Council 'not happy' with critical housing report as action plan drawn up to tackle issues
Northumberland County Council’s housing department were left frustrated by a highly critical report by the social housing regulator, a councillor has claimed.
Cabinet member for housing Coun Colin Horncastle said the council was “not happy” with the result of the February report that identified “very serious failings” at the local authority.
The regulator issued the council with the lowest possible grading (C4) for consumer standards after finding the council only holds up-to-date condition information for about 3% of its homes. There was also concern that the council did not respond to all complaints in a timely way, as well as a lack of “meaningful opportunities” for tenants to scrutinise performance and influence services.
At the inaugural meeting of the council’s new housing scrutiny committee, set up in the wake of the report to tackle the issues raised, members heard the council was responsible for almost 8,200 homes valued at more than £854 million.
The committee was also told that despite the issues raised in the report, tenant satisfaction was the highest in the North East. The council also carries out 99.74% of emergency repairs within 24 hours, and 100% of routine repairs within 10 working days.
Cllr Horncastle said: “When the result of this inspection came out, we were alarmed and very upset. We have heard, and you can see from the figures, we had all the information we needed, but it wasn’t in the format the regulator wanted it.
“They gave us a lot of stick for our interaction with tenants. We feel we have a really good interaction with our tenants, but they felt it wasn’t good enough.
“We got a C4 and we have got to wear it. Our officers are going at breakneck speed to get everything put right.
“We’re hoping in about two years’ time, we can get to a C2. We’re not happy about the way it happened, but we have got to wear it.”
To address the issues, the council has launched a new inspection regime that will look at each individual house to assess its condition. This is expected to take eight months.
Other actions include increased use of data and a “get to know you” exercise with tenants.