Branch Labour Link News: Leadership; London GLA & National Committee elections

NEWS

To APF payers in Greater London Housing Associations Branch

With so much going on I thought this would be a useful time to update APF payers in the branch on recent Labour Link activity.

·         LABOUR LEADER & DEPUTY LEADER ELECTION

The National UNISON Labour Link Committee met on Wednesday and decided to nominate Jeremy Corbyn for Leader of the Labour Party, with Yvette Cooper as second choice.    For Deputy Leader UNISON will nominate Angela Eagle with Stella Creasy as second choice.

This was after consultation with all regions.  In London APF payers were sent an electronic survey and encouraged to give their views on their preferred candidate for both Leader and Deputy Leader (as did the branch survey). 

In the past all UNISON APF payers would have received a vote in the ballot to elect the Leader and Deputy but following the Collins Review this has changed.  Now only members that have signed up to become a UNISON Affiliated Supporter will be eligible to vote alongside Labour Party members.

Anyone who supports Labour's aims and values is entitled to sign up.  You don’t need to be a Labour Party member it’s free, quick and easy to do.  To register and find out more go to http://support.labour.org.uk/.   The deadline to register is 12 noon on Friday 12 August. 

UNISON’s decision to nominate Jeremy and Angela is a recommendation and members are of course free to cast their vote as to who they think should lead the Labour Party.

·         LONDON MAYOR & GLA CANDIDATES

UNISON Affiliated Supporters who register will also get a vote in deciding Labour’s London Mayoral Candidate and Greater London Assembly members. UNISON London Labour Link decided to make no recommendation for London Mayor but there are three UNISON members standing who will make excellent candidates and I would urge registered affiliated members to consider supporting either Tessa Jowell, Sadiq Khan or David Lammy. 

UNISON have nominated GLA candidates Murad Qureshi for City and East and Ivana Bartoletti for Havering & Redbridge who have been nominated and will be on the ballot paper. Members eligible to vote in may wish to consider supporting these UNISON candidates.

·         NATIONAL LABOUR LINK COMMITTEE ELECTIONS

The London region has one representative on UNISON’s National Labour Link Committee.  A process is currently underway to elect the London rep for the next two years. 

Our branch nominated Deirdre Costigan to represent the views of APF payers across London.

Within the next day or so you will receive a ballot paper to your home address.  I would encourage you to use your vote and return it without delay in the pre-paid envelope.  The ballot will close on Friday 25 September. 

If for any reason you do not receive a ballot paper by 18 August you should contact the ballot helpline at UNISON Direct on 0800 0 857 857.

·         GETTING MORE INVOLVED IN LABOUR LINK

You are receiving this email as an APF payer in the branch.  If you’d like to find out more about getting more involved in UNISON Labour Link or representing the branch at your CLP (if you are a Labour Party member) please get in contact.

·         JOIN THE LABOUR PARTY

Finally, if you are interested in joining the Labour Party you can do this for a reduced trade union rate of just £1.96 per month by going to https://join.labour.org.uk/

If anyone wants to clarify any please email me or ring.

Regards

John Gray

Branch Labour Link Officer

Howard Dawber & the spirit of the East End

This is a touching & gracious message sent by Howard to all Party members in East London (Howard
 is on right of picture outside West Ham CLP selection meeting)

"This is the last email from me.

I have failed to secure a nomination from a Constituency, so I will not be on the shortlist for the City and East London Assembly seat.

I would like to thank everyone who supported me, voted for me and particularly those who stood up at meetings to propose me, or asked their friends to come and support.

It's been a wonderful experience and I have met some great people.

It was an honour to get 152 votes in total across three different boroughs, and to come second three times to different very strong local candidates.

There are some good comrades left in the race, most of whom are friends of mine, so it would be wrong to single out anyone.

Having the chance to represent the people of East London is a huge privilege and responsibility.

This is the most exciting and dynamic part of London, which can claim to be the capital city of planet earth.

The people of the east end are the most entrepreneurial, resilient and inventive I have ever known.

It is the spirit that inspired the suffragettes who used to meet under the lamppost in Barking, the courage of the Bryant and May Matchgirls who went on strike over their conditions, the courage of the Poplar rent strikers, the dock workers, the shipbuilders who formed the first Trade Unions.

It is the spirit that got the East end through the blitz and then gave the women at Ford's in Dagenham the strength to fight for equal pay.

The spirit of men like Will Crooks, who was born in a workhouse but went on to be a Labour Councillor and MP.

The spirit of women like Annie Clara Huggett, who kept campaigning for Women's votes even though she was arrested several times.

The spirit of local Bangladeshi people in Tower Hamlets who stood up to the National Front in the 1970s and 1980s.

And the spirit of Labour activists who stood up to the BNP just a few years ago and kicked them out of Barking and Dagenham Council. For this is the East of London - where local residents came together to defend their Jewish neighbours at the Battle of Cable Street.

And where local people defended their German neighbours from reprisals during World War Two.

Where young and old came together to welcome the world at the 2012 Olympic Games.

I am sure that whoever wins the selection will live up to the spirit of East London.

I hope that they get everyone's full support.

With a Tory Government and a Tory Mayor, we can't afford the luxury of splits and factions within the party.

We need to be one team and one campaign after September.

In the meantime from Barking to Bethnal Green and Docklands to Dagenham, we need to make sure we have a Labour Mayor in May next year so I will be working hard to try to make sure we are in the best possible shape to take on the Tories.

We also need to campaign to keep a universal postal service and to stop the Tories destroying Royal Mail. 

Sign up to support the CWU campaign at:

http://www.cwu.org/peoplespost.html

That's all from me. I hope to see some of you soon.

Fraternally,

HOWARD

Howard Dawber for City and East

http://www.dawber.london/

Tower Hamlets Council motion regarding One Housing Group

This motion was passed by Tower Hamlets Council at its last meeting. Inside Housing reports that One Housing is in urgent talks to try and stop it being suspended as a perferred housing provider.

Urgent Motion regarding One Housing Group
Proposer: Cllr Dave Chesterton
Seconder: Cllr Andrew Cregan

"This Council notes that:
• Following a stock transfer ballot in 2005, Toynbee Island Homes (a subsidiary of Toynbee
Housing Association) took over four local authority estates on the Isle of Dogs: Samuda, St
Johns, Barkantine and Kingsbridge. These four estate comprise 2,027 homes;
• In their offer document, Toynbee Island Homes promised that the transferred homes would
be run by a board with residents in the majority: 15 members of which eight would be
elected residents.
• In 2007 Toynbee Housing Association merged with Community Housing Association. The
merged organisation, One Housing Group (OHG), took control of the four Island estates;
• In 2012 OHG wound up Island Homes and introduced area resident boards, with no decisionmaking powers;
• Residents on the four estates found their homes being owned by a very different landlord
from the one which they had been promised and they still feel quite aggrieved;
• OHG has consistently performed poorly in terms of repairs, refurbishments, improvements
and accounting. Leaseholders are particularly concerned that OHG is deliberately running
down the estates in order to reduce property values;
• In 2014 OHG produced a 52 page report ‘Project Stone’ setting out proposals to replace all
2,027 homes with up to 10,000 properties, the majority for private sale. OHG still hasn’t
adequately informed residents of these proposals;
• Following the 2014 council election the repairs and maintenance problems raised by
residents were so bad that Island councillors agreed to work on a cross-party basis to tackle
OHG;
• In January 2015 OHG embarked on a ‘Cross Island Conversation’ asking residents what they
thought of their homes, estates and living on the Island. No mention was made of their
proposals to redevelop the four estates; they wrote to residents saying “As yet – and despite
the many rumours you may have heard – One Housing Group does not have a plan in place”;
• In spite of OHG’s persistent denials, it has held meetings with planners in both the GLA and
Tower Hamlets to discuss Project Stone & the submission of a planning application, possibly
by the end of 2015;
• A recent interim report of the ‘Cross Island Conversation’ revealed:
o Residents have no trust or confidence in their landlord;
o Inflexibility and lack of respect on the part of OHG – residents do not feel supported or
cared for;
o Problems with repairs, and the high cost and poor management of major capital works;
o Poor, inconsistent, inaccurate unfriendly communications;
• In 2012 OHG agreed to purchase 123 S106 units at Indescon Court on the Island from the
developer. The original S106 agreement in 2008 had assumed that these units would be
available at social rent. OHG negotiated with the developer on the basis that higher
affordable rents could be charged. These rents range from £977.99pcm for a 1 bed to
£1126.92pcm for a 4 bed. The Council has made it clear to OHG that rents at this level are
against the spirit of the original S106 agreement;
• Under current legislation, tenants of stock transferred properties have no right to a re-ballot
and choose an alternative Registered Provider.
2
This Council believes that:
• OHG has failed to deliver on the promises made in the stock transfer offer document by its
predecessor Toynbee Island Homes;
• OHG has a poor record of managing its major works programme as well as its maintenance
and repairs services;
• OHG has developed proposals to redevelop the 2,027 homes that make up its four Island
estates, but has steadfastly refused to inform its residents about these proposals;
• OHG’s own consultation exercise shows residents have little trust or confidence in their
landlord;
• OHG’s proposed rents at Indescon Court have the potential to increase profit (possibly
substantially) for the developers, at the expense of social housing tenants paying much more
than was envisaged when the scheme was consented. This is not the behaviour expected of a
Preferred Partner;
• Tenants should have a choice and where Registered Providers are performing poorly should
have the right to demand a re-ballot and chose an alternative landlord.
This Council resolves:
• To request the Mayor to write to the Homes & Communities Agency, calling for the regulator
to investigate whether:
o OHG residents have suffered serious detriment as a result of the failings of the Repairs &
Maintenance service;
o OHG has been dishonest with residents over its plans to redevelop the Island estates;
o The ‘no confidence or trust in OHG expressed by residents through OHG’s own ‘Cross
Island Conversation’ places the organisation in a position where it is no longer fit to carry
out its functions as a landlord;
• To support OHG residents in preparing their own submission to the Homes and Communities
Agency;
• To request the Mayor to suspend OHG as a Preferred Partner in Tower Hamlets with
immediate effect. The council will not support them as a S106 partner with any developer
and will not support them for any grant bids to the GLA;
• To request the Mayor to instruct officers to explore options for legal proceedings against
OHG for breach of the Transfer Agreement and to report back to Full Council on the
possibility of such proceedings by 16th September;
• To support Jim Fitzpatrick MP in his efforts to change legislation, to enable tenants whose
homes have been subject to stock transfer the right to a re-ballot where their Registered
Provider is performing poorly;
• To request the Mayor to seek a meeting with Sir Anthony Meyer, Chair of OHG, to address
the failures of leadership within his organisation

London Loop Walk: Section 4 "West Wickham Common to Hamsey Green" (& a tragic West Ham connection)

Last Saturday I resumed my plan to walk around London along the loop walks after a gap since May. Saturday was better than Sunday since railway and bus links, there and back, are much better. I used the Transport for London (tfl) guide since I couldn't find my "The London Loop" book. Not recommended but better than nothing.

The TFL guide said it was 10 miles long. The weather was warm and mostly sunny.

First thing I noticed on the walk was a memorial in the grave yard of St John the Baptist Parish Church, in West Wickham, to 5 Beckenham firefighters killed by enemy action on 19 March 1941 (see top right). To my later astonishment there was a West Ham connection, where I am a Ward Councillor, with this memorial. The 5 local firefighters were helping London during the Blitz and were killed by a German landmine on route to a fire in Silvertown outside 163 Plastoiw Road, E15 alongside a local London firefighter. I will try and find out more about this.

The London Loop guide book (which I have now found) dates the footpath from the Church to the road below from Saxon times.  Imagine all the people who have walked along it down the ages.

In a wood on the hills opposite there was a marvellous memorial to a dog called "Woody" by his owners, who had fixed a box full of dog biscuits to a tree for other walkers to "treat" their dogs.

We stopped off for lunch at "The Sandrock" pub. Recommended - a great two course lunch deal for only £9.95.

There was some great views overlooking Croydon and central London from the viewing platform on Addington Hills.  Heathfield House, which is a staff training centre owned by Croydon Council had beautiful gardens and also a magnificant vista.

This was the first London Loop walk so far that was mostly rural countryside, some of which was as quiet and beautiful as you can get in any part of South East England. This was indeed a lovely walk.

Route back home to East London was a bit of a mess. I would suggest that you take bus 403 direct to East Croydon rather than via train station in Sanderstead and avoid slow trains into London Bridge or Victoria.

Check out more photos of this walk on my "London Loop" Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/LondonLoop2015?fref=ts

Update: picture of plaque in West Ham ward, Newham, London to the heroes killed defending London during the Blitz. 

Showing LOBO salesmen the door

Another council insider, David Green, adds more on the website Room 151 to the sorry tale of the LOBO debacle after watching the recent Parliamentary Select Committee investigation.

He recalls as a former local authority treasury management officer, how the LOBO salesmen who pitched these toxic loans were sent away by his director "at the earliest opportunity".

David writes "Having worked for a local authority, a money broker and now an independent treasury adviser, I have seen LOBOs from many angles.  

I know that when our brokers and advisers visited me as a junior council treasury officer, the initial low interest rate looked superficially attractive.  But I also remember asking what I would be charged for a plain fixed rate loan from a bank, and on finding that it was much more expensive, I gained some idea of the value inherent in those options".

The most damning comment is towards the end 

"And in retrospect, I really can’t imagine a local authority treasurer asking for a loan whose rate stays fixed if market rates fall, but whose rate can rise when market rates increase, in what was called a lose-lose situation at the Committee".

Check out my previous posts on the LOBO scandal and most importantly - what can Councils and Housing associations do about it here, here and here.

(about picture - LOBO is Spanish for "Wolf". Quite an apt name I think)