North east councils given ‘fair’ ratings
A council which took over housing services from six former local authorities has been praised in its first inspection.
Audit Commission inspectors today awarded Northumberland Council a one-star rating for its strategic housing services. A report said the council provided a ‘fair’ service with ‘promising’ prospects for improvement.
Northumberland Council took over the strategic housing function from six former district and borough councils when it became a unitary authority in April 2009.
The report said it was easy for households to apply for social rented housing and that the council was successful in preventing homelessness. But it warned that the council had sometimes failed to demonstrate that it was delivering a value for money service.
Domini Gunn, Audit Commission senior manager, said: ‘The council has come a long way in the short time since it was set up. Local people can be confident that the council understands their housing needs in the current economic climate and is developing plans to try to help address them with its partner organisations.
‘Further work is needed to make sure that local housing needs can be met and the council is making good progress.’
North Tyneside Council also received one star for its housing service in another inspection published today.
The Audit Commission said the council’s strategic housing service was ‘fair’ with ‘promising’ prospects for improvement.
The report said North Tyneside had a clear vision for increasing the availability of housing for local people. It also praised the council’s ‘strong’ planning policy and said regional targets to build new homes had been exceeded.
However, the council needed to improve the way it worked with private landlords, as the condition of private homes was not significantly improving.
Ms Gunn said: ‘The council is working well to prevent homelessness and vulnerable people are being helped to live independently in their homes.
‘However, more work is needed to tackle poor housing conditions in privately rented homes and to link housing and health issues. The council needs to develop a better understanding of the housing needs of all local people and opportunities for local communities to get involved.’
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