Senior staff and board members at Thrive Homes to spend weekend at Ashridge House
10:11am Friday 16th November 2012 in News 
Three Rivers-based social housing bosses will enjoy a weekend workshop in a five star hotel, less than a month after vulnerable residents were told they would have to pay more to keep services.
Senior staff and board members at Thrive Homes will spend the weekend in Ashridge House, a Grade 1 listed 19th century mansion in Berkhamsted.
The opulent venue boasts extensive conference and training facilities as well as a bar and restaurant, a swimming pool, gym and a "lifestyle centre" which offers a range of massage treatments.
The "development and strategy workshop" taking place tomorrow and Sunday comes as residents in sheltered housing across the district are facing a £100 per year price increase to keep a "retirement housing assistant" on site.
The full cost of the trip is not known but advertised room rates for the hotel range from £90 to £155 per room per night.
A Thrive spokesman said: "Thrive Homes is conscious of the need to demonstrate value for money and holding a residential event is an effective use of time and resources as it enables the work programme to continue into the evening and reduces the cost of travel and associated environmental impacts."
The spokesman also said such workshops were widely regarded as "best practice" in helping to ensure housing providers were meeting regulatory standards.
Alan Deacon, whose mother was one of the residents asked to vote last month on whether to pay more or lose services in their sheltered housing unit, described the trip as an "obscene junket".
He said: "If the senior directors are going on an obscene junket for the weekend I want that money put back into elderly care.
"Ashridge House is a massive country house so I imagine it would be very expensive to host a conference there.
"I find it obscene that in this financial climate a charity is giving out this sort of team building and at the same time they are asking tenants for more money.
"I am not against rewarding people for doing a good job, that is good management. However this is not the time to be doing that."
The Thrive spokesman added: "Service charges are costs incurred in the running of a group of properties and will cover items such as electricity, cleaning and gardening.
"Thrive Homes passes these to residents 'at cost' and therefore there is no correlation between the level of service charge and other expenditure incurred in operating the organisation.
"Our customers benefit from a well-managed organisation and can be confident Thrive Homes is here for the long term to continue to provide homes and services within its communities."
Comments(2)
TRT says...
10:26am Fri 16 Nov 12
Berkoman says...
2:45pm Fri 16 Nov 12
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