Telford & Wrekin Council Watch - An open Letter to Councillors

An open Letter to Councillors

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Written by Annmarie

Thursday, 18 September 2008

An open Letter to

Leader of The Council Cllr Andrew Eade

Cllr Adrian Lawrence

Cllr Adrian Williams

Cllr Liz Clare

Cllr Ian Fletcher

Cllr Keith Austin

Jane Brookes Wrekin Housing Trust

MP Mark Pritchard

MP Caroline Flint

On The 28^th August 2008 you received the following email,

Housing Summit

As you will be aware, the last 18 months or so have seen the Social Housing waiting list in the Borough of Telford and Wrekin increase from 5000 to 11,000.

As you know, the issue of Social Housing is somewhat complexed and with a growing population the future housing needs are only going to increase.

The issues facing the Borough of Telford and Wrekin and the need for Social Housing are further compounded by issues such

* An ageing population

* Increased needs by young people aged 16 to 25 years

* The Sales of current housing stock

* Housing not being replaced after sales are completed

* A growing population linked with the dash for City Status

* An unfair Choice on Choose Your Home ie – All houses available in the all bands section are allocated to those in the Urgent band thus negating the need for this banding.

And many more issues besides.

Having assisted a number of residents gain a home of their own or even simply emergency accommodation, I am alarmed at the clear discrimination faced by those residents who are disabled and find themselves a victim of Disability Discrimination through no fault of their own, but more because they were honest and declared a disability in the belief they would be treated fairly.

An able bodied resident can apply for up to three house per week therefore have a opportunity to apply for 150 houses annually. When compared to that of a disabled resident the discrimination becomes clear as their annual choice is restricted to about six per annum. Although they can apply, they will not receive equal consideration because of their disability.

The argument for this policy seems to revolve around the issue of adaptions. The needed adaptions for many disabled residents could be easily catered for as they are aids that can be easily transferred from one property to another without any cost to the Social Housing Landlord.

Other issues further compound the problems as residents can be injected into the housing waiting list from outside agencies, giving the impression of queue jumping, therefore it is not uncommon to find a single person in for example a three bed property or a partially adapted house, suitable for disabled residents being allocated to able bodied residents.

The social housing waiting list consists of a wide range of residents going back as long as 1992, by any standards, this is not acceptable.

Whilst the whole issue is complex, what I do firmly believe is “doing nothing” is no longer an option. It is not about now, next week or even next year, It is about our children, grandchildren and beyond.

It only takes an adverse twist of fate and anyone of us could find ourselves on the street and in the need of Social Housing.

As the moves towards a Housing Summit appear to have come to grinding halt, myself and other residents are going to arrange a Housing Summit and will forward invitations forward to yourselves accordingly.

I respectfully ask that you put your weight behind it, raise the genuine concerns of residents, put politics to one side and start the wheels of motion towards constructive change which an extremely important Social Issue effecting many in our communities.

I will arrange a venue, an agenda, invitations and a warm welcome. I hope you will take part.

Kind Regards

John Franklyn, , 01952 676990, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Within 24 hours MP David Wright contacted John Franklyn to discuss the housing Summit.

Within 3 days John Franklyn held a successful meeting with MP David Wright. That day the local press gave credit to MP David Wright for arranging a Housing Summit.

The email above was then listed for Official Response which NO Councillor has answered, not even the Leader, nor the Leader of the opposition.

Then Cllr Keith Austin puts forward the following motion to Full Council for 25^th September 2008

11 Notices of Motion

(a) Councillor R.K. Austin will move, in accodance with Council Procedure Rule 12, the following Motion: "This Council recognises the urgent need to focus on providing new affordable housing for rent and sale to help first time buyers and to support home owners who find themselves in difficulty. This focus is ever more necessary following the crisis in the world's banking system, resulting in the fall in house prices and availability of mortgages. With this in mind the Council welcomes the measures recently annonced by the Government to support the housing market and the concept ofa Telford Housing Summit being proposed by David Wright MP. This council agrees to participate fully in the Telford Housing Summit and work with a wide range of partners to prioritise the development of affordable houses for rent and sale." The motion will be seconded by Councillor C.F. Smith

It is with some grave disappointment that Cllr Andrew Eade, Cllr Keith Austin have not had the courtesy to respond and failed to mention that this Housing Summit was in fact promised back in 2006 when the housing waiting list was at only 5000.

They fail to mention that a campaign has been in action for a period of 2 years and the above email and promise to arrange The Housing Summit was ultimately responsible for what is now happening.

Unfortunately, Cllr Andrew Eade’s constant promise to deliver an

“Open and Honest Council”

Has once again failed to be delivered.

We now have seasoned Professional Councillors taking the credit for the work of a Resident.

This action clearly displays the new lows that our Democracy has achieved.

TCW has achieved a lot in the last 2 years, if you are a supporter, if you are not, but think this is out of order, what have you got to say about it.

Comments

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georgeashcroft

|Registered |2008-09-20 13:39:41

I think there is much food for thought in what you say. In my humble opinion David Wright MP only saw fit to offer his assistance after reading posts on this web site suggesting that if he would not organise the summit then we should do it ourselves. Fair enough.

But for Austin to now play politics with this vital issue smacks of opportunism. Whilst on the one hand it raises the issue in the council chamber which is useful and means there has to be a debate, on the other hand it gives credit and succour to Labour when in fact they have historically been an obstacle to progress on this issue.

I think I will have to point out the fact that it is TCW who have been banging on about a housing summit for the last 2 years. I have offered to assist in any way I can. Perhaps it was this latter point that moved Labour to action. We may never know. What we do know is that however much Austin pats MP Wright on the back, the housing situation worsens almost by the day.

The talk on the street is of potentially far-reaching job losses locally, involving some major Telford firms. This will compound the situation still further.

Now is the time for Austin and Co. to put aside their silly posturing and begin to address these vital matters which their own government are in no small part responsible for.

georgeashcroft

|Registered |2008-09-20 13:40:08

situation worsens almost by the day.

The talk on the street is of potentially far-reaching job losses locally, involving some major Telford firms. This will compound the situation still further.

Now is the time for Austin and Co. to put aside their silly posturing and begin to address these vital matters which their own government are in no small part responsible for.

johnfranklyn

|SAdministrator |2008-09-22 10:41:00

As is often the case with you George, i think you've hit the nail fairly and squarely on the head.

Unfortunately some other MP down in their ivory tower in London has accussed me of turning this into a political issue. Although not directly, we all know innuendo.

I think this MP needs to aim his frustration at higher levels not residents.

johnfranklyn

|SAdministrator |2008-09-22 13:07:35

I think it is now only fair to say that we have received a response to this from Cllr Keith Austin. Polite and accurate in many respects.

I feel I must add, to be fair to Keith, that when I have contacted him, he has always responded in everything from passing on a compliment through to debate.

We might have some subtle differences, but I do quite respect him for the politeness he has always afforded me.

Robert

|Registered |2008-09-22 20:46:13

It staggers me that our councillors and MPs are not jumping up and down with fury at the lack of social housing for their electorate. It is a human issue which transcends, or at least, it should transcend, politics. This uncaring "unless it suits" arrogance is typical of the malaise which continues to afflict local government. It's not good enough.

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