Labour Slam Housing Repairs: “On The Cheap”.

Thurrock’s Labour leadership has asked for the decision to allow a single contractor to run the council’s housing repairs to be looked at again.

Parliamentary candidate, Carl Morris said: “I was unhappy when I first heard about this and I questioned the wisdom of making such a decision.

“In the days since, the things I have heard appall me and I am determined to try and do something about it.”

“The Tory council claimed that this decision was fully supported by tenants; they claimed that Morrisons Facilities Services Ltd is the best for the job; and they claimed that no-one will lose out.

“How is it then that even the tenants who were ‘consulted’ before the decision was made were not allowed to opt for their favoured contractor?

“How is it that in Manchester where Morrisons and the city council work together, they’ve been talking about redundancies in recent months and I understand they’re in trouble with Norwich City Council too”.

Cllr Morris said: “I have close links with many tenants in my ward and across the borough. I talk with them and I listen to what they have to say. They’re not happy and I’m not happy.

“I’m being told that not only did the four tenants’ representatives on the so-called tender evaluation panel not favour Morrisons, the company was their least favourite.

“And when it came down to the final selection they were offered just two options and neither one was the one they favoured.

“I don’t know if this was a political decision or a financial one. In the bad old days of privatisation you had to go for the cheapest, but now you have to look at other things too and make sure that the tax-payer or the rent-payer in this case is getting the best deal.