When the "merger" of Newcastle Emlyn-based Tai Cantref was pushed through in August, this blog noted how the few wavering voters were persuaded to back the deal with last minute and vague assurances about Wales and West's commitment to the Welsh language, and promises to continue to use local trades to maintain the housing association's properties.
It is now clear that the promises were not worth the paper they were not written on.
The first wave of sackings of staff followed immediately after the final vote, and Tai Cantref's website has now disappeared, with searches for Tai Cantref being redirected to WWHA's website where commitment to the Welsh language boils down to copying and pasting English-language material into Google Translate, which spits out what amounts to pigeon gobbledygook.
Cantref tenants calling the Wales and West Helpline are instructed to select Option 2 if they wish to speak to someone in Welsh, only to find that calls are then answered from WWHA's call centre in Cardiff in English.
As for the commitment to continue using local tradespeople for maintenance and repair services, maintenance vans with the WWHA logo are now becoming an increasingly familiar sight in the Cantref area.
The speed with which WWHA has broken its promises is breathtaking, and former Cantref staff and tenants alike must be asking themselves why no effort was made by some of the old assocation's more prominent members to ensure that WWHA's promises were committed to writing, and that no mechanism was put in place to hold the Cardiff-based housing group to account.
The demise of Cantref and the likelihood that more small local housing associations will follow means the death of local accountability and the quaint idea that housing associations exist to serve the interests of local people.
3 comments:
It's a shameful episode, even by the standards of 'Welsh' Labour. Though with nothing to lose in terms of votes or seats Labour can ride roughshod over anybody and anything in what remains of the Fro Gymraeg.
More culpable by far than 'Welsh' Labour behaving true to form are those who promised to defend Cantref and were found wanting. Some of them the usual posturing windbags of Plaid Cymru. It would appear that cosying up to Labour in the Cynulliad is more important than defending the interests of Plaid's supporters.
What is the point of Plaid Cymru?
Ymddengys hefyd bo nhw rhywsut wedi llwyddo diddymu Tai Cantref yn gyfreithiol. Ymddengys mae nhw wedi newid rheoliadau sefydlog cyfarfodydd cyffredinol heb fawr o ymgynghori, trwy gyfansoddiad W&W yn hytrach na thrwy cyfansoddiad Tai Cantref. Er enghraifft, adroddwyd fod newid wedi digwydd yn dweud mai cyfrandaliwr yn colli statws ar ôl colli 3 cyfarfod. Dwi o'r farn bod hyn er mwyn cael gwared o gynghorau cymuned ayyb sydd yn dibynnu ar gynghorydd di-dal i deithio i Gastell Newydd Emlyn a nôl yn y nos (ac felly mae angen i unrhyw cynrychiolydd perchen ar gar). Bydd yn llawer haws iddynt heb cynrychiolwyr etholedig sy'n atebol i'r cyhoedd.
Adroddwyd bod eu hymateb wedi dweud bod Tai Cantref ddim yn bodoli dim mwy a'i bod nawr wedi cael ei llyncu gan W&W. Nid dyna beth a addewidwyd adeg y pleidlais.
oh dear more back stabbing by those from cardiff not holding to their promises but promises by them are always broken just look at whot they promised from the seneth but bugger all gets out past cardiff other than a trickle yet those now with out a job will find that their local jcp aint a nice place anymore
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