OPEN LETTER TO SIMON CLARK REGARDING THE VOICE MAGAZINE, SPRING 2014.

Pictured is the front cover of Sanctuary Housing’s “Voice” Spring 2014 Magazine.

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Blog entered 21 May 2014

 

Hello Simon

Re : The Latest edition of Sanctuary Housing’s Spring 2014 “Voice” Magazine.

In reply to “we’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to see and how we can improve the magazine”, I really do appreciate you giving me the opportunity, truly.

I suppose the biggest improvement I can personally suggest is for Sanctuary to stop using so much manure when writing about Grounds Maintenance issues such as that to be found on pages 17 and 18. Perhaps Sanctuary could also stop telling residents how happy they are or should be based on what limited or misleading information is offered to them.

With regards to Grounds Maintenance it would have been more informative to tell readers about the ‘Grounds Maintenance Specification’ which sets out what Sanctuary should do for the Service Charge it takes. That this Specification is available to residents in their areas and which will assist them monitor how well Sanctuary is really doing, or not doing, or if Sanctuary is frauduently stealing from them, as is the case where I live and since 2009.

This would really benefit residents Tell You What They Really Think on pages 15 and 16.

As you know Timber Close has of some 50 properties and Sanctuary’s in-house Maintenance Estate Services Team, a gardner (singular) visits on Tuesdays for 2 hours. The tasks specified in the Specification are usually ignored and the weekly Service Charge amounts to in excess of £140.00 per 2 hourly visit or in excess of £560.00 per month for 8 hours work.

You will recall I can only give a conservative estimate because you, for and on behalf of Sanctuary and CEO David Bennett, have refused to let me know how much weekly service charge my neighbours pay.

I was particularly interested in the reference ‘Communal areas cleaning’ regarding ‘bin storage areas’ cleaned of any rubbish.

As both you and Bennett have been made fully aware via weekly emails, both Richard Keeley, Head of Housing Operations (South West) and Helen Harding, Operations Manager – South West, lied when they stated the bin store, now renamed “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump”, is checked on a weekly basis according to Keeley and every Tuesday according to Harding.

In reality “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” is not checked or cleaned at all as demonstrated yesterday when the “Estate Teams” gardner visited and once again left “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” looking like an uncleared, uncleaned, unhealthy and hazardous shit-hole when I had to use it this morning.

You will recall a series of emails not so long ago when I advised you and Bennett of items other than household waste which had been dumped in the store. That the series of up-dated emails ran every week for some 15 weeks before the ‘Maintenance Team’ finally entered into “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” and finally removed the items.

I am particularly annoyed the gardner was not observed doing anything yesterday other than pick up litter and that Sanctuary had again wilfully engaged in fraud in not clearing and cleaning “Bennett’s Rubbish Dump” or carrying out the tasks indicated in the ‘Grounds Maintenance Specification’, but which Sanctuary still benefited from financially.

Need I remind you and Bennett that Cornwall has a serious rat problem at the moment and that you pair of rodents risk only making matters worse.

Finally, I am drawn to the article’s closing statement that “As with any service, we aim to deliver the best service possible, so if you have any feedback please pass it on to your local Housing Officer”, unquote.

You will recall every member of Sanctuary’s Board and the CEO himself have received written feedback from me regulary as far back as 2009 when Sanctuary ripped the residents off big time and wilfully broke the law. Are you therefore suggesting a Housing Officer is in some way more responsible and accountable than the Directors, Executive Officers, Board Members and the CEO himself ?

I know you would want to take a personal interest in any feedback resulting from the “Voice” and know you will not mind me giving out your email address so residents who do contact their Housing Officer with praise or a complaint can also copy you at Simon.Clark@sanctuary-housing.co.uk

Yours sincerely

Geoff McLaughlin