FROM Council Housing to Housing Association to PRIVATISATION of housing stocks.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ('the Council'),

13,100 Council houses, flats and bedsits were transferred from the Council to Wirral Partnership Homes (WPH) in February 2005. In 2013 WPH changed its name to 'Magenta Living'.

In 2000 the twenty two flats at Ashton Court, West Kirby, were in the ownership of the Council.

In 2011 tenants of flats at Ashton Court, West Kirby, were paying £110 per month in rent to WPH. In the same year WPH paid tenants £5,000 to vacate their homes. Some of these tenants are today Magenta Living tenants, paying £550 per month in rent for flats in Hoylake and elsewhere.

WPH was a housing association which paid 0% tax since it was registered with the Charities Commission (in Liverpool).....and had a remit to provide housing for those in housing need.

In 2005 WPH took possession of 13,100 residential properties. By 2012 WPH had only 12,400 residential properties.

The WPH 2010 annual accounts, published on 31 March 2010, show (on page 44) "CASH at Bank and In Hand" of £26,051,000..........which equates to more than £100,000 per week for FIVE YEARS.

We are witnessing the gradual DE-MUNICIPALISATION of housing stocks.

The APP/16/00823 planning application states that the application is on behalf of the 'STARFISH GROUP'of Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

How did the charity, MAGENTA LIVING, transfer ownership of the TWENT TWO retirement flats at Ashton Court, Ashton Drive, West Kirby, to the STARFISH GROUP?

The incomplete APP/16/00823 planning file that I was shown today, at the Planning Department includes a letter from Stella Edwards (the Council's Principal Strategic Housing and Investment Officer) to Mr N Williams (Senior Planning Officer) in which Stella Edwards identifies Ashton Court as being within the West Kirby and Thurstaston ward. She presents data concerning the April 2015 t0 March 2016 Wirral "choice-based lettings scheme for the allocation of affordable housing.

Ashton Court is NOT in the West Kirby and Thurstaston ward, meaning that the 78 applicants applying "per unit" quotation refers to people applying for two-bedroom accommodation in the neighbouring ward.

Please provide ALL correspondence between Stella Edwards and N Williams concerning the APP/16/00823 planning application.

Please provide the ACTUAL DATA relating to the ward in which Ashton Court is actually located.

Yours faithfully,

Alan Rundle

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

6 Attachments

Dear Mr Rundle

 

Further to your recent request for information, please see the Council’s
response below.

 

“How did the charity, MAGENTA LIVING, transfer ownership of the TWENT TWO
retirement flats at Ashton Court, Ashton Drive, West Kirby, to the
STARFISH GROUP? “

 

Wirral Council holds no recorded information in response to this request.
The Council does not own the properties in question so any request for
information should be directed to Magenta Living by following this link
http://www.magentaliving.org.uk/contact-...

 

“The incomplete APP/16/00823 planning file that I was shown today, at the
Planning Department includes a letter from Stella Edwards (the Council's
Principal Strategic Housing and Investment Officer) to Mr N Williams
(Senior Planning Officer) in which Stella Edwards identifies Ashton Court
as being within the West Kirby and Thurstaston ward. She presents data
concerning the April 2015 t0 March 2016  Wirral "choice-based lettings
scheme for the allocation of affordable housing.  Ashton Court is NOT in
the West Kirby and Thurstaston ward, meaning that the 78 applicants
applying "per unit" quotation refers to people applying for two-bedroom
accommodation in the neighbouring ward.

 

Please provide ALL correspondence between Stella Edwards and N Williams
concerning the APP/16/00823 planning application.”

 

Please see the attached email between Stella Edwards and N Williams
concerning APP/16/00823 which shows incorrect ward data, provided in
error.  Please also see an updated response regarding this planning
application which has now been produced with the correct ward data
included and this has been forwarded to the Planning Officer dealing with
this application.

 

“Please provide the ACTUAL DATA relating to the ward in which Ashton Court
is actually located.”

 

The following Property Pool Plus data (Wirral Choice Based Lettings
scheme) relates to the Hoylake and Meols ward where Ashton Court is
located.  The data relates to properties advertised through Property Pool
Plus for the period April 2015 to March 2016.

Average Average Average Average Average
No of 1 number No of 2 number No of 3 number No of 4 number No of 5 number
bed of apps bed of apps bed of apps bed of apps bed of apps
properties per properties per properties per properties per properties per
ward advertised property   advertised property   advertised property   advertised property   advertised property
Hoylake  None  None
& Meols 3 71   4 35   1 75   advertised N/A    advertised N/A 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Lynette Paterson

Senior Information Management Officer

Records and Information Management

Legal Services

Transformation and Resources

Wallasey Town Hall

Brighton Street
Wallasey
Wirral
CH44 8ED 

[1]Tel: 0151 691 8201

[2][Wirral Borough Council request email]

 

 

[3]LGC Awards15_Winner_MIP

 

 

This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.   You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge

 

 

 

 

**********************************************************************

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and

intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they

are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify

the system manager.

This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by

MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.

www.clearswift.com

**********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/Tel:0151
2. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]

hide quoted sections

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'FROM Council Housing to Housing Association to PRIVATISATION of housing stocks.'.

[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]
The information has NOT been provided.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...

Yours faithfully,

Alan Rundle

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Rundle

 

I write further to your request for an internal review of the Council's
handling of your recent Freedom of Information request, in which you
state:-

 

"I am writing to request an internal review of Wirral Metropolitan Borough
Council's handling of my FOI request 'FROM Council Housing to Housing
Association to PRIVATISATION of housing stocks.'.

The information has NOT been provided."

 

Your original request stated:

 

“How did the charity, MAGENTA LIVING, transfer ownership of the TWENT TWO
retirement flats at Ashton Court, Ashton Drive, West Kirby, to the
STARFISH GROUP? “

 

The Council's response was:

 

Wirral Council holds no recorded information in response to this request.
The Council does not own the properties in question so any request for
information should be directed to Magenta Living by following this link

[1]http://www.magentaliving.org.uk/contact-...

 

With regards to the rest of your request, correspondence between Stella
Edwards and N Williams concerning the APP/16/00823 planning application
was provided to you as an attachment.  Property Pool Plus data relating to
the Hoylake & Meols ward, in which Ashton Court is located, was also
supplied as requested.

 

In the circumstances I am satisfied that the Council did provide the
information requested where held. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome
of this review, you may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office
at the following link: [2]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

 

Yours sincerely

 

Tracy O'Hare

Information Management Officer

Business Services - Digital

Wallasey Town Hall

Brighton Street
Wallasey
Wirral
CH44 8ED 

[3]Tel:0151 691 8397

Transformation and Resources

[4][Wirral Borough Council request email]

 

 

[5]LGC Awards15_Winner_MIP

 

This information supplied to you is copyrighted and continues to be
protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.   You are free
to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
example commercial publication, would require our specific permission, may
involve licensing and the application of a charge

 

 

 

**********************************************************************

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and

intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they

are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify

the system manager.

This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by

MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses.

www.clearswift.com

**********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. http://www.magentaliving.org.uk/contact-...
2. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
3. file:///tmp/Tel:0151
4. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]

hide quoted sections