This weekend I thought I might look back through the blogs and also the Ambassador's Forum to see if I could perhaps try to stimulate some conversation between the group members.
As we all work in different groups and not everyone wants to or can join the informal monthly meetings that Wendy has started it would be good to know who is still with us and how things are them. You can call me nosy if you want but we are all, in our own way, wanting better things for tenants and leaseholders so let others in the group know how it is working for you.
I have named some names but if yours is not amongst them don't let that stop you joining in. Some people I have spotted in the informal sessions so I know they are about but if you would like to say anything please feel free..
So here is my roll call:
Angel Cheriee - have you settled in your new home and managed to sort out your nursery problems? Has the recent bus route changes helped at all?
Anita Payne - how's the garden growing?
Emily Badger - how are you? Do you feel you can contribute to Tenant Involvement in the way you hoped?
Anthony Church - are you still contributing to the Great Estate projects? Miss your jokes on the Forum
Sara Scott - any progress with your comedy writing?
Steven Norton - how are you? Has Tenant Involvement helped with the many trials you had been through?
David Lincoln - your blog painted a picture of a man caring of his family and his surroundings - how are you post lockdown?
Justin Stratford - how's the grandchild doing?
I know there are many others but I hope I have stimulated some to come forward and make the Portal a more used facility. It is there not just for news of meetings and progress of the White Paper, it is for us - the Ambassadors who work on these projects in order to make a better life for the tenants and leaseholders of O.C.C.
Hi Anthony,
First let me congratulate you on being re elected. I hope you enjoy the responsibilities that you have been given. I have seen so many regeneration schemes for Blackbird Leys come and go that if this one succeeds I shall be very pleasantly amazed.
It's obvious from your message that you have cast aside the organisations that you are not happy with and spending time on new ventures. I hope you find more satisfaction in this work.
I shall miss your contributions to the Forum, but as you said perhaps one day you may want to come back and contribute again. Till then Anthony - au revoir and bon chance!
Hi all,
Unfortunately I have stepped fully away from Tenant Involvement as I found thatxother things I am involved in are giving me more satisfaction.
I have just bern re-elected as a Blackbird Leys Parish Councillor with a portfolio as Chairman of the Planning Committee, big challenges ahead with the proposed regeneration project, I am involved with an organisatoon called LEAF an advisory forum working with the homeless. I recently stepped down from the Residents Assocition in Cowley as it wasnt going anywhere.
I think that (this my opinion) that the whole Tenant Involvement system needs looking at and needs a relaunch, qe cannot kerp blaming Covid for not having face to face meetings, all restrictions are off so why cant meetings happen?
Take Care all and maybe I will come bsck to the fold one day.
Oh another thing I'd like to finishing adding, I've spoke to residents who are close neighbours to the council homes , aka a celebrity from the chase I expressed if he had any problems nor his neighbours he said no? They were built by abby homes too? So in my eyes why are the council flats the only ones that are botched with many problems? And you wonder why we don't get taken seriously and the wider world for people who are rich and buy houses have the full fun affect off no problems but people in councils home are totally oppsite? Why are we so divided? We are all humans and have to live in homes? Yet treated so differently. I wish it could be stopped .
Unfortunately not no, I'm currently got support workers , ods and hopefully better housing better help due to the impact theses new builds are facing especially mine, the communication between ourselves , abby homes who built the flats , tenancy managers and oxford city council is absolutely awful. I've been without hot water for 5 days due to my water tank not having the correct parts, most of all my neighbours are in the same postion, I will give you a list of what's gone wrong and still hasn't been resolved;
1: radiators don't work
2: pipe work under my sink not even hand tight my grandad had to resolve because it was causing leakage.
3: hot water keeps cutting out often constantly left with no hot water at all, I have the manual for my water tank and I am missing many parts , abby homes have admitted that they are old tanks and they were the cheaper option but little did they know they'd bite them on the ass some point in time when myself who still dealing with it.
4: water pressure is absolutely terrible we've already had a neighbour had loads of sewage back up into her toilet, my toilet don't flush, and it takes around 25mintues to get a fullish bath.
5: I had electricity meter box on the outside of my house , I didn't put it there, it's been there since I signed the tenancy meaning it was built on by abby homes. Unfortunately my electricity meter was faulty and it was ticking too fast and my electricity company told me apparently i was consuming 40kw in a day, impossible. This took 5 months to resolve and it was a very hard time because my bills were around £200/250 a month because the metering problem, oxford city council can't take fault, nor abby homes and scottish power? So who put the electricity meter box there then? The magicaly fairies?.
6: my open reach box is in my utitly room where my washing machine is, it's very dangerous as it shouldn't be right next to water especially when my utility room is tiny and only meant for a washing machine, this has also been difficult for connections/TV because my utility room being right next to my front door and can't wiring into the living room as I have patio doors, so I had no choice but to pay £100 for mini connectors.
7: the draught from the patio and front door is beyond ridiculous, and does not keep my home warm what so ever.
8: my bath plug I have to get a knife to get it in and out as it don't have enough space to pop it up and down to get the water out from baths, sometimes it's that stuck i have to leave a full bath in until I can get someone to unplug it.
9: my thames water account getting shut down without my authorisation and getting put into oxford city councils name as though I was oxford city council, I received a letter I was being charged for sewage waste removal for everyone in the council flats In mogridge drive, even though I wasn't even in this flat then, my water sure was swipped , I couldn't get past security for 25 mintues because my thames water account was no where to be seen or heard from, I created a new account because I had no choose my water sure grant took 2 weeks to go back on. The whole time I've been at mogridge drive which is coming up to 8 months, I've been paying direct debt and my thames water account has just been sat in credit mode the whole time and still is to this day because my water meter that takes meter reads isn't connected to my property.
I am only 23 years old and I have not once experienced nothing like this, you may read and think oh " she's moaning again" but trust me come and take a walk in my shoes? I've had to go to the doctors about my mental health because of the impact this has had on me, one day In my generation I would love for professionals to actually be professionals and do the duty of care towards tenants correctly. Theses situations have been ignored by many , local councilors, support workers, oxford city council , we are only a very small oxford city council community in mogridge drive and all the problems I've faced my neighbours have too, we talk all the time as there's probably no more than 40 of us if that.
I know for a full fact the council homes in mogridge drive are completely cow boy botched , it isn't rocket science into why I think it is neither have you seen the people building theses home? With all the problems I'm facing I've not once had an assessment on my flat? Even when I've asked, I've had to send the council a picture of myself standing outside my front door to show them i dont acsess my flat via a commual ny flat is connected to flats , I'm bottom floor with my own front door, yet they still don't have a clue?.... embarrassing I must say.
The sooner younger people get noticed more the better, im loud and very open and when i know something is wrong it's wrong and I don't do any sitting down about it? The people who you think are actually there to call to resolve you problems aren't and yet I'm facing the consequences for other peoples actions. I want to be a voice for everyone experiencing theses problems and trust me I have but I've been knocked down so many times I don't even know what it's like to have confidence anymore? And why? For something that isn't my fault , which i am facing? People really need to get there head out of the sand and realise certain company's ain't all little shine of light angels when you need them. Come on its 2022. Open your eyes.
Another thing, not once in our sign ups for theses properties did we sign or know any wiser into how to resolve problems if anything goes wrong in the flats, so for example what I'm going through now, I'd have to ring oxford city council, oxford city council will email abby homes to come a resolve the problem because they have to send out a contractor and it could take a few hours, but it's just someone from on site? Who don't have a clue what the hell he is doing and he obviously don't if it's the 3rd time he's came out the problems still recurring to the point ODS had to come out over the weekend for me when they ain't suppose to because abby homes have 1 month left until the sign over goes to the council? So even ODS are very angry, confused and annoyed because there not even getting noticed by the council that there coming out unable to resolve the residents problem because they either dont have the parts or not allowed to touch it meaning residents have to suffer longer until abby homes resolve it which there not.
Defects is next week for me and the other residents, the ODS man who I was over the phone to on the weekend is personally coming out to every single home to write down all the reoccurring issues and take it directly to the council and abby homes, the council ain't going to be happy spent all this money to spend so much more on repairing them all?
Hi
Hope are well? I am still waiting for my back garden to be cleared, so I could sit out there. It’s has been over a year now that I have been trying to get it cleared