March 2010
Dear neighbour,
We know that in these difficult economic times, it can be tough balancing the household bills.
As your local Labour action team, we were extremely angry to learn that your landlord, Hyde Southbank Homes plans to increase the service charges for tower blocks like Edrich House by over 40% for local residents. The average service charge on Lambeth Living properties is about half that in Hyde properties.
This would mean that the average bill for a 2 bedroom flat service charge would increase from £37.70 per week to £53.64.
This was the decision that the new Liberal Democrat Chair of Hyde Southbank Housing took at her first meeting of the board of the organisation. The news comes as a severe blow for tenants. Lib Dems are used to 40% hikes of course – that’s the amount they racked up your council tax bills when they were last in power, costing the average household an extra £1,000.
We are extremely concerned about this increase, and Labour councillors have expressed their anger about it:
· We met with residents from the Hyde tower blocks, who passed a motion of no-confidence in Hyde
· We have asked the Chief Executive of Hyde to meet with residents in the next few weeks
· We have asked that Hyde look at ways of making cost savings in the long term so that such high increases are not necessary in the future;
· We are looking for creative ideas to spend some money in the short term – to reduce electricity and heating bills to bring down service charges for tenants in the long term.
As Labour councillors, we recently voted through a freeze on your council tax bills in order to help hard-working people who may be struggling in the recession. This means your council tax will be frozen for two years – that’s compared to the Lib Dems who increased it by 40% when they were in power.
In addition, if you are struggling with money or paying bills, feel free to get in touch with us or you might want to contact the Lambeth Savings and Credit Union who can offer free advice on 020 3256 0000.
Yours faithfully,
Alex Bigham Cllr Imogen Walker Cllr Peter Bowyer
labourstockwell@hotmail.com iwalker@lambeth.gov.uk pbowyer@lambeth.gov.uk
3 comments:
HOW DARE YOU POST A NOTE LIKE THIS ONTO ANY WEB SITE! This shows the very worst side of politics. To imply that any of the Labour "Team" had anything to do with this is not true in any way and only the lowest of the low would suggest it. All the work towards this has been done by the Committee of the Grantham Road Residents Association and this Association is not even in the Stockwell ward - Edrich House was included AT OUR INVITATION as we have the same building construction. To add insult to injury Stockwell councilors are ON THE BOARD of HSH and have done NOTHING about this for years. Still what can we expect from such self serving people. They should hang their heads in shame but their thick skins will prevent that I suppose.
I'm suprised and sorry if we have inadvertently caused any offence. I know what good work the Grantham Road Committee has done, and am happy to update the article to reflect that if you like (or write something else). We didn't mention Grantham Road to avoid confusion, as it isn't in Stockwell ward, but happy to clarify that.
When I was on the HSH board with Cllr Pete Robbins, I raised concerns about the service charge increase, it seemed totally unreasonable. We then drafted a letter to residents in Edrich House in January on this - it wasn't sent until after the meeting, as we were advised that a meeting with residents in Edrich House was being organised and to wait til after the meeting. Grantham Road then kindly invited Edrich residents to the meeting, given as you say they are the same types of building.
I hope we can get a good result on this one, and we will work with residents to try to get a result.
I don't trust anything that labour say. They are brilliant at taking credit for the good work other people do. I get very irritated with this arrogance of thinking that residents are stupid and will believe anything they spout. But this is labour" spin is in the gene. They can't help it.
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