigation into why many contractors employed by KCTMO/RBKC to complete major works (worth several £million) on housing stock in the Borough, go into administration or liquidation just AFTER or just BEFORE they complete their contract, walking away with payment but removing any guarantees for their work.
This has been observed several times, so much so, a pattern can be seen and questions must be asked.
Why also do KCTMO/RBKC reemploy renamed liquidated companies? Apollo completed work at Lakenal House (2009 fire killed 6), Apollo are now Keepmoat and employed by KCTMO/RBKC to complete all major work to housing stock in the the South of the Borough (please see 2016 Hornets Nest blog).
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/lakanal-house-the-verdict-35285
Thank you.
https://fromthehornetsnest.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/whose-on-take-at-kctmo-answers-please.html
ReplyDelete159 comments
Appears that these problems have featured on FTHN before, soliciting many comments, as seen above.
ReplyDeleteMaxilla nursery comes to mind. Also, the discontinuation of the 'stay put' small repairs facility, not worth TMO to get off their arse about. Sad Badger wrote about this some months ago.
Let us all contribute as much as possible,while the opportunity exists.
The issue on Thamesbrook is not just the closure of the old folks' home - though that Is certainly an issue in itself - but also the sale of the site by the council and the approval of plans to demolish the existing building and replace it with something much bigger. More overdevelopment. More loss of affordable housing.
ReplyDeleteThe whole STRUCTURE of the TMO is highly problematic. In addition, this year's AGM has been cancelled with no consultation, while a new Chief Exec has been appointed though an obscure appointment process. Oh, and the entire current council cabinet majority is well out of its depth, stuck as they are in a mode of relationship disconnected from actual reality.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I replied a few minutes ago, I find it strange that someone, called "a resident", posted on behalf (allegedly) of an anonymous "senior member of the London Assembly".
ReplyDeleteThis is not the democratic process within which members of the L.A., senior or not, usually act. Also, they have their own party networks, through which they could organise a democratic consultation, via the local party leaders, such as councillors & MPs.
How very John Le Carre! Name the mysterious 'senior member!' Why just the 'south'? The 'north' is beset be many more problems than its relatively more affluent other half; both areas at the whim of a dodgy council and its planners that put developers before residents they supposedly represent. Add to your list, the scandalous demise of Earls Court - 16% of all UK exhibition space lost against a backdrop of Britain's Brexit-battered economy - given over to 'luxury' flats as investment vehicles for offshore fat cats, and with no new social housing or replacement concert facility; the outrageous trashing of Kensington Odeon; the Marlborough School fiasco and the future death of Chelsea Farmers Market... all against widespread opposition by residents who are simply ignored.
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts have been passed on .
DeleteNotting Hill Police Station to be closed and sold
ReplyDeletewww.kensingtonsociety.org/notting-hill-police-station-closed
Earls Court or even Shepherds Bush police stations are only open part-time, good time for criminals then. Mind you, they'll tell you to report the crime online or talk to AI on the telephone which will take you through hoops of menus, press this, press that only to find that the option you want isn't there. lol
DeleteManagement of Council housing, in the South of the Borough, by the KCTMO can only be described as disastrously "wrong." So the GLA wants to know what is wrong, well I'll tell them straight just for starters.
ReplyDeleteThe staff at the TMO, including the bosses, are incompetent. The Tenant Members of the Board are even worse and lack the ability to have Company business under their control. They are all a bunch of crawlers who do exactly what Robert Black KCTMO CEO, a former Art Student, wants them to do in return for a generous monthly allowance disguised as an "expenses' claim" so that their housing benefit is not reduced. The Councillors on the TMO Board, past and present, are just as bad as the Tenants on it and lack talent.
IF you were a CEO, would you have Maighread Condon Simmonds on your Board for nine years. God love her, she is the only Tory Councillor stupid enough to go on the TMO. Fancy being so stupid- taking the poisoned chalice.
Let's not forget that Emma Dent Coad was on the TMO. Elizabeth Campbell was on it too as was Quentin Marshall- they must all take their share of responsibility for what is wrong with the TMO.
Our MP's Dent Coad and Hands must be in cahoots. Why haven't either of this pair demanded that the TMO folds.
DeleteAnonymous @ 22.56. You can't expect much of the Tory, Hands. He toes the Tory Party line on everything and is a good Tory. But what about Dent Coad,79 people are dead and she hasn't said the TMO is f***ked. I have been homeless since Grenfell. Wish Atkinson was doing it.
DeleteWhy hasn't Code demanded an end to the TMO.
DeleteGood news after all! In today's Standard, "Council chiefs are set to strip the housing company that runs Grenfell Tower of its responsibility to manage almost 10,000 homes, the Standard reveals today." "Barry Quirk, the council's acting chief executive, said 'I cannot see the TMO as a viable option for managing stock into the future, given the liabilities and challenges that it potentially faces. ... We are very keen, in discussions with TMO, to secure an orderly transition of services on a phased basis to ensure that residents receive continued service into the future.'"
Delete"Kensington Labour MP Emma Dent Coad, a local councillor, said: 'TMO residents have stated that they would prefer to have their homes taken back in-house by a competent team, with the option of setting up estate-based TMO'sif they so decide by vote.'
@18.33 Emma Dent Coad let everyone who paid rent suffer for all the years that she was on the TMO just because they were unlucky enough to have the Council as landlord.
Delete18.33. It is what Emma Dent Coad fails to say that bothers me. If the existing rank and file workers at the TMO are transferred over to the Council, if and when services are taken back in house, the housing management service will be just as bad as it was when it was provided by the TMO. I don't suppose that Dent Coad would call for competency testing of the staff and the sacking of the useless. I suppose she would want to spend a fortune retraining them.
DeleteAs a council resident in the south of the borough social cleansing has been amped up especially in regards to the development of Peter Jones Depository. Wiltshire Close residents are starting to feel that their days are numbered in Sw3. How long before prime real estate is sold off and council residents are forced out of the borough. The writing is on the wall.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you fancy? E 99 or Isle of Sky? Free transport provided.
Delete@15:34 That's why the residents need to get together now. Unite your locals. If you don't talk to each other you only have yourself to blame for not standing up. If you don't oppose, you are complying.
DeleteA casual property search of FLATS FOR SALE within RBKC shows there are currently 225 flats being marketed between £3,000,000.00 for a 3 bed and £35,000,000.00 for a 6 bed.
ReplyDeleteThis was a modest search, houses were not included.
With sky high numbers like this and a vast square footage of well appointed social housing stock within RBKC, which has been run down over many years by KCTMO on behalf of RBKC, a question needs to be asked, what do RBKC have in mind for their social housing stock in the long term?
@21:07 In today's standard, "Mr Quirk told a public meeting at the Al Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre that he was looking to treble the council's housing stock set aside for Grenfell survivors, which stands at 105 properties." OK, drop in an ocean but still... semi or detached houses are hard to come by but there are 1 bed - 2 bed properties. You only have to look at places like Earls court where estate agents are hogging the street one after the other.
DeleteWhere is Sad Badger these days? I hope she/he is enjoying a holiday or something.
ReplyDelete