National Engagement Battle ( March 08 )
Tenants groups across South Lanarkshire have reacted with anger to letters from Communities Scotland informing them that `agreements` had been made to organise a regional tenants network entitled, “ Region 8” to represent all the registered tenant organisations there.
Tenants have been asked to put their names forward as representatives on a committee conjoined with North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire with four places available per area. If more than four reply then elections will be held.
One group has written to James Hynd, Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland asking him to produce copies of these supposed agreements. Another group has said that no such agreements exist or have been made by some other organisation without the involvement or permission of groups in South Lanarkshire.
Tenants are upset that Communities Scotland are claiming that research and consultations commissioned by them have given Communities Scotland a mandate to develop regional tenants networks which will represent tenants in talks with the Scottish Government on national housing policy.
One South Lanarkshire tenant representative told S.T.O. that at first they thought it was a joke, especially when they saw the constitution that had been produced. Apparently the document bore no resemblence to traditional tenants group constitutions and tied groups to simply responding to government initiatives and consultations. As well as these paragraphs there was a space to invite outside bodies to regional meetings which tenants speculated could only mean that civil servants wanted to guarantee their attendance. Added to this were strange parts which emphasised the ejection or barring of troublesome tenants. Presumably this would mean those who asked awkward questions?
Local MSPs have been asked to take up these issues and apparently the Minister for Communities & Sport has asked Chief Executive James Hynd to produce a report on what is happening in South Lanarkshire.
The tenants protesting over this say that Communities Scotland have got it all wrong and that the way things are being done is not the way it should be. Tenants say that the so-called research is not valid within the tenants movement and that civil servants can not award themselves a mandate for anything based on their methods. Tenants say that the authority does not exist for some tenants to enter into agreements with the government on behalf of others.
The process has been compared by tenants to the way things are done in totalitarian states. Tenants complain that they have been informed that elections will take place and that even if they opt out, the process will go ahead and others who do take part will be their representatives whether they like it or not.
It has not been explained to tenants who don`t get involved, what voice they will have at national level. This is a serious question that needs an answer. Will the Scottish Government insist that those who take part in the structures they have built, speak for all tenants or just those who have signed up to the process?
This seems like a recipe for disaster and will have serious consequences for the integrity and independence of the Scottish tenants movement.
April 08-update
The complaints from South Lanarkshire seem to show that matters are descending further into farce. Communities Scotland`s Acting Chief Executive has admitted that “ those RTOs currently involved do not purport to represent all RTOs in the Region, only those groups who suport the networks”.
What does this mean for the claims in Communities Scotland`s glossy productions which blatantly announce “ National Voice for RTOs”?
Does this mean that there will be one voice for those on the Governments networks and another for those not on the networks?
Communities Scotland staff stated on June 2007 in Edinburgh that, “the extensive research carried out with RTOs had highlighted and confirmed general agreement to develop regional networks at this time. Throughout this process there had been no wish from RTOs, at this stage, to form a national body, with a clear preference for regional structures that are managable, democratic, representative and are RTO led”. It seems crazy in the light of this statement that Scottish Government glossy magazines can proclaim a “National Voice for RTOs”.
How do tenants who wish only to work at a regional level become a national voice for tenants? Maybe the Scottish Government could enlighten everyone as to how they plan to achieve this in this so-called “tenant led” environment? Will civil servants simply will this into existence as they have the rest of the structures? There are just too many questions about the behaviour of civil servants here and their involvement in tenants affairs.
The latest to emerge from the `region 8` fiasco is that the `steering group` were helped by civil servants to hold their “ inaugural AGM”. Poorly attended, it has emerged that the exercise failed to achieve the required number of delegates and the civil servants will now be writing again to tenants groups to ask them to propose themselves for membership. So it would seem once more that instead of making themselves accountable to the tenants in their area tenants can simply propose themselves and presumably be recognised by the Scottish Government as the voice of tenants in that region.
The question being asked by tenants in South Lanarkshire is, how can this hugely questionable structure for tenant organisation, which is being supported by the Government, develop national housing policy when there has been no contact between the tenants on these structures and the rest. Tenants ask when they will present their national housing policies for perusal by others? Will it be after they have consulted their Government helpers or will they freely discuss these issues with other tenants outwith the presence of civil servants?
Incidently, throughout the march towards Government management of the Scottish tenants movement, they keep referring to the “RTO movement”. Can anyone provide an answer to what that is?
John Carracher
