Dear Dame,
I understand that the Council has been trying to establish what tenants and leaseholders think about the Housing Management Service following the abolition of the former and much denounced Tenant Management Organisation (TMO).
Surveys often give a very misleading snapshot of the true situation. The TMO carried out surveys with regularity considerable expense.
The TMO repeatedly made the spurious claim that between 72% or 80% of residents thought the TMO was "excellent" or "very good" at managing the housing service.
It is a pity that it took the tragedy at Grenfell Tower before the truth about the TMO emerged.
Surveys often give a very misleading snapshot of the true situation. The TMO carried out surveys with regularity considerable expense.
The TMO repeatedly made the spurious claim that between 72% or 80% of residents thought the TMO was "excellent" or "very good" at managing the housing service.
It is a pity that it took the tragedy at Grenfell Tower before the truth about the TMO emerged.
Perhaps, your commentators and hornets have something to add.
Yours sincerely,
The Spurtle.
What the hell is a spurtle?????
ReplyDeleteA Scottie implement for stirring porridge....
ReplyDeleteMy mother used a spurtle for stirring porridge and broths. I tell yer, it is a stirrer, the Scottish version of a wooden spoon
ReplyDeleteRBKC does not consider its duty is to residents, rather it exists to protect and serve its employees. RBKC is a microcosm of an Orwellian Society, where bullying residents is endemic and any criticism of council officers, no matter how legitimate the criticism, is not tolerated. Every resident should read this article, also published in Private Eye (link attached) about the Grenfell Tower tragedy and how RBKC and the TMO dealt with concerned tenants.
ReplyDeletehttp://morningtonpeninsulabandicoot.com/2017/07/09/a-chronicle-of-deaths-foretold/
This is typical council behaviour. Residents should also view the webcasts of full council meetings as there are frequent speeches by residents which amply demonstrate council behaviour - the most recent one (26th June) of a gentleman and his elderly mother made homeless and sectioned under the Mental Health Act for insisting on being housed.
What is Emma Dent Coad doing about this shocking situation.
DeleteEDC has never attended any consultation meeting with engaged residents and RBKC. Someone called Bruno said he was sent on her behalf to observe, as a series of meetings came to an end, to see where they were - the arrogance and ignorance DOH!
DeleteDear Dame,
DeleteHats off to The Spurtle, that Great Scottish Stirrer, for having the foresight to write to you to raise a most important issue - How tenants and leaseholders are really being treated by RBKC Housing Services now that the TMO has been committed to the flames.
I have read the contribution at 10.40 above. I had hoped that the bullying of tenants would cease once the TMO was disbanded. I recall the TMO bullying tenants and leaseholders and know of a number of people who had the strength of character to fight back. There was even talk of recalcitrant tenants who refused to toe the line and be cowed in to silence being put on the blacklist. How could the TMO ever change its authoritarian practices just because the same bullies were transferred to the Council's payroll.
I am horrified to learn that a Homeless Person has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act in the circumstances described by 10.40 above. This sounds reminiscent of the treatment meted out to the poor by Guardians of the Poor Law in Charles Dickens's day.
It is high time that those responsible considered their positions.
Nothing changes. RBKC is just as bad as the TMO used to be.
DeleteDisgusted to hear that EDC has not "attended any consultation meeting with engaged residents and RBK&C" She is now drawing £90K a year from the Council and Parliament.
DeleteParasite or socialist?
Deleteshe's an arrogant parasite.
DeleteWhat does she think she is doing? Claiming 90K a year and not ever attending important meetings between the Council and residents. I bet she attends every meeting that Corbyn calls.
DeleteWho needs citizens or even "engaged residents" when we have got the Labour Party and a Labour MP telling us what is good for us.
DeleteEDC may be many things mercurial, but........
DeleteFacts are:
EDC sat on the KCMTO board.
EDC has NOT attended one Housing Consultation meeting between RBKC and residents. The "Tenants Consultative Committee" (TCC) began in December 2017, hosted by RBKC at the Town Hall. Plenty of opportunity for EDC to attend - they are held each month!
Is mercurial EDC too busy, too grand, too disinterested to bother? And takes the Kings Shilling.
How I wish that Emily Thornberry was MP for Kensington. She would be on our side.
DeleteDid Councillor Judith Blakeman go to any of these meetings?
DeleteHave any Tory Councillors bothered to show up at these important meetings?
Judith Blakeman and Monica Press attend TCC most months and contribute. KTS attends most months on the panel, most recently sometimes in the audience.
DeleteOther Con councillors do NOT attend. Only once did the leader attend (sat at the back of the room and left early) with a bunch of Con Cllrs in tow, after it was noted NO Con councillors ever showed up, so they were all rolled out. All fake and flaky and just for show of course.
I mean why would they care, their focus is caring for themselves and the rich of RBKC, not looking after the proles, that would be far too much work with no gain.
Cross benches - Cllrs all mostly cut from the same cloth it seems.
Councillor Emma Dent-Coad MP practices of the politics of the underdog and champions their causes. Yet she has never attended the monthly TCC meetings.
Delete12.11 is right. She was a Non-Executive Director of the Kensington and Chelsea TMO for a number of years. She heard first hand accounts of the misery and distress meted out to Council tenants by bullying staff at the TMO. Wickedness at the TMO triumphed at the expense of those who could not afford market rents because Councillor Emma Dent-Coad MP did nothing. How does she sleep at night.
EDC is a member of the Emma Dent Coad Society. She is in politics just for herself and lines her own pockets. If there is a General Election, we will be able to get her out. We need Linda Wade or Ian Henderson on the ballot paper.
DeleteThat ghastly marxist has not even managed to put a stop to housing officials bullying tenants. What is she doing?
DeleteEmma Dent Coad MP would be the first to condemn a Tory politician for not putting a stop to housing officials bullying tenants.
DeleteCan 10:40 above help us please. I have just read the link on your entry and read about Sheila Belgrave.
DeleteWhy didn't the Council political appointees on the TMO Board call in the police? As you have knowledge of wrongdoing you could report this to the police today.
07.34 I think Maighread and Emma were on the TMO at the time that she started working at the TMO. They would know all about this and might be able to help with a criminal investigation.
DeleteI think Elizabeth Campbell was a Council Nominated Non-Executive Director of the TMO at the time that Sheila got a top job in the place. I remember Elizabeth sitting on the platform at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the TMO in 2008 looking like there was a dirty smell in the place.
DeleteShe should go to Quirk asking him to call the police. Following Grenfell, it is time to be straight with us.
From memory Councillor Campbell served on the TMO Board during the AGM/EGM debacle under Helen Evans.
DeletePlenty of questionable stuff happening then.
Plenty of questionable stuff happening now.
So little has changed ...
Hang on a minute, Lemon, Councillor Campbell was on the TMO under Perry and in the early stages of Evans. As was Councillor Quentin Marshall. Neither Campbell, Marshall or Condon Simmonds will grass to the police about Sheila Belgrave's appointment. But Emma is Labour and she could spill. The thing is will she.
DeleteNo one will grass.
DeleteThere is no interest in investigating anything that happened under the TMO.
As far as the Council is concerned history started on the 1st of March 2018. It's pretending that anything that happened before that is none of its business.
There's a large sheet covering a pile of poo and no one is willing to lift it to see just how much poo there really is.
I am thinking of grassing to Greg Hands MP. If someone else grasses to Emma Dent Coad MP the this pair might agree to bury their political hatchets and draw it to Cressida Dick's attention.
DeleteI have grassed to Hands. He wasn't interested in doing anything.
Delete@07:34 As "Something very fishy went on 22 July 2019 at 21:40" said, it will only be covered up. It happened to me when I call the police. Then the police will say there are not enough offiers. So it goes on and on as it has been. If we rely on them, I guarantee you that we will be wondering what to do in 5, 10 years time. Forget relying on others. We need to do it. Only our action will move us forward. You know they don't do anything other than push a pen by now..
DeleteThe OLD order remains - senior staff tuped over from KCTMO to RBKC doing the same jobs. A bullying culture is clear between staff and towards residents. Meanwhile the merry go round of interim junkies who move between the huge number of dysfunctional Housing Trusts, ALMO's and Councils continues at senior level, generating huge incomes for themselves with no accountability, whilst peddling BS and moving on with an enhanced CV full of it. Agency fees spent on these interims - FOI anyone?
ReplyDeleteH O P E L E S S
Kim Taylor-Smith is responsible for Housing Management!
Will he be accountable?
The KCTMO staff was brought over in Housing Services as per contractual obligations.
DeleteIt is quite possible for incompetent and bullying staff to be dismissed, Bruno. They may have had to be transferred to the Council initially but three years on they should have all been shown the door. I know you were in league with Dent Coad for a while as one of her stooges but don't let her daft ideas about sacking the useless influence you.
DeleteUnfortunately Rosie, incompetent and bullying staff cannot be sacked. They are protected at the highest levels of the council - it is part of the RBKC culture to fiercely protect each other. Staff can only be sacked for proven wrongdoing which is why whistle blowers are so important, but good luck finding a whistle blower when they are all in cahoots with eachother. Neither can council employees be sued for gross incompetence or bullying because they are protected by "incompetence is not a crime".
DeleteSome councillors are concerned enough about this to be trying to do something about it. One of the ideas is to employ officers who actually live in the borough and so have a personal interest in how their community is treated and how their taxes are spent. The problem with this of course, is the current crop of unaccountable officers do the hiring and they have no incentive to hire decent, honourable people who might eventually put an end to their very comfortable lives.
You are talking nonsense. I am an employment lawyer and you are embarking on a flight of fancy.
DeleteLawyer at RBKC presumably!
Delete@18:48 There supposed to be a tenant who will be involved in selection of new staff. I believe they have had a training. This was from Staff & Culture meeting. Whether that is just a feel good factor...participating tenants will tell you.
DeleteI don't know if 00:12 above is Mr so and so but s/he is talking in rather general term. Take NO for an answer.
DeleteWhat specific questions would you ask More of the same with bells on? Perhaps there is a good FOI request to be made. Very slow process mind you and RBKC uses every trick in the book to avoid disclosure or anything resembling accountability.
ReplyDeleteEasiest way to make a Freedom of Information Request: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/
DeleteAn FOI on Whatdotheyknow is great because it is made public, and it allows everybody else to see how the council responds, but unfortunately they cannot offer advice when your request is refused. They also cannot take it further to the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") so Whatdotheyknow's usefulness ends where RBKC wants it to end.
DeleteAnd be warned, ICO will side with the council because it is easier and faster to do so - councils have a lot more money to appeal decisions they don't like, whereas individuals will usually just give up.
RBKC Council has held a consultation about how us, council tenants & leaseholders, wished our homes managed. This was conducted by an organisation called Traverse, over a period of 18 months. Doug Goldring, Director of Housing Services, was in charge of the consultation.
ReplyDelete@BdF your statement is without content
ReplyDeleteWhat was the response take up by residents to consultation through Traverse? 2% !!!
Exactly. If you're feeling generous you'd say the consultation just wasn't well conceived or well run. If you're feeling a tiny bit cynical you'd say that was the idea. Why educate the residents on what might be possible when it's easier to scare them into accepting the status quo?
DeleteThe TMO is not dead. It's just been re-branded as the Council's Housing Department.
ReplyDeleteThe many commentators on here are absolutely right.
ReplyDeleteThe TMO is still with is, body and soul. How could it not be so?
Doug Goldring rode in on his white stallion and promised the earth. A few TMO staff moved on. But those were the ones who weren't so totally useless that they couldn't find themselves another job. Doug Goldring supposedly showed a few the door but by all accounts you can count how many on the fingers of one hand. So what are we left with? Former TMO staff members who are either so incapable they can't find another job for love nor money and those who are so deep head-first in the trough that they obviously have no wish to move on if there's any possibility of more troughing yet to come.
And so eighteen months on nothing has really changed. The worst of the TMO are still with us. Corrupt practices still abound. Doug Goldring has sat at numerous TCCs and repeatedly made promises to the residents that he has failed to deliver on an epic scale. And the residents are slowly starting to notice that they have been duped.
There have been no noticeable improvements. Repairs are as bad as they ever where. Contract management is still piss poor with contractors continuing to abuse their position, being paid handsomely to do pretty much whatever they like and the ex-TMO, now Council, officers supposedly managing them standing by and watching them get away with murder. Officers continue to befriend contractors and brown paper envelopes fly like something out of Harry Potter. Favouritism and "special favours" abound for those who will sing the praises of the dodgiest.
Is Doug Goldring unaware? Perhaps he is, but if he's paying attention at meetings and reading his emails he shouldn't be, because the residents have been pointing out that the emperor has no clothes for months.
Time to take off the blinkers Doug, and take a good hard look at the total quagmire that you inherited and have so far proved incapable of sorting out. It really is as bad as the residents told you all those months ago, however much you might have wished otherwise. And whatever you might be telling yourself things haven't changed.
Doug should do himself a favour and get hold of a copy of the Maria Memoli report from a decade ago and read it. Sadly it's all still very relevant.
DeleteOne of my neighbours complained to Doug about Wood and Ward in Leaseholder Services. He referred to them as junior staff so we are lumbered with them.
DeleteDoug is clearly not stupid. He must be aware that the staff are telling him fibs. Big ones.
DeleteIf only Ward and Wood were the worst of the bunch!
DeleteThey're just the public face obscuring the far dodgier characters operating behind the scenes.
@10:44.
DeleteFrom the link provided above - http://morningtonpeninsulabandicoot.com/2017/07/09/a-chronicle-of-deaths-foretold/
Systemic failures
After a long fight and more than 400 individual complaints about the way the TMO was run, in 2009 an investigation was undertaken by Maria Memoli, a solicitor who had served on several professional governance committees of the Law Society. Far from being “tenant-led”, Memoli identified 28 systemic failures in practices and management of the TMO, and found residents were being treated with contempt by TMO employees.
“There was a lack of customer care, etiquette and ethics and a lack of respect by certain individuals at the TMO towards residents,” she said, finding that board members abused their positions, got preferential treatment and had their repairs prioritised over other tenants who were not board members.
Memoli made 34 recommendations; but rather than embrace the lawyer’s impartial advice, the council sat on her report for six months on the grounds that it “did not meet expectations”.
When Memoli’s report was finally released at the end of 2009, the council decided it would give the job of adjudicating on the upheld complaints to John Butler, a retired housing association chief executive. Butler promptly departed from nearly all the investigation’s recommendations.
Never a truer word said. And nothing has really changed. John Butler was brought in to whitewash Maria Memoli's report in the most blatant manner possible. Doug Goldring is effectively doing the same by other means.
@11:14
DeleteAnd this:
"Over the years the high-handed management style of the TMO led to tenants being inhibited about complaining, because they feared victimisation. This could be seen in repairs not being carried out on schedule and undue attention being paid to how those who spoke out were conducting their tenancies."
The bullying is back.
WE may be lumbered with staff at the TMO that no other housing provider would ever dream of employing.
DeleteWhen the Audit Commission gave the TMO a Three Star rating in 2006 some of us new it was a sham. The Council gave us the bum's rush, well it would, wouldn't it? We never imagined that the Audit Commission Lead Inspector would get a top job in the TMO at a very high salary about eighteen months later. One resident wrote about this suspect situation in the local rag and the TMO threatened legal action, well it would, wouldn't it?
What concerns me most is that good housing providers who were worthy of the extra funding from central government were deprived of that extra money because the TMO got money that it did not deserve. Indeed, the Memoli Report, a truly honest report, unearthed the truth about the TMO, an incompetent not fit for purpose mess; something that the Audit Commissioned failed to acknowledge. I wonder why?
@11:26
DeleteThe TMO were always quick to pick on Council tenants. Too much complaining and you'd be called in by the housing officer for a "chat".
They couldn't do that with leaseholders. They had a bit of a habit of biting back. So they were just ignored instead.
10:52 - what Doug doesn't appear to have realised is that the junior staff are often the real problem. It's all well and good appointing a load of highly paid assistance directors and the like but it doesn't achieve very much if the junior members of staff are behaving as poorly as they have always done and the adult supervision is lacking.
DeleteEVERY Councillor knows about the irregular way that the Housing Inspector (whose specious report got the TMO a three star rating and a massive pile of extra cash) obtained an Executive appointment at the TMO. Come Quirk call in the Borough Commandeer and let's have it out in the open once and for all.
DeleteThere is no adult supervision.
DeleteI could not agree with you more 15.47 It is the foot soldiers in the Housing Department who are the problem. Black did not get this point either. The Housing Department needs clearing out.
Delete@10:56 No. He is not. When he was chosen, he took a pre-employment personality test to test the suitability. He was willing to listen to us and review of the policies has been good. The question is, where do we go from there? Papers are just papers until they take action and it ain't happening. I would say that he is aware of many things and even if he wanted to action I have a feeling that he cannot do as he pleases. There was something he said which I'm not going to reveal but my comments above is based on that statement he said in the meeting. If I write it he'd know who I am as he's got such a good memory. Not that it matters but I don't want to sabotage further by saying it otherwise shadow figures will not like it. Anyway, one example why he appears that he does not take action: all the housing staff are now under the Council umbrella and they are protected so a simple bullying can't be used as a reason to suck someone.
DeleteDo you honestly think Doug reads FTHN? Good memory I don't think so, he is a man of very limited means and not a great thinker. Not sure he would want to suck someone, sack maybe - you decide.
Delete@13:34 Who said Doug reads FTHN??
Delete@14:34 - keep up dear!
Delete12:34 intimates as much.
@ABC 14:34 here. I wrote 12:34 and never said he reads FTHN. lol Wake up!
DeleteI knew the TMO bullied its tenants. I did not know that the TMO bullied the press when someone exposed the appointment of Sheila Belgrave. The legal action that the TMO threatened was presumably going to be paid for with money given to TMO by the Council for running the housing service.
ReplyDeleteRobert Maxwell threatened legal action and issued writs to stop people telling the truth. If the truth had come out, Daily Mirror pensioners might have been better off.
Doug,
The Council must mend bridges and deal with all the wrong doing of the past at the KCTMO. We need some sort of truth and reconciliation commission. Without this process people cannot move on Perhaps, Maria Memoli could be brought in to work with people.
When Doug first arrived there were signs that there might be some proper scrutiny of the staff once they have been transferred to the Council.
DeleteSadly it looks like Doug took the easy way out, told them all to behave and hoped for the best.
But expediency is never a good idea. It's going to come back and bite him as it becomes apparent that they're all reverting to form.
Robert Black was very fond of telling people to draw a line under the past and move on. He told the local paper, "We have to restore faith in people who have lost confidence in us".......Famous last words... and look what happened, bullying of tenants especially over the Grenfell refurbishment.
ReplyDeleteRobert Black changed nothing. Lots of lovely words. No real action. If anything the way the Maria Memoli report had been handled should have told us what exactly the Council wanted him and the TMO to do - to simply bury the bad news and hope it never saw the light of day.
DeleteHow right you are. Sounds like you're as pissed off as I am with the Housing.
DeleteThe Council had an opportunity to address past wrongs and ensure they did not happen again. They brought Doug Goldring in. He promised to do just that. He was appointed in late 2017, the Council took over the housing in March 2018. It's July 2019. Have things changed? I would say they haven't. Doug Goldring still has the opportunity and the time to put thing right, but it's far from clear that he has the inclination. If he did certain people would be long gone. But they're still there. Being paid a more than decent sum, doing whatever they like with no punishment for past and current misdemeanours, sitting pretty with their gold plated local authority pensions.
DeleteIf anyone really thinks something like Grenfell couldn't happen again they should think twice.
ReplyDeleteWe've been flagging up fire safety issues on our estate for months. The staff promise to deal with them. They don't. We point it out. They repeat the same promise to deal with the issues. They don't. We point it out. They repeat the same promise to deal with the issues. They don't. We point it out. Round and round the loop we go.
Sound familiar? It's what happened at Grenfell.
Nothing has changed.
It would help if the Council didn't appear to believe that the only fire safety issue were the front doors on individual flats.
ReplyDeleteCommunal fire doors that don't close properly? Not an issue.
Communal fire doors that have had inappropriate repairs carried out to them by unqualified contractors? Not an issue.
Gas mains running up the side of the buildings? Not an issue.
Gas mains running up the inside of buildings through communal areas? Not an issue.
Residents doing clearly stupid things and endangering their neighbours? Not an issue. Specially if those residents have friends among the usual suspects.
Does anyone think this is going to end well?
They really need a clue.
The truths hurts. Well I should bloody hope it does. What the hell is Doug doing about this?
DeleteThe buck stops with Goldring and Quirk.
at 17.42. The "clue" that they need is Grenfell.
DeleteDoug appears to be happily believing whatever nonsense his staff dream up to excuse their inaction. It doesn't appear to have dawned on him that he really shouldn't still be hearing about that fire safety issue a resident raised last year and he asked be dealt with at the time ... and also asking himself why he's still hearing about it and why it still hasn't been dealt with months later. In any other job the staff members responsible would be on a disciplinary for total ineffectiveness and borderline incompetence. At the Council? No chance!
Delete@17:42. It's perfectly fine to do whatever you like, whether it endangers anyone else or not, as long as you know the right people and they can encourage the staff to look the other way.
Delete@17:42 If you are interested in resolving the issues, would you be interested in a proposal/idea I have? I have done a bit of enquiry. I know it is a strange question to ask whether you are interested in resolving the problem but I find that many people complain but they don't take action. We need to make them accountable. If interested, please contact me at rbkc(at)protonmail.com
Delete@18.39 Is your proposal in relation to housing only or do you have an interest in also resolving general issues of council accountability and corruption?
Delete@02:21 One thing at a time. It will be housing to start with which includes the gas issues on the estate as well as whatever else going on in other estates. If enough people are interested, we will make them accountable before anything catastrophic happens again. I had a meeting to take the first step forward but I need tenants on board. Can't do it on my own I'm afraid. It would be better if we could arrange a meeting so that I can explain and to brainstorm. We must take action. If we keep on doing the same thing again and again, we will get the same non-action result we've been getting for the past decade at least.
DeleteThose responsible must face the full rigour of disciplinary action now.
ReplyDeleteDon't you think it would look really really bad this time around if there was to be another apocalypse? Nothing has changed. I get the feeling that Dough knows what goes on. He doesn't miss things but whether he can take action is another matter. The Council staff can get away with murder.
DeleteIt has been suggested that Doug's political masters are the ones pulling the strings and pulling them in such a way that little has actually changed. Because at the end of the day they don't want things to change. Not really. They were quite happy with the corrupt unethical cesspit that was the TMO. And they're clearly perfectly happy for the Council to be much the same. Doug may well have concluded some time ago that under the circumstances his best bet is to simply run down the time on his contract until he can leave the moral disaster that is RBK&C well and truly behind and hope it doesn't completely destroy his reputation in the process.
DeleteAs long as we are pointing a figer at someone i.e. Dough did this, Dough is not doing this etc... we will forever be discussing the mote point. Let's not focus on the past which we can't change. What are WE going to do about it? That's what matters. Take ownership of the problem. As long as you are a victim, slave, you don't stand a chance. The Council/TMO has been doing what they like, so can we.
DeletePeople are pointing the finger at Doug because he made promises he clearly hasn't kept. Perhaps he couldn't. Perhaps it proved impossible. Perhaps he never intended to. Whatever the case the end result is the same.
DeleteDear dame,
ReplyDeleteYour correspondent,The Spurtle, deserves a medal by recognising that nothing much has changed in estates' management in the Borough since the winding up of the Kensington and Chelsea TMO.
Others have mentioned corruption at the TMO. One commentator knows of corruption in the current arrangements. No point anyone complaining about corruption now because the Council is not interested in past corruption or for that matter corruption today.
I have raised a case of fraud to do with Grenfell funds but of course as a third party I heard nothing back. Repairs are still dismal. If anybody would like to tell me your horror stories around your estate, please email me at rbkc@protonmail.com I would like to publish (no personal details) what goes on in the borough to let other tenants know. Time and time again, we have been kept in the dark and I think the only way forward is to publish each and every stories.
DeleteLooking forward to hearing from you.
Now don't forget that when Maria Memoli investigated the TMO, she interviewed tenants and leaseholders. She then passed on matters that required further investigation to a retired police officer; a very capable man with experience of investigating criminality. I understand that he unearthed FRAUD and it was conveniently covered up by the Council.
DeleteDoes anyone know the details of the fraud that was uncovered by Maria Memoli's retired policeman?
DeleteAt least one of the frauds that was uncovered involved members of staff, most of whom are still with us, funnelling money to their favourite residents by abusing the Senior Citizens Forum.
DeleteThe money was supposed to be for the benefit of all elderly residents, the staff ensured it ended up with certain residents who promptly spent it on themselves. In return the residents kept quiet whilst lots of unnecessary and expensive works were carried out on their estates. The residents were being paid to look the other way. God knows what the profit sharing arrangements between the staff and contractors were. The scam was put a stop to as soon as someone complained but the TMO denied any wrongdoing and the staff involved went unpunished.
And before anyone suggests this is old news, pretty much the same thing is still happening today with certain residents benefiting from "special relationships" with members of staff. It paid to have friends at the TMO and it still pays to have those same friends at the Council. And Doug and his team have demonstrated very little inclination to do anything about it.
Councillor Emma Dent-Coad MP knows about the Fraud and what the copper discovered back in 2008/ 2009. She has done nothing for us, long suffering council tenants, since she became MP. She should stop using us for her own ends now. She needs to stop her silly games and join tenants in this monumental fight against an oppressive local authority landlord. She should lead the way, she'll find it difficult because she led us a dance when she was on the TMO.
Delete@10:33 re: funnelling money to their favourite residents
DeleteExactly this is/was happening post Grenfell. I can prove this but it went nowhere. The tenant who 'worked' for an individually profitted massively.
I think we should all temporarily withhold the rent until the housing function as it should. It is getting ridiculous. If Grenfell couldn't fix the housing department...what will? Another catastrophe?
ReplyDeleteA rent strike would only work if the majority of people went on it. Personal rent strikes do not work. Does anyone know how to mobilise tenants to go on rent strike. Emma Dent Coad is supposed to be left wing, perhaps, she could point us to a rent strike organiser.
ReplyDeleteWe will find the way and make it work.
DeleteI think this blog is putting the wind up the Council very nicely.They say they don't read it but we know they do.
DeleteEmma Dent Coad will not endorse a rent strike. She is an elected member of the Council as well as an MP. Ken Livingstone would know how to do it. Emma please get Ken to come on here and advise us how to organise a rent strike. We could achieve so much if 60% of people withheld their rent until the Council. Now that would put the wind up the Council.
@23:13 There is a way but I'm not going to post it here.
DeleteAlso, you guys are clued up so you probably already know this but there are plants...in the meeting. At least I know one, my ear was eeked by comments made by this individual. I don't want to create a kind of paranoia but had to be said.
Yeah, all tenants and leaseholders have years of bad TMO stories to tell - all well known and repeated time and time again.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a complaint to make - follow the formal complaints
procedure. Do it time and time again and take it all the way.
What else can be done - the malfeasance is all in the public domain and none bats an eyelid. Councillors do nothing and the sorry chain continues. Must we move?
@22:58 A formal complaint? LOL Only to be made to go round and round as per usual? Time for such thing is over. We need to take legal action. I won't be bothering with official complaint procedure.
Delete@23:07 Complaint figures add up and RBKC don't like them.
ReplyDeleteYou need to log a complaint and follow through to the next stage, be it to the ombudsman or an agency of your choosing. How are you going to take legal action without making a compliant? You must let RBKC know what the problem is and give the opportunity to reply and improve. Unreasonableness can be easily shown across every aspect of the service.
Sounds like you cannot be bothered to follow procedure, like they are not bothered, and you (who is the "we" need to take legal action) will be unlikely to take legal action, the whole situation perpetuates and what you say is just pie in the sky blog talk. You need to do something - starting with a complaint to start with. Have you made a complaint to RBKC?
The TMO's original complaints' procedure stated that you could complain about anything you wanted to complain about. People "cottoned on" and made complaints. TMO staff under Kingsford and Perry lied to show the TMO in a better light. Complainants were then singled out for nasty treatment. I was abused and often shouted at by TMO staff most of whom would not have been tolerated in any other workplace. How did so many inadequates get jobs at the TMO?
DeleteBy the time that Robert Black and Sasha Jevans took the reigns there were so many complaints which resulted in the TMO redefining what you could complain about. Tenants could only complain about service failure otherwise the correspondence was not recorded as a complaint. Clever tenants "cottoned on" and managed to put in a complaint making it clear that the matter was related to service failure. The staff who handled complaints were useless.
The formal complaints procedure is still complete rubbish today. Ask anyone who has made a formal complaint under the new regime. It's not much different to the old one!
Delete@07:31 I forgive you for your assumption. You don't know the whole story where I am coming from. May be update your legal knowledge?
Delete@07:31 I have submitted plenty of complaints. I'm fed up with it. It is useless hence bypassing to be one of the statistics. I am chosing a result orientated path.
DeleteSome of the comments on here are a tad unfair, but the following is now clear:
ReplyDeleteThere was plenty of corruption in the TMO and many residents told Doug where to look for it and in many cases who the staff members involved were. But we're now 18 months in. If he hasn't investigated whatever you told him about he clearly isn't planning to.
The same applies to the ex-TMO staff themselves. If you reported poor behaviour by a member of TMO staff and they're still employed today then Doug clearly does not intend to do anything about it.
And that's what's slowly dawning on many residents, that Doug has now "finished" addressing corruption, immoral behavior and poor performance. That we are now at the end state of the organisation. And that it is not the one that Doug promised them 18 months ago. If all they're doing is holding that against him he can't complain because they're right to be disappointed. He promised much and delivered very little.
Many of these comments are historic and coming from an uniformed position. Several staff have left RBKC or are in the process of leaving.
ReplyDelete@09:04 it sounds as if you are not involved in any consultation - is that the case?
Many of these comments are from people who have first hand experience of both the TMO and the Council and after 18 months have concluded that there's very little difference between them.
DeleteIt's all very well for Doug, his senior staff and Kim Taylor-Smith to sit at the TCC reassuring everyone that things will be different but if the day-to-day experience on the ground does not change, and residents can't tell the difference between the service today and the service at the time of the Grenfell fire, then it's all just a load of hot air.
Consultation is not the goal. A better service is the goal. You can attend as many meetings and panels and steering groups as you like, waffle on about "co-design" and other such nonsense for hours, but if the repairs service is still poor, the contractors continue to do what they like, the dodgy staff feel so comfortable in their positions that they're back to their old ways, all those meetings have amounted to nothing.
@10:12 You know it! ;)
DeleteThe earliest sign that the Council had no interest in allowing Doug to change anything of consequence was the manner in which buildings insurance was handled.
ReplyDeleteShortly after taking over housing management Doug met leaseholders to discuss buildings insurance. He made a number of sensible suggestions and put forward a number of good ideas to try and resolve many long standing issues. Fast forward a couple of months and Doug had clearly been sidelined. His proposals and ideas are nowhere to be seen. The insurance department were well and truly back in control and they had no wish to change anything.
It's now all going to tribunal of course. But this may not play out as the Council thinks. Buildings insurance, like many other things at RBK&C, is, to quote someone above, yet another pile of poo covered by a sheet. And the tribunal is likely to take a good peek.
@11:06 what were the SENSIBLE SUGGESTIONS AND GOOD IDEAS put forward by Doug? Please detail to avoid another piece of non-information. Ta
Delete@ 12:41 Clearly you are not a leaseholder. I've heard this sensible suggestion in the meeting. At the time I thought it was a fair game given the circumstance we've ended up after Grenfell. The rise of the insurance fee was extortionate. When we heard it, there was many gasps of horror in the room.
DeleteYou are wrong @12:41 - 11:06 is a leaseholder who submitted a strong challenge to the tribunal. And you?
Delete@10:12 are you holding the RBKC management team to account in any way? Other residents are case building. The opportunity will come to show ineffectual changes - you sound as if you accept defeat - others are more positive about engagement and how the future looks.
ReplyDeleteAll councils are bureaucratic and there is failure in many councils across the country run by staff could not gain access to jobs in the private sector. We are working with RBKC as best we can to bring about positive change. Get involved, hold them to account in all the ways you can.
I have not accepted defeat. But, as I said, the aim of the exercise is not consultation. Consultation is a means to an end, not an end in itself. There are some residents who want to feel "engaged". I don't want to feel engaged. I want the Council to provide a half decent service and for the staff to behave in a professional and ethical manner towards residents.
DeleteAt the end of the day the real test is what my neighbours tell me. At the moment they are telling me nothing has really changed. Why should I not believe them just because they don't attend meetings at the Town Hall?
Anyone expecting an "opportunity to show ineffectual changes" is going to be sorely disappointed. The last thing the Council want is anyone to point out "ineffectual changes" and anyone who believes otherwise hasn't been paying attention.
Delete@11:31. The opinion of your neighbours who don't attend meetings at the Town Hall is more useful. They haven't sat through the spiel and being taken in by broken promises. They just tell it as they find it.
DeleteLemon, I suspect you're right.
DeleteBut perhaps Broken system under review will tell us when they expect to be able to have the opportunity to show ineffectual changes. Is there a meeting planned? Does it have a date and time? Or is it just an expectation that might amount to very little?
@11:58 Let's get the basics right. Why is it that it's always someone who does something for you? Why don't YOU attend the meeting and ask the question directly to Doug. Lemon or Broken system under review are not accountable to you.
DeleteThe Grenfell Enquiry when aired will resurrect interest in RBKC housing management, the process is already under scrutiny. We are a very active residents association of a large estate and we have and seen positive change in some areas of engagement, it was never going to be an over night fix all.
ReplyDelete@11:31 It sounds like you do accept defeat and are looking back not forward, there are options to move/exchange if you have given up the fight. We are all weary and disappointed with RBKC but what can we do , these are our homes and this is where we live, we must engage to try to find a better outcome. Do you attend TCC and other dedicated groups?
I attend the TCC and many other meetings.
DeleteBut I judge people on their actions not their words.
I hear many words. I see very little action.
I am with you @12:01.
DeleteMeetings, consultations are all well and good in on itself. But what good would that be if we do not see action or the result?
@12.01 It is not about judgement now, we are working to try to get to a better place. I wish you well.
ReplyDeleteYou do need to sit down at some point and evaluate whether anything has actually changed. In the real world 18 months would be more than enough time to work out whether things are actually changing or not. Here, apparently not. In which case when? When Doug has moved on?
DeleteSounds like a lot of arm chair observation and little or no direct action to challenge.
ReplyDeleteAnd what direct action would you suggest?
DeleteNone it would seem.
DeleteThe Split from Lancaster West has taken away important voices from the RBKC TCC consultation process. The enquiry and full consultation being run at the same time is unfair for the future of housing management. If KCTMO/RBKC were deemed unfit to run Lancaster West, they are surely unfit to run housing anywhere in the borough.
ReplyDeleteMany resident attendees of TCC are ex-TMO appointed directors.
Many attendees are retired or unemployed without commercial expertise.
The lawyers and barrister leaseholders/tenants of RBKC housing stock do not bother to get involved in consultation, with exception of Insurance, which affects their pocket!!
Many residents have their own agenda and are not a coherent or like minded group.
Many attendees are too concerned with what has happened in the past and use up much time venting/repeating their historic injustice month on month.
Moving on no one is asking Doug what his strategic plan for the future is for the next 5 years. Meanwhile the service is full to the gunnels with interim's who skip from one dysfunctional housing provider to another, without accountability of course. Sure that works for them but for RBKC residents?
Only time will tell.
Encourage involvement x
This is a rather inaccurate portrayal of both the TCC and the leaseholders who attend it.
DeletePlenty of leaseholders attend the TCC. Some would even say too many. A few are retired but many are of working age and of a professional background. Some of the solicitors you speak of are in the room with you, but perhaps they don't count for some reason. And they're not just there because it affects their pocket, but rather because they want the housing management service improved. What many of them aren't there for is just for the meetings and to feel "engaged"; they want to see results.
The buildings insurance issue is only notable because its been outstanding for so long. Leaseholders have been objecting to the manner in which buildings insurance has been procured and subsequently managed since 2013. The Grenfell fire only served to bring attention to the issue and effectively force the Council into taking it to Tribunal. The issue was already there and had been there for years.
Those attending the TCC do bring up the past. The reason they do so is because those issues are not confined to the past, they also exist in the present. They are still happening today. Should be forget about current issues because they are also historic issues? I'm sure some of the staff would love that!
Does Doug have a five year plan? Does Doug plan to be around in five years? If not, it doesn't really matter. Five year plans can be changed and what Doug may plan today a successor can plan away.
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. And so it will come to pass.
DeleteThose who moan about other residents bringing up "historic issues" may well come to regret it as those same "historic issues" simply carry on happening and the service fails to improve in anything but the most superficial way.
Only 'historic issues' will repeat itself IF we don't put a stop to it by blowing our trumpets!
DeleteBut I get what you are saying. I provided my email above and basically nobody is bothered to expose the truth. All hidden hence nothing will go anywhere. Keep on moaning.
Does anyone know what happened with the insurance claim with the new insurer? Did the Council successfuly claimed the prize?
DeleteHas anyone seen this trailer of Skyscraper film made by Universal?
Warning tower on fire scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9QePUT-Yt8
"There is a reason they chose this building."
Call it conspiracy but they started to film this exactly 3 months after Grenfell. The film project started a year before. If you can watch it, you will see they've included what happened to Grenfell...clearly...like bathroom scene etc. Hollywood has a habit giving messages through movies. Guilty conscious? I don't know but it's not the first time.
@15:22.
DeleteYou said "Many residents have their own agenda and are not a coherent or like minded group."
Quite right.
And the least coherent and like minded are who regularly try to shut down discussions at the TCC because its of no interest to them personally.
Plenty of those kicking around at meetings.
They're not doing anyone else any favours and, whether they care to admit it or not, they're not doing themselves any favours either.
Someone mentioned plants at meetings in a previous comment. Perhaps these are those same plants shutting down any uncomfortable discussions?
DeleteThis is my assumption but plants are in the meeting acting as the eyes and ears of those that decide. Perhaps in exchange for reward in kind? They do speak as if they are on our side.
DeleteJust sharing this news. Outrageous.
ReplyDeleteWho is Tim Gorvett? Can we FOI NHS North West London to see the reason why they allowed this? Is this legally possible?
From @Clarice007 Jun 30
@CNWLNHS have given access login privilege on their system to @RBKC officer Tim Gorvett. As such, he can access the records of anyone he likes. Anyone who has ever accessed CNWL services may have had their clinical information accessed by RBKC. 1/2
@14.12
DeleteAre you able to give any more information than this, perhaps how you came upon this information? Google says Tim Gorvett is a Social Care Lead. It is truly alarming and is very much in keeping with earlier observations in this post about RBKC being a microcosm of an Orwellian dystopia. I can assist with an FOI (I am not a lawyer - just someone who cares) but I would need a little more background information. Perhaps the Dame would be a conduit for information you would rather not make public?
@17:18 Thank you for your interest. It was on twitter feed by Claire Simmons (@Clarice007) posted on 30th June.
DeleteHere is the conversation.
https://twitter.com/Clarice007/status/1145307774668169217
I did not receive this letter that was supposed to have been sent in Nov 2017. But wwe know these kind of tactics have been used many times. As in planning department, as in Cable TV installation which cost each tenants extortionate amount which we are still paying for at £50 per year for 10 years.
DeleteWe really need to start taking action. Consultation is all well and good but doesn't bring result.
I hope when I launch a campaign, tenants will join in with me.
@14.12
DeleteA FOI request will be made shortly on WhatDoTheyKnow.
Thank you 16:53. Let's see if they will come up with something other than auto-reply.
DeleteThe Council is advising people to throw away broken lightbulbs in the normal refuse bag.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rbkc.gov.uk/bins-and-recycling/rubbish-and-recycling/recycling/lightbulb-recycling
The new type of lightbulbs contain mercury which means that it releases toxin to the land as well as putting health risk to the dustmen.
The Council is all about putting your life at risk. Why do you still pay the Council Tax?
Londoners will be asked to withhold 22% of one month’s council tax – the average proportion which would go to the GLA
Deletehttps://853london.com/2019/07/18/londoners-asked-to-withhold-council-tax-to-stop-silvertown-tunnel/
There is no legal requirement to pay.
Deletehttps://council-tax-scam.blogspot.com/
Council Tax is subject to agreement and consent
All Council Tax is subject to yearly contract! That means the corporate councils send out their 'offers to contract' (aka 'demands for payment') based upon local habitants signing the "Electoral Register". It is the signature on the "Electoral Register" that creates the liability, not the Law!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih2UCPMIwCo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l-pUqJnwbM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3nlzfl7qtE
When enough of the habitants of council areas realise the truth they will stop paying any more Council Tax to the private registered councils, regardless of political affiliation and regardless of the illegal threats and intimidation!
https://council-tax-scam.blogspot.com/
DeleteEmma Dent Coad MP was a TMO Board Member when Sheila Belgrave obtained well paid employment at the TMO.
ReplyDeleteWill Ms Dent Coad write to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner requesting that the circumstances leading to the employment of this former Audit Commission Inspector are investigated to see if any criminal offence has been committed? Time to do the right thing, Emma. Greg Hands won't show up his Tory chums but you have no excuse for not grassing.
Why bother? the Police is non-existant these days. At best, case will be dismissed.
DeleteSounds like this comes straight from the apologist pen of Dent Coad. Emma do the right thing
DeleteEmma has not achieved much for tenants since she got in to parliament.If Emma does not confirm she has grassed then we should ask Linda Wade to do it. Linda is an ex police officer who would want the law enforced.
DeleteCan't expect Emna to inform police because she is a marxist who does not believe in using a legal systen that supports capitalism.
DeleteShe's not up to the job and is very unpopular. She is not even a good Marxist. We will be able to get rid of her when Boris calls and election.
DeleteWhy did she not report this matter to the police when she was on the TMO Board?
DeleteShe never did anything of any value when she was on the TMO. She knew what was going on at the TMO and failed to show it up in public. I wrote to tell her straight and never got a reply.
DeleteWhen she was on the TMO she listened in that middle class way where she pretended to agree with the person complaining but did absolutely nothing to help.
DeleteLike all upper class Marxists, Emma has to be in control. She lectured me about the TMO. If I did not do that she wanted me to do, she would not help.
DeleteEmma is part of the problem. She is not, and has never been, part of the solution. She did not do the right thing when she was on the TMO Board. She solved nothing and insisted on supporting the Tenant Mismanagement Organisation. She is still playing silly games now that she is an MP. People on here are telling it like it is now that the Council has taken over. What has Emma been doing apart from claiming her stipend as a Councillor and her salary as an MP? Part of the problem not part of the solution. Yeah
DeleteFor all those who are unhappy with EDC or Labour, it is better that you go there directly and complain. I thought we were talking about the Council Housing. I recognise that diversion which is a tactic to derail the discussion. Just like Grenfell situation. Survivors are supposed to be fighting for their rights but the Council launches another attack on them so that the survivors are now fighting for the survival of the scruity meetings when they should be concentrating on the main topic. Anything to take energy out of the force. A clever trick but we know how they play the game.
DeleteI think the problem 13.53 is we need a better MP.
DeleteEmma's connivance in the Tenant Management Organization impeded direct action by tenants. Her unstinted backing of the TMO, an organisation that she has now admitted was failing, hindered tenants who wanted reform.
DeleteThe Labour Party made a big mistake when it agreed that its Councillors should serve on the TMO Board.
DeleteWould you please explain to mr why it was a big mistake for The Labour Party to allow its councillors to go on the TMO?
DeleteThe Council claimed loudly and often that its "unique Borough-wide TMO had cross party political support." Instead of supporting the TMO by serving on its Board, Labour Councillors should have been unconditionally supporting those TMO activists who were demanding change from below. Instead, the Labour Party sold TMO activists down the river.
DeleteGood point, sold down the river.
DeleteHas the Labour Party or any of its councillors apologised for selling people who knew better than they did down the river.
Labour Councillors knew the TMO was rotten and corrupt. They acted in bad faith by making us all suffer instead of calling out the situation for what it really was. People are now saying nothing has changed since the folding of the TMO. The Tories continue to talk up their housing services and say that they are marvellous.
DeleteWhat is Labour doing about this? They are supposed to be the opposition in Kensington and Chelsea.
Have these councillors or the Labour Party apologised for this?
DeleteLabour Councillors, just like Robert Black in the day of the TMO and Tory Councillors now serving the Council, would like us all to draw a line under the TMO mess. The Labour Party in K&C was complicit in the misery and distress suffered by decent working class council tenants. No tenant should allow Labour Councillors to abrogate responsibility by blaming the nasty Tories. They should accept responsibility.
DeleteWe can't trust the Tories and we can't trust Labour.
Delete15:25 Cllr Blakeman needs to explain why she did so little for so long?
Delete15.25, 20.59 and 21.06. No matter how you slice and dice it, Labour Councillors (including Cllr Emma Dent-Coad MP) have not put a stop to former TMO staff who are now working for the Council Housing Department treating residents badly.
DeleteWhat's the point of voting Labour if they cannot make sure that K&C Housing Staff treat customers decently?
DeleteShredder at 22.48
DeleteIf only we could get everyone who voted Labour in the last General Election to vote Liberal Democrat next time. The Lib Dems might do better. Labour and Tory MP's have been tried in Kensington and not done very well.
09.07. The Labour party has lost its way both nationally and locally. It doesn't know what to say or do, if It did council tenants would not be suffering in the same way they did under the TMO.
DeleteIf nothing can be done about anything then you too should shut up. You sound like an old grumpy grandad!!
Delete12.56. Agism is not the way forward.
DeleteI think a lot more could be achieved if the Labour Party stopped playing games and started doing what it is supposed to do.
In case you have forgotten what the Labour Party is supposed to do let me spell it out-
i) make sure tenants have quite enjoyment of their homes and
ii) that the Council behaves fairly and morally in all of its dealings with tenants.
We have an MP who is getting 90K a year in payments from Parliament and the Council. It is very concerning to read that she has not put a stop to Housing Officer bullying. Mind you she did not put a stop to that when she was on the TMO.
Politicians of all political colours want control of housing in Kensington and Chelsea. There has been too much political interference in housing in the Council since the year dot. The Tories insist they are right, Labour oppose them and insist that they are right.
DeletePost Grenfell, Doug is brought in to sort out the mess. If he were given a free hand, I am sure that he would be great. He is answerable to his political paymasters and the mess continues. Perhaps, it is time to bring in a Housing Commissioner to sort the mess out and put a stop to Councillors knocking each other along party political lines with tenants being caught up in the stupidity of political infighting.
Councillors who'd have' em is right. Council tenants' housing in the Royal Borough is too important an issue for it to be tied up with Labour and Tory tribalism.
DeleteOne of the biggest failures in housing management in Kensington and Chelsea is the culture that is deeply engrained in the many officials who administer the service. RBK&C Housing Workers have for years been responsible for operational failures in the delivery of services. When any tenant complains, these officials give a false and misleading account of their actions to ensure that no muck lands on their carpets. Housing Managers go to extraordinary lengths to misrepresent facts to deny complaints. Many staff lack integrity which is an obstacle to putting in place arrangements to make sure operational failure does not recur.
The TMO singled out tenants who would not roll over and lie down when lies were being told. Politicians at local and national level have done nothing to address this important matter preferring to give way to expediency. It does not affect their housing so why would they care.
10.02 has got it right. Housing staffs antagonise tenants who make complaints by telling lies. These workers have a "them and us" culture and the battle lines are drawn.
Delete@10:02 So you know how they work well. The thing is there is no point in trying to change THEM, the Council/the Housing because they are doing it to us by design. They have no intention of changing anytime soon though they pretend that they are striving to change for the better. Therefore, there is no point in trying to change. WE need to change and I suggested a class action but tenants are only interested in complaining which will take them no further. This is such a ridiculous situation.
Delete@14:20 There you go again. You say that such and such party could do more, better etc. It's always THEM. You cannot change THEM. I'll say it again. Only you can change, you can't force other people to change. If WE change, the change has to follow for them. It's like chess game. But really this is a lost cause because we are discussing a war plan in the open. Our enemy, the Council can read this.
DeleteGood 01.48. Let the Council read it. They now have fair warning that there may be trouble ahead. It is no secret that tenants are fed up and nor should it be; as you would have it.
DeleteThe Party that is being criticised by 14.20 is not "such and such a party," it is the Labour Party. I am afraid the "such and such a Party' as you would have it is abstract language characterised by less than clear shades of meaning as well as lacking with clarity of expression.
Monetarist Tories could not give two hoots about Council tenants and the way they are treated. Council tenants are supposed to be part of Labour's empire.
01.42 and 01.48. It sounds like you do not believe in parliamentary democracy.
DeleteRe: 20.17 It is time for Labour in Kensington and Chelsea to prove that "Council tenants are part of the Labour Party's empire."
Delete@20:47 Democracy? Thank you for the laugh.
Deleteat 23.31. You have given me a laugh too.
DeleteChange comes by holding politicians to account.
I suppose you agree with Mao that "power comes out of the barrel of the gun." It would be impossible for Kensington's Council tenants to change things through insurrection.
LinkedIn about Sheila Belgrave
ReplyDeleteExperienced Social Housing professional with a demonstrated strong history of working and volunteering in the non-profit organization management industry. Skilled in Social Housing, Culture Change, Public Speaking, Management, and Contract Management. Strong business development.
Experience
Gateway Housing Association
Head of Housing
Company Name Gateway Housing Association
Dates EmployedDec 2017 – Present
Employment Duration1 yr 8 mos
SAB Consultancy
Company Name SAB Consultancy
Total Duration 7 yrs
Title Managing Director
Dates Employed 2012 – Present
Employment Duration 7 yrs
Title Managing Director
Dates Employed Sep 2012 – 2016
Employment Duration 4 yrs
London Borough of Newham
Housing Commissioning Manager
Company Name London Borough of Newham
Dates Employed Dec 2012 – Jun 2017
Employment Duration 4 yrs 7 mos
Location Newham Homes in Havering
CEO
Company Name Homes in Havering
Dates EmployedSep 2008 – May 2012
Employment Duration 3 yrs 9 mos
Kensington & Chelsea TMO
Director of Housing & Business Improvement
Company NameKensington & Chelsea TMO
Dates Employed 2005 – Aug 2008
Employment Duration3 yrs
Audit Commission Housing Inspector
Company Name Audit Commission
Dates EmployedApr 2000 – Jun 2005
Employment Duration5 yrs 3 mos
I went for a property seminar today and realised that Earls Court was probably never to be built by the first developer. They've already made serious money by selling it on with the planning permission which is practically valid for indefinite period once they dug the place up. I can forsee the site to remain as it is for a long time to come. I also learned how property can be sold for £1. I always wondered what this was about since RBKC had a deal like this when A1Dominion bought part of an estate.
ReplyDeleteWhat has this load of sh*t at 23.54 above got to do with the way that the Council treats its tenants now that the TMO is no more. It is the sort of tangental thing an MP would write to take the heat out of a situation in which they do not fair well.
Delete@07:59 Horrible bullying attitude from you - please stay away or refrain from abuse.
DeletePeople who post irrelevancies and detract from the seriousness of the issue in this article will be told. If you want to raise a separate point, please write to the Gracious Lady, The Glorious Dame.
DeleteUnfortunately though Dame, as much as I admire your efforts, you don't always publish articles that other people may consider important. I understand that RBKC monitors everything you post (like all good totalitarian regimes should), and so there is much that you must avoid so as to prevent the threat of legal action, but it often seems that posts are mostly your own personal pet peeves.
Delete@07:59, 16:47 and 17:38 the dear dame may have left the site on test card setting. As for you, it sounds as if you are an ex KCTMO employee and the main contributor to this 179 comment thread......"Will be told!" Who on earth do you think you are - please go away and argue with yourself. Horrible.
Delete23.03. I am a council tenant who wants something done who does not want irrelevancies detracting from the way in which the council is now treating residents.
Delete@23:03's bad and bullying attitude is unwelcome, another forum may be more appropriate to host the demands of the "I WANT.....PEOPLE WILL BE TOLD.....LOAD OF SH*T" RBKC tenant. Glad you are not our neighbour.
DeleteIt might have been better if I had said, "Load of rubbish" instead of "load of sh*t" and for that I apologise. I do not apologise for calling out the vapid person's crassness in posting irrelevancies which detract from the serious of the situation mentioned - that being the way in which housing officials continue to treat tenants. I do not believe in middle class nuanced language which is the stuff of politicians. Spit it out and tell it like it is which is what I did.
Delete@17:38 I have no intention of leaning towards an ex-KCTMO but there is no main contributor who has posted 179 out of 186 comments. That would indicate a very sad borough and lonely blog this is. Very funny you are.
DeleteDear Dame,
Delete@23.03 above. The moron who has suggested that the main contributor to this blog has posted 179 comments out of 186 is probably someone whose nose has been put out of joint. People that create this sort of smokescreen try to widen arguments that they are losing. Politicians who do not coming out on top of criticism suggest that it is one or two people who have got it in for them; particularly true of those on the left. For example, Corbyn claims antisemitism complaints in his party are a smear campaign against him.
Since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, the Tory Party's ratings in the polls have gone up by a massive 10%.
DeleteWhy? Because Jeremy Corbyn has not been able to counter the "Boris bounce" through effective opposition.
Since the TMO folded, Council Officers have gone on bullying tenants in much the same way that they always did when the TMO ran the show. Why? Because Councillors including Cllr Emma Dent-Coad MP have not made enough of the bullying culture to put a stop to it in the delivery of housing services.
I remember Cllr Emma Dent-Coad MP complaining that the Moore Bick Inquiry declined to grant her core participant status something she was miffed about because she better than anyone "knew the culture of the TMO."
There can be no excuse for the Kensington Labour Party doing nothing about the oppressive way that the Council treats its tenants.
Why does Labour make Kensington and Chelsea's council tenants suffer. They know how bad it is but let us suffer.
DeleteA council tenant has been handed a £100,000 fine – for sub-letting his flat on Airbnb.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7295839/Man-hit-100-000-fine-renting-London-council-flat-tourists-Airbnb.html
at 13.43 above. Nothing to do with the way the Council now treats tenants as a result of the TMO folding.
DeleteCould someone confirm that leaseholders are not permitted to run AirBnB business since their contract with the Council forbids running a business from their properties? If so, what can we do about stopping the situation? I don't think reporting it to the Housing will make any difference since they weren't even interested in drug dealings from one of the properties.
ReplyDeleteDear Gracious, Glorious Lady,
ReplyDeleteI think the Order of the Spurtle is your due for facilitating this marvellous blog.
Assistant Stirring Hornet
Dear Dame,
ReplyDeleteI think you have done more to call attention to the plight of council tenants, being bullied by Local Government Officers in Kensington and Chelsea, than either Greg Hands MP or Emma Dent Coad MP have ever managed to do.
Why do we have MP's and pay them £ 79, 000 a year? Perhaps, we should start paying our MP's by the results they get.