Many residents will by now have received the latest of Islington Council’s proclamations entitled “Your housing service needs you!” in which they attempt to convince us that they are genuinely intending to promote meaningful consultation in the borough.
Sadly, although not in the least unexpected, I fear that once again they are desperately trying to sell us another of their “Chocolate Teapot” promotions. In a hopeless attempt to provide this farcical process with a degree of dignity and importance, council officers have euphemistically titled the proposed new main assembly “The Islington Housing Executive”, however, since this particular body is simply there to observe the council’s decisions, without the power to either reverse or prevent their implementation, what they truly represent is, in reality, a loosely camouflaged replica of the old ALMO board of directors, once again, claiming to be tenant representatives!
Furthermore, any resident prepared to stand for election to the position of either “Tenants Champion” (now there’s a whimsical concept to conjure with!) or the even less auspicious label of “Vice Champion”, will of course be subjected to a vetting process before even being allowed to stand for election!
So, how are these individuals to be chosen?…Simple, on the number of votes gained from a general ballot of all tenures, which, will of course, as is intended, provide a return that is predictably, seriously flawed, due to vote “manipulation”!
So…all in all…absolute rubbish…!
Why waste public money on this nonsense, when all that is in fact required, is a scrutiny panel,comprised of delegates from the main housing bodies in the borough, charged with reporting their findings directly back to their organisations, and afforded the power to ameliorate, or even, if necessary, challenge unacceptable council decisions…!!!
Dr B. S. Potter.
Chairman: – Federation of Islington Tenants Associations (FITA)
Chairman: – Islington Leaseholders Association (ILA)