Riverside - Housing Minister keen to see how Riverside is helping improve quality of lives for people in Carlisle

5 March 2010

John Healey, the Housing Minister, visited Carlisle on Thursday 4th March to find out how Riverside is working to help provide homes for local people. The visit began at Barratt Homes, Eden Park Development on London Road, where Riverside administer the government’s HomeBuy Direct scheme. At the site he met with individuals from both Riverside and Barratt and also met with Mr Khan who had moved in only a week ago, having purchased his property through HomeBuy Direct. The Housing Minister chatted with Mr Khan and his family who thanked both Barratt and Riverside for all their help during the purchase of his property.

The Minister then moved on to speak with a lady that had gone through the Government’s Mortgage Rescue scheme, which is also administered by Riverside for the whole of Cumbria. Whilst the lady was keen to remain anonymous she was very grateful for all the help that she has received from Riverside and the relief that the completion on the property had given her when she had hit financial difficulties, as many people have over the last 12 months. The final part of the Minister’s visit saw him visit the Botcherby neighbourhood, where 64% of residents now state that they are satisfied with living in the area, compared with only 43% in 2007. This turnaround is the culmination of a massive investment by Riverside of £3m to date along with successful partnership working with other agencies to make a real difference to Botcherby. The Minister took a walk through Botcherby with the visit ending at the newly renovated Sheltered Unit, Freshfield Court where he met with residents. Anne Quilter is the Regeneration Manager at Botcherby and accompanied the Minister on his visit to Botcherby. She said, “This was fantastic opportunity for Riverside to showcase the difference that the external works have made to our properties in Botcherby, to the Minister. He was very impressed with our commitment to involving our residents and our working with partners to deliver added value services such as training courses, garden loan scheme and a Credit Union collection point.”