TWO Rivers Housing solicitor's Devonshire's of London have issued county court summons to a small number of individuals. It appears that they are the same people who received the previously intimidating letter from Devonshire's, several of whom are elderly.

Doubtless some recipients will now have paid the grass cutting fee demanded, understandable as the summons mentions a court fee of £150 plus grass cutting costs. We have heard in some cases of children paying the amount to remove the worry from their ageing parents.

It is imperative that we know who have received a summons and whether they intend to defend their case against the legality of Two River Housing's demands for the following reasons.

Firstly, the use of the same solicitor for all those wishing to make a legal defence against Two Rivers Housing is desirable. We believe that an individual defence would be extremely expensive, however, as all the summonses issued are identical, re grass cutting and maintenance cost recovery, it can be done en bloc (as one) and the fees set out below.

Secondly, contact has already been made with a Gloucester solicitor, who in turn has spoken to a prominent Bristol based barrister who believes we have every chance of success and would be willing to represent us.

Thirdly, to enable us to proceed with the above it will be necessary for a fighting fund to be established. There are several ways in which to collect donations for the fund:

•Door to door collections (we will need more volunteers to do this)

•By mail

•We will be setting up a bank account with Lloyds TSB named TRH Fighting Fund – this should be available for use from May 21, 2010.

If our defence is successful it would mean Two Rivers refunding any fees they have already collected and probably bearing all legal costs, and, of course, the removal of any threats from Two Rivers with respect to maintenance fees in the future.

Remember, although you may not have heard from Two Rivers Housing for a while, you are directly involved if you bought your council house prior to 2003. Please support the fighting fund as fully as you possibly can.

Your nearest contacts are as follows

Cinderford: Dean 827937 or 07899 731014

Sedbury: 01291 645910 or 07859 921643

Ruardean: Dean 543357 or 07929 453632

Bream: Dean 562952 or 07775 658282

Longhope: 01452 830159. – Two Rivers Housing fighting committee (names and addresses supplied).