THURROCK’S leading councillor for housing outlined a list of achievements her department had completed over the past year when she spoke at Wednesday (25 February) evening’s meeting of the council.
Cllr Lynn Worrall was giving her annual portfolio holder report which started by highlighting the improvement there had been in getting void homes back and ready for re-letting.
She told the meeting: “I want you to see the current average figure is 30 days to turn around a void – many of course are faster than that. I want you to think back a couple of years when this was measured in three figures.”
On the Transforming Homes programme she said: “This one I’m particularly proud of and I want to thank Cllr Val Morris-Cook for starting this process.
“It is not that long ago that just 20 tenants a year got a kitchen and a bathroom replaced, now you can see in the current year we expect to have completed 1,800.”
Damp and mould issues, especially in winter is a major issue for the council and Cllr Worrall said “this is something we are now dealing with head-on and we have a planned programme which has spent £1.4 million so far”.
She highlighted that over £1 million has been found externally from Green Deal and Eco funding to ensure 400 of our tenants have warmer homes and how, in the private sector, “the housing team helps; providing checks and other benefits to local people, fully funded from the Public Health budget”.
Other highlights included “securing nearly £6 million for construction projects both in the private and public sectors”, Gloriana’s first site winning planning permission and the building of new flats at Seabrooke Rise; as well as bringing “58 homes back for people on the housing list through the housing fraud team and we’re collecting 99.7 per cent of all rents”.
Cllr Worrall said demand for the council’s homelessness programme had “rocketed with over 2,000 people asking for help and advice” and then spoke passionately about how extra social value was being achieved by working closely with contractors.
She said: “Last year you will all have seen the work carried out on our war memorials by our housing contractors, but our housing contractors completed ten community projects and more are being carried out or negotiated.”
Cllr Worrall’s report explained has, as part of the new repairs policy the council has built-in a simple DIY programme for residents to attend, how 141 residents work directly on our programmes and how housing contractors and external partners have training programmes that directly target Thurrock’s young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), where 44 young people completed the programme this year.
