Apr 29 - Mid Harbours Committee Express Desire to Work with the Housing Department
The Mid Harbour Estate Committee have once again written an open letter to the press following a recent statement released by the Government, defending their position on the state of the Estate. The Committee insists that there is no person or certain individual seeking to spread misinformation and distort reality’. They claim that they have always expressed their desire to work with the Government and the Housing Department for the benefit of the Estate.
The committee statement continues, ‘because of the perceived lack of interest, initiative, communication and action by Government Departments, the Committee felt that its only option was to resort to the media. If nothing else, our Press Release has served one purpose; to inspire some lively debate! We hope and trust that its PRIME purpose will come to fruition as well!! That is, to illicit POSITIVE responses from a Government Department seemingly in the grip of inertia, in order to rectify the problems inherent in the Estate. It has never been the intention of the Committee to score ‘brownie points’. There are MANY on the estate with grievances but most, if not all are happy and thankful for their homes.’
Responding to the Government’s insistence that the Committee was acting profoundly insensitive to release a statement on the issue on the day of Housing Minister Charles Bruzon’s funeral, the association notes that this was totally fortuitous and the comments made in the statement were not aimed at an individual but at an entity. The Committee did send their condolences to the Chief Minister.
The statement notes that the traffic arrows installed in the car park of the estate are insignificant in size and number. They also insist that there are no speed regulation signs on the garage.
The issue of skidding vehicles and slippery floors in the garage was addressed and the Government has stated that ‘it reacted immediately by roughing up the existing surface in a specific test area as soon as this problem was highlighted’. ‘This much is true,’ the Committee states, ‘however, to our knowledge nothing further has been done. If Government’s intention is to do something about it, then it might be a good idea to communicate that intention. At least everyone will be informed.’
The statement continues, ‘the lighting in some of the blocks is dismally ineffective as most of the lights have been out for WEEKS and the stairwells are in complete darkness. The frustration of persons/tenants has been the difficulty in contacting the correct department! At varying times, Housing has referred to GibElec, who in turn would have referred one to Sheriff, who in turn would then refer to Housing etc! Housing would refer to GJBS, who would refer to Housing or Building and Works or whatever! (Sort that out if you can!) But our communication problems don’t stop there! Problems in the past with the ball park could lead one from Housing to Environment to Sports & Leisure to GJBS to RGP and back to square one and a thumb suck could send one on another magical journey down Beaurocracy Boulevard!
The above issues would be easily solved were a proper management infrastructure in place so as to manage efficiently and effectively an estate of this size. At the moment there are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up.
It is to be expected that Government would take pride in its housing stock; much as we take pride in our individual homes. We therefore reiterate our invitation to the recently appointed Housing Minister, to visit the Estate accompanied by the Committee so that he can see the facts for himself.’
