Crawley Homes
Just over 8,200 dwellings in the town are owned by Crawley Council. This is one of the largest public housing stocks in the south-east. Therefore some 20 per cent of Crawley households have the Council as their landlord operating under the name of Crawley Homes. It follows that we should try and make this service as capable and responsive as we can.
The independent Audit Commission has been conducting inspections of Council landlord services. A service is measured in two dimensions. These represent how good the service is on a range of zero to three stars and then the service’s prospects for improvement – poor, uncertain, promising or excellent. Crawley Homes has been inspected on three occasions.
In 2005, the rating was zero stars and promising prospects for improvement. This became zero stars and uncertain prospects for improvement in 2008. Our most recent inspection result was made public this month and awarded the service one star with promising prospects for improvement. In crude terms, this meant five ‘marks’ out of a possible eight. This was the first-ever star rating achieved by Crawley Homes.
The most important beneficiaries of an improved service are our tenants and it is this fundamental truth that has driven the improvement programme. Today’s enhanced service rating could not have been achieved without the increased engagement of tenants and their commitment to their service. Everyone at Crawley Homes and across the Council corporately appreciates the huge contribution made by tenants to helping the housing service raise its game.
Our staff have worked very hard over the last two years to deliver positive change and I applaud their efforts. I also thank Councillor Jennifer Millar-Smith for her strong political leadership and wish Councillor Lee Gilroy well as he takes over that mantle.
It is particularly pleasing that we have the Decent Homes programme in full swing, due to complete in March 2011. We also see an increasingly customer-focussed service and a much stronger approach to responsive repairs, together with many other positive indicators.
It is not all plain sailing as we go forward. We must acknowledge that weaknesses still exist or how could we commit to addressing them?
Complaints handling could be improved. We can develop a stronger profile of our tenants, to better understand our customer base. More can be done in dealing with anti-social behaviour. None of this should detract from the fact that today we have a service where strengths are judged to outweigh weaknesses.
The government is reducing the formal inspection regime for council services but this will not diminish our own commitment to the continuous improvement of our services.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
30th June 2010