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More hic-cups with the estate laundry! Despite the good efforts of the Area Housing Office, Gloucester City Services are still unable to locate the control panel that works the electronic locks on the door entry of the laundry!
They only installed the panel and the system some five months ago - well, their sub contractors did!
The problem is that new tenants on the estate are wanting key fobs - but while there are the "blank" fobs aplenty in our estate office, they cannot be programmed as no one knows where the control panel is!
When Gloucester City Services were yet again contacted, the person responsible for the door entry system was not answering the telephone!
Yet another fine Gloucester City Services mess!
There was a special Tenants Forum and Housing Committee meeting this evening. This is the one held every year to discuss and approve the Housing Investment Programme submission to the Government.
Perhaps the meeting will be be best remembered, not for the weighty doccument, but for the return after too many yours of Councillor Kevin Stephens, a former chair of housing and now the Leader of the City Council.
The TCC has always had tremendous respect for Kevin, even though we have not always seen eye to eye with him!
But it was good to see him back at Tenants Forum tonight - we suspect that while he serves on Housing Committee he was there for "one performance only"!
That performance was to formally present to Tenants Forum the Council's idea for the restructuring of local government and central government's three options.
Kevin spoke good sound sense as he said that the structure of local government had to be changed - the current structure having been largly unchanged for 150 years!
Regaring the Housing Investment Programme submission, this is the one chance every year that tenants have for questioning past, present and future work. That meant that the debate sometimes got a little "sidetracked". But no one really minds. Members of Housing Committee were present during Tenants Forum.
Some minor amendments were made and Tenants Forum then voted on the requests for change that went to Housing Committee.
The Housing Committee met at the conclusion of Tenants Forum. They resolved to accept the request for changes made by Forum. The Committee lasted all of two minutes!
One of the questions that we raised was about the announcement last week by the housing Minister Hilary Armstrong, that local authorities would get the full "refund" on the rent rebate given out to tenants who were entitled to Housing Benefit - this effectives will end what has been dubed as "negative suubsidy" or even "council house tax".
We were told that, yes, the Housing Revenue account would technically have more cash available with the ending of this "negaitve subsidy", but that the saving would somehow not be available because of something to do with the "General Fund".
Accountants can never seem to speak in English that is understood by mere mortals, so we will have to get to the bottom of this later!
Just a quick reminder that we DO know about the problems with the guest book. The problem is being worked on, but we suspect that the snag is at TenZero, the company that provides the guestbook at no cost to us. Some of you are Emailing us instead - and thanks for the comments. We are told by TenZero that there is a massive problem and they are busy re-writing programmes (or should that be programs?).