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Alarm over Castle Morpeth Housing merger
COUNCILLORS have sounded warning bells over the merger of Castle Morpeth Housing.
The 'Herald' revealed last month that the housing association is to lose its individual identity in a merger with its parent Isos group.
Bosses insisted the move will have no adverse impact on tenant services and the Morpeth offices will remain.
But senior councillors, who were involved in the transfer of former Castle Morpeth Borough Council homes to the association, say promises are being broken and they are worried the area may lose out.
County Conservative Group Leader Peter Jackson said: "There are quite a few of us who don't think this is a very good idea.
"I know the whole of my group is opposed to this change.
"Castle Morpeth Housing has been going for about two years now and part of the promises to the residents of Castle Morpeth at the time it was set up was that they would have a locally controlled housing association.
"Even though it was part of a larger group it would still have its own services so that it could respond to the different housing conditions in Morpeth and the surrounding area.
"This move is directly going against that promise."
He added: "In the longer term I question how much investment there will be in affordable housing in the more rural and far-flung areas of Castle Morpeth.
"To have one huge housing association that is controlled from an office in Newcastle, whose interest is based in Newcastle and Tyneside, I just can't see that it can be of any benefit whatsoever."
The merger, which brings together Castle Morpeth Housing, NomadE5 and Milecastle into the Isos Housing Group, will see the executive team reduced and bring four separate boards into one to produce savings of around 500,000.
A Northumberland Area Panel will be created to give a voice to communities, but Coun Jackson is concerned that local representation will be cut.
"There would only be one elected representative on the board for the whole of North Northumberland. At the moment there is five on the Castle Morpeth Housing board," he said.
"The tenants and the independent members will be curtailed as well so the smaller communities of Hadston or Widdrington could well find themselves without any voice at all in the new organisation.
"The ownership and management of ex-council housing was all passed over to the housing association, however the council works very closely with the association on areas such as finding homeless people a place to live and providing affordable housing.
"That close link we are worried won't be as close in the future.
"We think the warning bells should be rung before it is too late."
Council Executive Member for Corporate Resources Andrew Tebbutt has similar fears.
"I know Peter is not the only councillor who is concerned about the merger," he said.
"The concern I have is that the proposals for the board are such that we would have very limited involvement from the council's point of view. That raises some questions about democracy and local accountability.
"One of the essential elements of the transfer of properties from Castle Morpeth Council to Castle Morpeth Housing was that we had a very well established democratic input to the management board."
However, Isos Chief Executive Keith Loraine said the creation of an area panel will provide more meaningful engagement with residents and councillors and they will continue to have significant influence in services.
"We are fully committed to engagement with the communities we serve," he said.
"Northumberland would be the only authority with representatives on any of the three area panels across the region.
"We believe this forum, specifically to debate Northumberland issues, offers councillors the best opportunity to influence our operations.
"The new Isos board is intended to be a strategic body to direct our operations across the region.
"It would simply not be possible to have balanced local authority representation at this level when we work with so many different authorities.
"The chairman of the area panel, which would have its own budget, would engage with the Isos board on a regular basis.
"We also plan to create an extensive network of tenants' forums feeding into the area panels to ensure all voices can be heard.
"The approach we are adopting is in line with guidance from our regulator and sits comfortably with the new Government's localism agenda."
He also dismissed fears that investment in local housing would stop.
"Isos as a group has an outstanding record of development in Northumberland, both through our operations based in Hexham and Morpeth, and through Newcastle-based NomadE5. This is set to continue," he said.
"We remain committed to investing in the county of Northumberland."
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Weather for Morpeth
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
