An interactive self-service system for council tenants is to be rolled out in West Lothian to help householders find out how ling they will have to wait for repairs and refurbishment programmes.
Housing staff are developing the system for the new financial year starting in April. The announcement was made during the budget meeting which agreed spending on the council’s rolling refurbishment programme.
The new budget agreed this week has £43,687m set aside for refurbishment programmes to the housing stock. Of that £22m will be spent on kitchen and bathroom upgrades in the next five years.
READ MORE: West Lothian Council to build almost 400 homes in five years
Housing legislation requires the council to upgrade the kitchens and bathrooms in around 350 homes per year. The refurbishment programme is an ongoing one but was stalled badly by the local down and pandemic restrictions in terms of access to homes.
However speaking at the budget meeting Graeme Struthers, depute chief executive responsible for housing said that the programme was back on track
Independent councillor Stuart Borrowman, who was first elected 20 years ago, questioned the criteria for the improvement programmes.
He asked officials: “In terms of the kitchen and bathrooms upgrades, the previous programme was initiated before I was a councillor. I’m guessing quite a few of our kitchen and bathrooms are showing signs of wear and tear. I also understand that lockdown and working from home may have added to the stress on these."
Councillor Borrowman asked: “When would tenants begin to know in what financial year they are likely to be recipients of upgrades.”
Marjory Mackie, Housing Strategy and Development Manager said: “We are working on that at the moment and pulling together a communications strategy. We would aim to start to share information with our tenants at the start of the next financial year in order that they are aware of where they are going to be in the programme.
“We’re also developing a new housing management system which we anticipate will be an interactive system for tenants for people to be able to self-serve; go and check and see where they may be on the future programme of work.”
Councillor Borrowman also wanted to know how the council would determine what gets done first, asking: "Is it age? Is it condition assessment or is it some other mechanism?"
Mrs Mackie said: “It’s a range of items taken into consideration. Condition is an element, along with life cycle and geographic area that will inform our plan going forward."
After the meeting Councillor Borrowman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I welcome the council’s decision to invest in kitchen and bathroom improvements.
“The condition of kitchens in particular is a familiar complaint from tenants: many date from a previous set of replacements started in 2003. I’m aware that initiative remains controversial for many of those involved at the time.
“The council deals with these things as large programmes of works over several years. That is largely inevitable but that can be of limited comfort to tenants who are waiting perhaps some years at the back end of the schedule.
“I hope the order in which the new works are undertaken will take into account the age and condition of existing facilities as this is a central part of tenants’ satisfaction with their home.”
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