I wrote to Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council about the issue of John H, the South Kilburn resident about the lack of repair of his heating after 15 visits from Sureserve and the unsuitability of the initial offers of alternative accommodation.
This is the response from his Office:
Dear Martin,
I am responding on behalf of Cllr Butt.
Thank you for flagging this case with his office and for setting out the position.
Having looked into the matter on behalf of Cllr Butt, I can see that Cllr Donnelly-Jackson has pursued this issue throughout the Christmas period, raising it repeatedly with housing officers and the partnerships team that liaises with housing associations, including Octavia. To avoid any duplication of that effort and to ensure continuity, Cllr Donnelly-Jackson will therefore remain the lead councillor on this piece of casework.
Cllr Butt is aware of the position and will support Cllr Donnelly-Jackson in escalating the matter with senior management at Octavia where needed, with a focus on ensuring that any temporary arrangements reflect John’s health needs and required disability adaptations.
Thank you again for your advocacy on John’s behalf: please be assured that the case continues to be actively pursued.
12 comments:
If true, then it appears a positive response, but he's still go no heating, surely that's not insurmountable issue to resolve? Or is it? Unfortunately this is Brent, so who knows
The intervention of the councillor is fine but he is without heating and it is bitterly cold plus he has health issues. Provide him with some temporary heaters.
I have been in touch on an almost daily basis including today, with the resident to keep an eye on his welfare, especially given the bitter cold weather. He has heaters and the council has been actively pushing his case, and supporting him.
Comment via email from John H: Hi Martin, yes Cllr Donnelly-Jackson has been in almost daily contact which was most welcome
Since my story appeared in WM, I have had a lot of emails from not only the councillor but also Octavia, SureServe and the SK regeneration officer who works for the council but the repair is still outstanding and has now reached day 42.
Dear Cllr. Donnelly-Jackson, your response was very good to hear, we thank you. There is so much more work still to do in Brent from what I see. Having ineffective councillors is very frustrating, especially as some of the best were deselected by our unfriendly Cllr. and yet we retain some of the worst and selected some unfathomable and non-engaged replacements. Good old Towerblock Tatler to thank for that we are told, she who has destroyed Labour in Brent. Ah, but she's your YIMBY mate isn't she?
Tatler didn't ruin Labour run Brent alone - she was deputy Brent Council Leader under Cllr Mo Butt - none of the other Labour Councillors wanted to stand up to either of them, rather than opposing their poor decisions they would vote in favoir or abstain.
She was a temp deputy leader covering a maternity leave. Most councillors couldn't believe Butt selected her to cover.
Wembleymatters and the Greens do make a difference in B~ent.
Maybe at this point it would be sensible to sent a heating engineer and have that person bill Brent and/or Octavia a bill afterwards? Both Brent and Octavia have failed in their duty of care towards John H
Disgusting behaviour by a Council that doesn't give a sh*t about its residents, or tenants, just waffles meaningless soundbites about what they are going to do which amounts to exactly nothing!
Comment received via email: Hi Martin, SureServe say they are coming to complete the repair tomorrow.
It seems they can carry out the repair while I remain in my flat
Best wishes
John
The repair has been completed today after continued advocacy by the council's housing partnerships team. The support to the resident is ongoing.
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