Crawley improves its housing services

The council, which received a ‘poor’, zero-star rating in two previous inspections, is now running a ‘fair’, one-star service for its tenants, Audit Commission inspectors found.

A report from the inspectors says the council is carrying out repairs properly and that estates are well-maintained.

The council needs to improve the way it deals with anti-social behaviour and recovering former tenants’ arrears.

Kieran Colgan, lead housing inspector, said: ‘Crawley Borough Council has worked hard to improve services to its tenants. In some key areas tenants now receive a much better service and their homes are in a better condition.

‘There is more to be done but the service is working well with tenants and is on track to deliver further improvement.’

Jennifer Millar-Smith, portfolio holder for housing, said: ‘Major investment has been made to improve the service and there has been an awful lot of work to ensure our tenants are well-informed and involved in the decision-making process.

‘There is still work to be done to improve certain areas but the results will show our tenants how committed we are in working towards a first-class service for them.’

A short notice inspection of Irwell Valley Housing Association found the landlord had ‘excellent prospects for improvement’ on responsive repairs, repairs to empty properties and gas servicing.

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