Dear Sir  

FOR months in the Council Chamber, we witnessed the Conservatives staunchly defend the contract for the work at Five Acres. Dismissing the legitimate concerns of leaseholders and insisting that that the Council were following due process. Presumably Cllr Simon Carter (the then Housing Portfolio Holder) was acting on advice when he defended the indefensible.  To their enormous credit the leaseholders eventually won their battle with the Council and the Council has ceased the work. It will however be interesting to know how much the work to date has cost!

Then there is the Aids and Adaptions budget (which enables the Council to make adaptions to tenants’ homes in the event of people becoming disabled through accident or ill health) this was previously £1,624,000 a year . It was reduced by the Conservatives this year to £750,000 And surprise, surprise the budget has now been fully spent. And we currently have over 100 cases (residents) who will have to wait until the next financial year to hear whether work assessed as necessary by an occupational therapist will finally be agreed.  

We also have the disgrace of repairs to roofs. Currently there are over 60 council properties which require reroofing and are temporarily “sheeted”, and Councillor Carter stated at a recent Council meeting that this could take up to four years.  

We also know that other “outstanding repairs” are counted in the thousands and that numbers are going up not down! 

So, Cllr Carter and the Five Acres scheme have gone but the other problems haven’t.  

So, I call upon the local Conservative Council administration to accept things have gone fundamentally wrong, to reappraise the advice they have been given and to come forward with a feasible plan which puts at its heart the needs of Council tenants and leaseholders – who after all pay for housing services.  

If they are not willing or unable to do this, then the next Harlow Council Labour administration will complete the task. 

Cllr Tony Edwards