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Lambeth Living announce redundancies
Sep 7th
Up to 70 jobs will be axed within the next three months at the organisation managing Lambeth housing.
Lambeth Living has outlined details of the “restructuring” it believes will improve services to tenants and leaseholders living in the borough’s 34,000 home social housing stock.
A third of staff face redundancy, as between 40 and 70 posts are axed from the 468 strong workforce at the arms length management organisation (almo).
Lambeth Living Chief Executive Cathy Deplessis would not reveal what posts were under threat because of a consultation taking place with affected staff, who were told about the redundancies yesterday, but could not rule out a loss of frontline staff.
Terry Gallagher, director of resources and deputy chief executive, said the restructuring was a result of “inefficiencies in our systems are own staff, tenants and leasheolders have pointed out to us”.
Ms Deplessis said the ratio of four to one staff providing frontline services would remain, and one director and 28 managers will be lost.
She said the almo’s restructuring would see a centralised approach to services moved to three specific teams focussing on the geographical areas of North, central and south Lambeth, which will cover Streatham and Norwood.
New contracts worth £700m will also be drawn up with 12 area based contractors compared to the current 80 outsourced comapnies to deliver services such as repairs.
It is estimated the plans will save it £1m immediatly and a further £300,000 over the next three years which it wants to plough back in to the repairs budget.
Mrs Deplessis said: “The new plans will see local teams working much more collaboratively to cover all aspects of services including day-to-day repairs, customer services, tenancy enforcement, major works and estate services.”
She said it would reduce the “nightmare situations” where tenants and leaseholders had received a poor service by being “lost in the system”.
She said it would personalise and localise services, leave staff trained in more areas, and make specific teams more accountable to residents.
Frontline services such as cleaning, concierge and the emergency maintenance teams will not yet be affected because they will be considered when new long-term contracts are drawn up with contractors.
Lambeth Living will now consult with tenants over the proposals, until 26 September.
There will be a public consultation at the area forum meeting.
London Underground Strike Action 6/7 September
Sep 4th
London Underground staff who are part of the RMT and TSSA unions will be staging strike action which will affect London Underground services from around 5pm on Monday 6 September, and throughout Tuesday 7 September.
Transport for London intend to try to operate some sort of underground service but disruption is likely on most journeys.
You are recommended to check before you intend to travel, and use alternative routes where available. Bus services are being boosted during the strike action.
The latest information can be found on the Transport for London website.
Petition to save Funding for Decent Homes
Sep 4th
Residents in Lambeth are being asked to sign an online petition for funding promised under the previous government for upgrades to Kitchens and Bathrooms in residents homes.
There are fears that Lib Dem/Tory Coalition Government may refuse to honour the previous commitment to providing social housing providers in Lambeth to the sum of £233 million to help improve stock for families often living in poor conditions.
Weir Estate Residents Association supports this epetition and asks our residents to sign the epetition which can be found here.
This petition has now closed, but feel free to pass your support to us via info@wera.org.uk
Trustees wanted for successful, local Community and Children’s Centre
Sep 1st
The Weir Link is a vibrant and highly successful Community and Children’s Centre. Established in 2008, the Centre has already been recognised as a centre of excellence and has recently been awarded a significant grant to expand its provision in the area of community health.
In addition to increasing the number of Trustees to match planned growth in the Centre’s activities, we are planning for the future succession of the Chair of Trustees.
In particular, we are seeking up to 4 individuals with the following experience, knowledge and/or professional skills:
- Community involvement and leadership
- Strategic leadership in the charity or not for profit sector
- Financial planning and stewardship
- Supporting the well-being of Children and Young people
- Community health-care provision
- Service Level Agreements and Contracts
- Business Development and Fund-raising
Previous Trustee experience is not essential – full training and support will be provided. It is important to us that the Trustee body fully represents the diversity, cultures, experience, and skills from across the borough of Lambeth. We are therefore seeking applications from local residents, parents/carers and community groups, as well those with relevant professional or voluntary experience and skills.
There is no longer a closing date, for further information and to request an application pack, contact Rachel Bellini at Abbeville Associates tel 020 7720 1830 e-mail: admin@abbevilleassociates.co.uk
WERA Asks….Dave McEvoy
Aug 26th
Please can you introduce yourself, and explain what your role involves.
I am Dave, Elected Chair of WERA and have been in post for the association for 3 terms (3 years nearly) since I moved from Dulwich in 2007. My role is quite varied and can be extremely challenging from meetings with housing, Lambeth and external bodies such as the local police. I also take charge of our monthly meetings and ensure the actions and issues raised are dealt with, again this can be anything from resident issues to repairs.
What motivates you to do this role?
My motivation is simple, to improve our community and make it a better place to live for those living on Weir Estate and myself.
What do you most enjoy about representing the residents of Weir Estate?
It’s the satisfaction of knowing your making a difference to people’s way of living and quality of life. I most enjoy seeing the efforts that I put into what I do and making things happen and what I hope our positive results.
Do you think Lambeth council and Lambeth Living engage with residents and the association enough?
I think they do a pretty good job in engaging with us as an association as one of the main things I have tried to establish is good relations and communication between Lambeth, Lambeth Living and all our other community partners. Part of this is also maintaining those relations. More can always be done to engage and work together but Weir Estate doesn’t do too badly. As for one on one, yes I am sure many residents would like to at least feel there is more communication and sharing of information, thankfully this is where WERA comes in.
