WAVERLEY Council fell well short of completing its programme of improvements and safety works to council housing stock in the last financial year, leaving £836,000 worth of work undone. Rewiring, roofing, energy efficiency and fire safety works and disabled adaptations were among the main areas where the council did not meet its targets. Late starts and poor performance by contractors, new regulations and volume of work were among reasons given by officers in a report to the council's executive. Money for the improvements, much of it work towards meeting the government's "decent homes" standard, was available in the council's £6.2 million housing revenue account capital budget. But spending in some areas was "disappointingly slow, often due to resourcing difficulties that are now largely resolved", said the report. Officers had to report an even larger "unacceptably high" slippage, of more than £1.4 million, in spending on the general fund capital programme. Replacement of playground equipment and refurbishment of Farnham Sports Centre were among projects delayed. David Munro said he was especially concerned about the housing revenue account, where many of the improvements that were promised to tenants did not occur. "I do think this needs some quite detailed scrutiny by our officers to make sure that all the money that was promised is spent to the good of our residents,' he said. The new Conservative council leader, Richard Gates, was keen to stress that the figures they were looking at related to the outturn of the previous Lib Dem administration. "We note the assurances of officers to improve the delivery and they note the severe threats from this table if they don't do so," he commented. Despite the slow progress of improvements last year, the majority of Waverley's tenants gave the council the thumbs up in a recent customer satisfaction survey. The number of tenants who considered their homes to be in very good, or fairly good, condition had fallen to seven out of 10, from eight out of 10 three years previously. But 78 per cent of residents were satisfied with the overall service, 85 per cent were happy with the accommodation provided, and 87 per cent were happy with their neighbourhood. Residents said that repairs and maintenance were particularly important to them and, of those who had requested a repair in the past 12 months, three-quarters said they were satisfied with the overall level of maintenance service provided. The attitude of maintenance staff was particularly commended, with 93 per cent of respondents describing it as good or very good. Pat Frost, Waverley's portfolio holder for housing, commented: "We're extremely pleased that Waverley's tenants are happy with the level of maintenance and service provided to them, particularly the helpfulness and accessibility of housing staff. "It's pleasing that our maintenance people are getting it right with tenants." She continued: "Good quality housing is essential to enjoying positive health and well being so it's excellent news that we're getting this right most of the time." Residents felt that Waverley as a landlord was easy to contact, helpful, good at keeping residents informed, though not so good at taking their views into account. Asked what areas needed improvement, 62 per cent thought value for their rent money could be better and 80 per cent mentioned the overall quality of their home. Sixty-five per cent were satisfied with opportunities for tenant participation compared to 58 per cent in 2003/4 when the survey was last carried out. Mrs Frost concluded: "There's been lots of hard work to keep tenants informed and to make sure we're listening to them. We are delighted that this has been recognised in the survey. We will continue to work with tenants to provide a good housing service."
