"Council does not deal with home repairs in time" say Libdems.

9.11.41pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 18th Jun 2008

Libdems today expressed their shock at the failure of the Council to respond in time to complaints made by residents about Council housing stock. Approximately 15,000 repair requests are logged each quarter but the Council is failing to respond to around 37% of complaints within the target of 10 working days. As well, the works are not being completed in a reasonable time. Technical services had 81% of their complaints upheld (at the second stage of complaint) mostly because of continuing delays in completing work.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Cllr Stephanie Eaton said: "I was appalled when I discovered that we are missing the basic response times so often. How hard can it be to return a call or answer a letter within 10 working days? When something goes wrong in your home you need your landlord to fix it. If your landlord won't even respond it just adds to the stress and frustration."

The figures, which were presented to the Standards Committee on Tuesday night noted that the Technical Services department had 64% of complaints upheld and these related to missed appointments, delays in completing work and poor communication. At stage two level of complaint where the resident is not satisfied with the initial response, Technical Services had a shocking 81% of residents' complaints upheld.

Cllr Eaton commented: "Our tenants deserve better. Their homes should be repaired quickly and the Council and its contractors need to improve the response time and the quality of the response."

Libdems also noted that the poor record will need to improve substantially if the Council wishes to gain a 2 star rating for the proposed Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO). Cllr Eaton has written to the Lead Member for Housing asking for his comments and requesting his immediate action to address the poor response times.