HARLOW Council has nearly halved the number of temporary roofs on council houses in less than a month following the launch of an action plan four weeks ago. 

The council has used local roofing companies to tackle the backlog and has vowed that all temporary roofs will be permanently repaired by March. At present half of the backlogged roofs are under construction with the remaining half to start shortly.

The Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor Dan Swords, has said that the situation with temporary roofing is “entirely unacceptable” and that the council would “do all it takes to eradicate this issue once and for all”. 

Commenting on the backlog busting action the council has taken, Councillor Swords said: 

“Harlow Council tenants should never have been let down in this way with completely unacceptable delays for permanent repairs to their roofs. On behalf of the council, I apologised wholeheartedly for the stress and difficulties this caused tenants, and I vow that lessons would be learnt and never again would these failures be repeated. 

“We announced an action plan to deal with this issue a month ago and, with the great support of local roofing companies, we are making real progress to bust the backlog by permanently repairing these roofs. 

“We will continue to do all it takes to clear this backlog as quickly as possible. I know that there are far too many tenants living with outstanding repairs in their homes and that’s why we will be taking further significant action in several areas to improve the way Harlow Council maintains its council houses.

“There is a great deal of work to do, but our plan to tackle the backlogs is working and we will be stepping this up further.”