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HOUSING BOSS IN SACK SHOCK
Council homes chief is forced out in City Hall power struggle
THE chairman of the independent company set up to run the borough’s council homes has been dramatically sacked by City Hall after a top-level bust-up.
Dr Kevin Bond, who has headed CityWest Homes for two years, is believed to have had serious disagreements with the council’s top brass over what the company should be doing over the next five years to repair homes and help tenants.
In a statement released yesterday (Thursday), Westminster City Council’s chief executive Mike More said: “Over recent weeks our relationship with Mr Bond has become untenable.”
Full details of why Mr More and his staff had crossed horns with Dr Bond are not being released and Dr Bond, a former Home Office adviser, could not be reached yesterday.
But insiders believe he wanted CityWest to have more independence from the council and became disillusioned by company appointees being bossed about by councillors and financial staff.
The power struggle may have centred on who decides rent and service charge levels for tenants, whether funds previously set aside for repair work to properties are cut down. Heated discussions are understood to have taken place over the past two months over plans to reduce spending plans which had already been laid out for the next five years.
Mr More said: “This has not been a decision taken lightly, but we believe it is in the best long-term interests of all parties. His view of the role of CityWest Homes differed significantly from ours and we felt this was putting at risk the improvement of our housing stock and the delivery of new homes in Westminster.”
There is no suggestion that Dr Bond has conducted his work inappropriately and the dismissal wholly centres on a difference of opinions.
By taking the tough action, Westminster’s council chiefs are meeting protests head on from housing campaigners who complained about the company being set up in the first place to run the borough’s 22,000 homes.
It has long been argued by critics that councils lose their grip over housing matters when management control is switched to companies such as CityWest, one of the government’s controversial arm’s length management organisations (Almos).
Labour leader Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said: “Westminster Conservatives have launched a major attack on CityWest Homes.
“It is total chaos and the people who will suffer are council tenants and leaseholders who can expect poorer services and higher charges.” |
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