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Company comes first
• CONGRATULATIONS to Joe Trotter on his election as a new director of Homes for Islington.
As an ex-chairman of housing and a councillor of the party which foisted Hones for Islington (HfI) upon us, he should know he can’t represent the people of Clerkenwell.
Once he signs on as a director, his first and only responsibility will be to the company, not the residents. He should also know that as a director he will be subject to the same “gag” on writing or talking to the local papers as his fellow directors.
However, if Joe really wants to play a role as a resident director I could suggest a couple of ideas. First, that all directors should hold regular surgeries just as councillors do.
Second, that all directors should make their own arrangements to visit residents and estates without a coterie of staff who form a barrier between them and the people.
While some resident directors do make strong efforts to keep in touch with their communities, it is too easy, and especially for the independent directors, to remain in the bureaucratic bubble of the housing establishment.
Unlike the council, where party politics prevail, Joe will find that the board has no manifesto or philosophy of its own.
This makes the board a creature of the staff who propose both policy and detail. At the end of the day, Joe may be able to have his say but when it comes to voting he will, effectively, become a rubber stamp for the staff’s proposals.
Like some of the other directors he may find himself asking who’s running the show and wonder where it’s going.
So far, each election to the HfI board has been held under different rules with “constituencies” redrawn or simply abolished and different “residency qualifications” for candidates. This means there has been a steady dilution of any link between directors and the area they are supposed to “represent”.
In other words, the elections have been gerrymandered without the slightest suggestion that a director should be accountable to their area’s “constituents”. But then, of course, they are only responsible to the company.
RICHARD ROSSER
Islington Leaseholder Forum
Highbury New Park, N5
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