From 2006 to 2010, I was a councillor for Lee Green ward in the London Borough of Lewisham. During that time, I blogged regularly and in 2009 I won the Tim Garden Award for the Best Blog by a Liberal Democrat Holding Public Office. My blog posts from my term of office are archived here in case they prove of use to former constituents, or to those who share my annoyance with faulty street furniture
Tonight, the Housing Select Committee visited Brockley to see the decent homes work that’s being carried out to Council properties in that area. The work in Brockley (pictures on the right) is possible because that area has a Private Finance Initiative arrangement. Just like in Lee, the Council didn’t have the cash to make improvements themselves.
I want to see new kitchens, bathrooms and windows being installed in Lee – and on the Lee estates, the only way to make that happen is to vote YES in the stock transfer ballot which is currently being held. We’ll actually get a better deal than the residents in Brockley, because Broomleigh will make improvements to the environment on the Lee Estates, and introduce new services like estate wardens.
And of course, the key difference between Broomleigh and Regenter (who are the PFI partners in Brockley) is that Broomleigh are are a not-for-profit housing association.
If you’re a tenant on one of the Lee Estates – details here – then use your vote and say yes to new kitchens, bathrooms, windows, enivironmental improvements and improved services. The Council can’t make these improvements and there’s no guarantee Lewisham Homes will ever have the money to do so.
Voting closes at noon on Monday 27th October. Don’t leave it to others – they may be leaving it to you!
It was a bit before my time, but the other difference is that Lee residents will at least get a vote – I don’t think those in the PFI area got a say either way, and are now dealing with the consequences of an inflexible 20-year PFI contract. As always, the devil is in the detail and what will/won’t be included. In theory, if the properties are being transferred over, rather than just maintained for a fixed period, there is more incentive to do a decent job and invest in them.
Out of interest, which bit of Brockley did they take you to, and did they let you anywhere near any of the tenants and leaseholders, or was it all a bit of a Potemkin village scenario?!
Hi Sue,
One of the points I made at the meeting afterwards was about the flexibility of the Brockley contract, which doesn’t (for example) include showers, entryphone doors or carbon monoxide detectors. If those are things tenants want and can reasonably expect now, what will be considered reasonable in 20 years time and how can the contract respond? The answer I got was that Regenter and the Council can vary the contract (though this is a legal process) and if there is a really big issue that would affect overall resident satisfaction then it might be in Regenter’s interests to fix it as resident satisfaction is a factor in their performance management.
I think you’re right that Broomleigh will have a far bigger incentive to look after Lee, because they will (hopefully!) own the properties. We’ve had the ‘managing agent’ experience in Lee Green already with Circle 33, and I don’t think it’s one residents would want to repeat.
We went to Wickham Gardens and some flats on Breakspears Road and got to meet tenants who’d had work done – and were actually really pleased with it. Darren was with us, so made sure we were aware of the leaseholder issues and also the planning decision about the plastic windows. I understand there’s a meeting with leaseholders planned to work through things.
My point remains though – I want to see Lee residents get new kitchens, bathrooms plus the other improvements we’ve negotiated with Broomleigh. Leaseholders in Lee have a £5k cap on charges, so it’s a very different situation to Brockley. The ONLY way we can guarantee this is to campaign for a Yes vote in the ballot – and that’s exactly what the residents associations and the local councillors will be doing!