Brave New World of Council Housing in East Kent

Updated: 07/10/20 – @ 08:00

East Kent Housing is dead, just like that parrot.

At midnight (30th Sept) it ceased to be. All its functions and responsibilities have now returned to the four councils, who previously owned it – Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet.

The death of East Kent Housing began with the scandal around the P & R contract, which quickly spread to encompass tenant Health & Safety issues such as Fire Safety, Legionalla, Electrical and lifts.

In Sept 2019, the Regulator of Social Housing issued regulatory findings against them all.

• Canterbury

• Dover

• Folkestone & Hythe

• Thanet

The regulator concluded that all four councils had breached the Home standard; and there was a risk of serious detriment to tenants and leaseholders during this period.

In Dec 2019, the four councils removed the board and replaced them with the four Chief Exec’s of the Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet Councils, as the directors of East Kent Housing Ltd.

In alphabetical order the Chief Execs are:

Colin Carmichael OBE, arrived at Canterbury City Council in Oct 1996. He left the London Borough of Camden,  where he had been Director of Corporate Services between Jan 1989 – Oct 1996.             

Private Eye, the satirical magazine published a story  about Mr Carmichael in 1996; which states: “he wants a fatcat-style £500,000 golden goodbye”. Mr Carmichael has informed us, via a CCC spokeperson, he did NOT receive a golden goodbye.

In Oct 2011, Colin Carmichael, who had by then received his OBE for services to local government – was named in a Daily Telegraph investigation as one of the Council bosses leading a lavish lifestyle at taxpayers expense.

In January 2018, 70-year-old Susan Baines, who lived in an EKH managed property in Whitstable, owned by Canterbury City Council, died hours after she was found hypothermic by paramedics – six months after EKH ruled electric storage heaters in the property needed replacing with radiators.

Moving on, Nadeem Aziz Chief Exec of Dover District Council; who previously worked as at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets has no public skeletons that we can find. If you know of any, do drop us a line.

 

Then there is Dr. Susan Priest, Chief Exec of Folkestone & Hythe District Council who arrived at FHDC in Oct/Nov 2013.

When she left South East England Development Agency – a quango-  in March 2012, she received more than £170,000 in compensation for the loss of her role. She then moved onto South East Local Enterprise Partnership before leaving to join FHDC.

It was Susan who signed off the payment of £1.5m to a known criminal for the purchase of the Biggins Wood Land – Cheriton.

Susan received a £40,000 pay rise in 2019/20. It’s her council who have paid out more to keep ex employees quiet than any other District council in Kent, over the last five financial years.

Then last, but not least, there is Madeline Homer, Chief Exec of Thanet District Council.

Well, there was the failure to get in place a local plan which led to the intervention of the Secretary of State James Brokenshire of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary James Brokenshire.

Then of course there is the ongoing saga about the lack of governance; and the failure to declare her intimate relationship with her No 2 at Thanet Council.

These are the four chief exec who failed to claw back £1,511,000 of public money which was overpaid to P & R the former gas contractor.

These were the people who signed off employing the former Chief Exec of East Kent Housing, Deborah Joshephine Upton, who walked away with a £160,000 pay off and a non-disclosure agreement, according to well placed former EKH staff.

These are the four Chief Executives who will take their housing stock into the brave new world of direct council control.

These are the four chief executives  whose councils have charged leaseholders for service charges such as legionella control; which P & R significantly overcharged for.

A growing group of disgruntled  leaseholders say they have failed to receive a detailed breakdown of these costs; which were added to their service charges, they allege.

Such behaviour is not unheard of by councils

We will watch this brave new world with interest; and when residents of council housing raise issues, we will investigate.

The Shepway Vox Team

The Velvet Voices of Dissent