Good journalism they say changes things. It has come to pass that the Director of Property Services at East Kent Housing, Mr Mark Anderson (pictured) has lost his job – effective immediately. Issues of overcharging, gas safety certificates, electrical tests and asbestos issues have all contributed to his his downfall, as is clear from his responsibilities as portfolio holder. He was directly responsible for – capital works, cyclical decorations, building engineering services, estate services, planned maintenance, responsive repairs and statutory compliance functions.
According to the 2017/18 accounts his total remuneration including pension costs was £103,177. It is not yet known if Mr Anderson will receive any payout for the loss of his job.
East Kent Housing is the largestArms Length Management Organisationin the country responsible for 15,800 plus homes. It is owned by Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet District Councils. Each have a 25% stake in the company.
Mr Anderson was previously Director of Assets and Regeneration of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation and was a lead on the planning and ‘consultation’ on the botched Grenfell Tower refurbishment, including cladding. We understand he has been interviewed under caution and will attend the Grenfell Fire Inquiry at some point.
Meanwhile, the gas safety certificates figures are much higher than what Kentonline have published. The figures they have quoted are for the month of May. The figures as of June 7th stood at over 900. So up by nearly 400 in less than a month. The increase as we understand is due to Gas Contract Services Ltd, the company brought in to check P & Rs work, has “not beenfulfilling its brief.” The figures may well increase not diminish, due to old gas certificates being more than a year old. P & R were supposed to undertake approx 300 Landlord Gas Safety Assessments a week.
Today (17/06/19) Canterbury Labour MP Rosie Duffield MP asked a question in Parliament about the Landlord Gas Safety Assessments quoting the May figures, NOT the up to date June figures.
We hope and pray the Councillors in all four councils will follow her example and ask questions in their Council chambers in the near future. It must be discoverd how we came to be in this mess.
Also let’s not forget former Folkestone & Hythe District Cllr Alan-Ewart James (former Cabinet member for Housing) & former Cllr David Owen’s role (former Cllr representative on the EKH board) in this mess either. We will come back to them in the coming days.
Now that Mr Anderson has been removed, we hope and pray that the staff of East Kent Housing will resolve the outstanding issues, without any further hindrance from Mr Anderson, and the risk of any tragedy waiting to happen will diminish sooner rather than later.
Congratulations to the whole Shepwayvox Team, a little over a year’s work on East Kent Housing and finally, finally a a nasty big cheese gets the chop because of your endeavours. Great Journalism and lets hope the issues are resolved soon for the tenants sake. We are working on it.
Anytime someone in his position is caught out and the reality of what they have been up to comes to light it can only be a good thing but remember this, he has only been able to perform to this disgraceful standard because he has not only been allowed to by his superiors but probably aided by their failure to ensure the checks and balances that are there to stop this sort of thing are actively monitored, so the real question is who allowed him to get away with it?
My guess is the same person employed by EKH to manage him and those that undertook his performance review ie his boss ?
I don’t imagine for one minute that those at the top were unaware this was going on, do you ?
There is a witch hunt going on in EKH at the moment and they are trying to discover who the mole might be. Little do senior management and the councils realise that there are so many moles.
They want to know how the Shepwayvox Team found out so quickly that Mark Anderson had gone.
Well that is simple. Many of us did the right thing and informed you. If they continue with the witch hunt they WILL lose the trust of the staff to resolve the current issues and make things worse, much worse.
Well there’s a surprise!
There was always going to be a backlash from managers with a proven track record of retribution against whistleblowers, so I am lead to believe it’s a matter of public record in the form of an employment tribunal involving staff from another social landlord that highlighted failings in maintenance contracts that were run by the very same officers that are now at the helm of EKH, needless to say the tribunal ruled in favour of the employees awarding against the employer.
Old habits die hard ???
I have met Mr Anderson and found him to be a likeable chap, he has paid the price because of his position, but sadly its his staff who have let him down. They are incompetent. They don’t follow up on anything and they tell untruths to tenants and to there bosses, ie Mr Anderson and I know this from personnel experience. They need to get rid of the whole management team based at the civic centre to make any improvements. Simple as that.
I don’t recall having a likeable personality as being indicative of someone who has the best interest of tenants and taxpayers at the heart of their professional ethics, more a tool in the box for someone who has a history of messing up and moving on to a new victim, et al Ms Upton imho, let’s not forget he was marched from the building and dismissed with immediate effect (the only senior manager to be treated this way) that fact alone indicates to me that should the real reason he has been sacrificed by Ms Upton come to light you will then be aware of
(A) What he got caught doing
(B) What Ms Upton was so keen to keep a lid on
(C) What the councillors have knowingly allowed to be covered up which will give you an indication as to the true level of their involvement in this disgraceful fiasco.
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Congratulations to the whole Shepwayvox Team, a little over a year’s work on East Kent Housing and finally, finally a a nasty big cheese gets the chop because of your endeavours. Great Journalism and lets hope the issues are resolved soon for the tenants sake. We are working on it.
Tireless, fearless reporting. Shepwayvox is better than any online or locally printed newspaper. Congratulations.
Congratulations to you and good riddance to him.
Anytime someone in his position is caught out and the reality of what they have been up to comes to light it can only be a good thing but remember this, he has only been able to perform to this disgraceful standard because he has not only been allowed to by his superiors but probably aided by their failure to ensure the checks and balances that are there to stop this sort of thing are actively monitored, so the real question is who allowed him to get away with it?
My guess is the same person employed by EKH to manage him and those that undertook his performance review ie his boss ?
I don’t imagine for one minute that those at the top were unaware this was going on, do you ?
There is a witch hunt going on in EKH at the moment and they are trying to discover who the mole might be. Little do senior management and the councils realise that there are so many moles.
They want to know how the Shepwayvox Team found out so quickly that Mark Anderson had gone.
Well that is simple. Many of us did the right thing and informed you. If they continue with the witch hunt they WILL lose the trust of the staff to resolve the current issues and make things worse, much worse.
When will they learn!
Well there’s a surprise!
There was always going to be a backlash from managers with a proven track record of retribution against whistleblowers, so I am lead to believe it’s a matter of public record in the form of an employment tribunal involving staff from another social landlord that highlighted failings in maintenance contracts that were run by the very same officers that are now at the helm of EKH, needless to say the tribunal ruled in favour of the employees awarding against the employer.
Old habits die hard ???
I have met Mr Anderson and found him to be a likeable chap, he has paid the price because of his position, but sadly its his staff who have let him down. They are incompetent. They don’t follow up on anything and they tell untruths to tenants and to there bosses, ie Mr Anderson and I know this from personnel experience. They need to get rid of the whole management team based at the civic centre to make any improvements. Simple as that.
I don’t recall having a likeable personality as being indicative of someone who has the best interest of tenants and taxpayers at the heart of their professional ethics, more a tool in the box for someone who has a history of messing up and moving on to a new victim, et al Ms Upton imho, let’s not forget he was marched from the building and dismissed with immediate effect (the only senior manager to be treated this way) that fact alone indicates to me that should the real reason he has been sacrificed by Ms Upton come to light you will then be aware of
(A) What he got caught doing
(B) What Ms Upton was so keen to keep a lid on
(C) What the councillors have knowingly allowed to be covered up which will give you an indication as to the true level of their involvement in this disgraceful fiasco.
Here is the tenant feedback on the East Kent Homes #almoclosure proposal:
Respondents wanted housing management returned to the council.
Canterbury 81%, Dover 81%, Thanet 81%, Folkestone & Hythe 74%.
The response rate was 15%, with 2,603 of 17.201 questionnaires returned.