New development in LBH's war on community groups as HFTRA disbands itself at Lead Member's behest
Three months ago I wrote a short blog article about a coup which had taken place within the Hounslow Federation of Tenants’ and Residents’ Associations (HFTRA), in which the erstwhile Chair, Dave Cox, an intelligent and free-thinking individual, had been effectively pushed out by a sycophantic clique acting at the behest of the Lead Member for Housing, Councillor Steve Curran.According to an article published in the paper version of the Hounslow Chronicle this week (sadly it doesn’t seem to be available online) HFTRA, latterly under council-approved management, has now obligingly dissolved itself and is no more. In one fell swoop an organisation representing the inhabitants of 24,000 dwellings around the borough has meekly allowed itself to be terminated, without so much as a whimper, at the whim of one power-crazy politician carrying out the wishes of a power-crazy local party.According to the Chronicle article tenants and leaseholders living in local authority housing will henceforth be “represented” by a new borough-wide residents’ forum that is currently in the making.As an active participant within the G15+ alliance of community groups, I have some knowledge of this “forum”, taken from its own correspondence which we are already in receipt of. Its terms of reference have already been “suggested” by an officer of the Council. It is to be chaired by a councillor. Meetings are to be organised and hosted by the local authority, to a timetable set by the local authority, and a member of the Council’s staff will take the minutes. As far as I am aware membership criteria are yet to be decided, but nobody should be in any doubt that the power to appoint and to expel residents’ groups from the forum will lie somewhere within the hallowed halls of Lampton Road.Meanwhile said Lead Member has changed the criteria for funding tenants’ associations, basically creating an absolute power of patronage and veto for himself. It doesn’t take much imagination to see where this is going – if an ostensibly independent association has the temerity to elect somebody to membership who is not a person approved of by our lords and masters, or to engage in any form of campaigning which runs contrary to the designs of the regime, the threat of funding being withdrawn will be instantly invoked (one residents’ association is already under pressure from the Labour Party in Isleworth to dismiss Paul Fisher from membership, presumably on account of the fact that he is a member of the ICG - pressure which to its credit it has fiercely resisted).Residents’ associations and community groups should always of course try to keep on good terms with the local authority. A constructive approach to dialogue works better for everybody concerned than needless animosity. But the relationship has to be one based on respect for each other’s independence. Having a residents’ movement whose membership and constitution can be determined by the local authority makes no more sense than a trade union having its officials appointed by the company management.It is evident that Councillor Curran and his party colleagues are waging a war on community organisations across the borough with a ruthless determination of which the Hounslow Labour Party of the eighties and nineties would have been proud. Not only have these people learned nothing from the fright they were given in 2006, they are actually going backwards.I am currently compiling a document on these worrying developments, which Councillor Curran seems hell-bent on having in place before the local elections which take place next May. It seems his control-freakery and that of his party knows no bounds. It is important that anybody who is involved with residents’ and tenants’ groups is fully appraised of the situation and does whatever is needed to ensure that their organisations act to defend their integrity and independence.
Phil Andrews ● 4248d12 Comments