SOUTH KESTEVEN District Council (SKDC) has said it will spend £49,000 on a contract ‘to improve the safety of residents living in homes that it owns’, after it had been found to have ‘neglected’ them.
In November last year, the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) found SKDC had ‘not been meeting the necessary standards’ for fire safety, electrical safety and asbestos in its properties. The RSH report into the council found that it had ‘been failing to follow’ fire safety regulations on council houses it provides ‘for thousands of people’. This, the report added, mean it had ‘not been meeting the necessary standards it sets out’ for electrical, fire safety and asbestos checks.
The RSH outlined a number of ‘key areas’ in which the council failed in both safety processes and recordkeeping for its homes, including that fire risk assessments (FRAs) that should have been undertaken annually had ‘not been completed since 2017, while fire alarm testing had not been carried out in sheltered accommodation or buildings with communal areas.
In turn, fire extinguishers and emergency lighting ‘had not been checked recently enough’, while electrical testing had ‘not been carried out’ in 2020, adding ‘to the potential risk of fires breaking out’. With 6,000 homes owned by the council, it sent letters to residents about a housing audit it undertook as a result of the RSH report, which invites ‘those who are worried about the safety of their own home’ to get in touch.
Most recently last month, SKDC ‘escaped’ legal action from the RSH, which said it would not prosecute the council because it had ‘taken action already’ to sort out its ‘failing safety record’. The independent investigation had found it had breached part 1.2 of the Home Standard, but the RSH found the council ‘was already fixing this’ and had ‘self-referred’ its housing service to the RSH in response to findings of an in depth audit commissioned by the council leader.
The leader, Kelham Cooke, was joined by Ms Bradford and cabinet member for housing and planning Robert Reid in commissioning the audit, and the housing service will be led by new director of housing and property Andrew Cotton. Grantham Journal added that the £49,000 contract for safety improvements in the homes was agreed at a council meeting earlier this week, including £7,000 on FRAs, £20,000 on checking gas fittings and £22,000 on windows and doors.
Mr Cooke said that the company awarded the contract, Gen2, was ‘very reputable’ and that the spending had been approved ‘unanimously’.