Grenfell Tower Fire

The Grenfell Tower fire is a tragic disaster and our hearts go out to everyone involved – those who have lost their lives, those who have lost their family, friends and loved ones, those who have lost their homes, their possessions and their valued memories.   And our admiration and respect goes to all those who headed into the blazing inferno to save lives at such risk to their own.     As social housing residents we feel a strong sense of solidarity with the Grenfell Tower residents, and we share their grief and anger. We can breathe a sigh of relief that we have no tower blocks on Kennington Park Estate. But our fellow Hyde residents on the Grantham Road Estate in Stockwell and our close neighbours on the Ashmole Estate do, as do many other estates across Lambeth. The open design of our Estate means that the risks we…

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Service charges from 1 April 2017 – important update

As a direct result of the Tenants Association’s complaints, Hyde is sending out revised rent and service charge bills to residents of Kennington Park Estate.   Not only did Hyde include charges for a non-existent service (CCTV monitoring – see item below) but, for the second year running, they failed to include any charges for caretaking. We had to point this out to them. We don’t know what effect these two very large mistakes will have on our individual bills but we are sure we are not alone in wanting to have something approaching accuracy in what we have to pay for the coming year. We have pressed Hyde to ensure all consequential changes to Direct Debits and Housing Benefit are properly and quickly processed. We still have many questions about the actual and estimated service charges and Hyde acknowledges that there is much still to be resolved. Residents will…

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OUR COMMUNITY CENTRE IS UNDER THREAT! SAVE OUR COMMUNITY CENTRE!

At the heart of Kennington Park Estate in Oval is our Community Centre which is well used and loved. Hyde Housing now plans to get rid of our Community Centre. In its place Hyde wants to build expensive flats for private sale. ***** UPDATE – Hyde has extended the deadline for its consultation on the future of our Community Centre. We now have until 5pm on Friday 6 January 2017 to tell them we oppose their plans to demolish our Centre. You can do so here  https://www.hyde-housing.co.uk/tenants/resident-/community-centres-review/ And keep signing and sharing our petition here https://www.change.org/p/save-oval-s-kennington-park-community-centre ***** The TA has responded to Hyde’s Review of Community Centres, expressing our opposition to their plans for Kennington Park Community Centre. This is what we have said in our conclusion: “This is a manifestly flawed, fraudulent Consultation. We believe that the words “existing plan” are being used as a smokescreen for Hyde’s true intention…

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Hyde Group to merge with L+Q and East Thames Housing Associations

Our landlords, the Hyde Group, have announced that they are in merger talks with L+Q and East Thames Housing Associations. We only know what is on Hyde’s website. But information on their proposals can be found at https://www.hyde-housing.co.uk/news-events/news/corporate-and-financial/lq-the-hyde-group-and-east-thames-to-merge/ and https://www.hyde-housing.co.uk/merger-talks-with-lq-and-east-thames/ When we know more, we’ll let you know. Update! At the last TA meeting on 27 April residents expressed concern about remarks made by the CEO of the Hyde Group in press reports about the merger. The motion we agreed is here, as is Hyde’s reply. Residents have been invited to comment on the merger – see here – and the TRA Chair, Joan Twelves, has submitted several questions in a personal capacity – see here. Hyde’s further responses to our comments and questions can now be found here and here.   Update 2! The merger is no longer going ahead. More information on Hyde’s website https://www.hyde-housing.co.uk/news-events/news/corporate-and-financial/lq-and-the-hyde-group-have-mutually-agreed-to-end-plans-to-merge/    

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Legal Advice Surgery at Stockwell

In partnership with Prime Solicitors, the Stockwell Community Centre will offer free monthly legal advice surgeries to Hyde residents and local people. Surgeries will be held on the last Monday of every month with the exception of bank holidays where the surgery will take place the Monday prior. Occurs monthly on the last Monday of every month at 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. For more information or to make an appointment, please contact the Stockwell Centre on 020 7346 6576 or by return email at stockwellcentre@hyde-housing.co.uk. Discussions and appointment details will be treated as strictly private and confidential. Drop In provision may be available on the day if not all appointment slots are filled by Monday. Please call ahead to check. KPE residents welcome!  

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