Southend-on-Sea council has received the worst possible rating for repairs and maintenance from the Audit Commission.

In a report published on Thursday, the inspectors gave the service no stars out of three and rated it 鈥減oor鈥� with 鈥渦ncertain prospects for improvement鈥�.

The report said resident satisfaction with repairs had not improved since the previous inspection in 2001, and residents were not involved in determining standards.

The inspectors also found the administration of the service did not provide value for money and that there were flaws in the recording and reporting of repairs.

Mark Elseworth, the Audit Commission鈥檚 lead housing inspector for the East of England, said: 鈥淭he inspection team had some serious concerns about the council鈥檚 failure to develop a modern repairs service and to use the information that it has to improve the service.鈥�

The inspectors recommended that the council develop a plan to increase planned repairs and reduce responsive work, which cost about 拢1.65m last year.

A spokesman for Southend said: 鈥淭he council is determined to use the report as a basis for bringing about significant improvements, and is already working hard to implement some of these.鈥�

Source

Housing Today