Council Property Service In Crisis As Buildings Programme Falls Further And Further Behind

5.23.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 16th Aug 2004

The Council is failing to deliver its own plans for repair and improvement of buildings, and for new buildings, with long delays and 'slippages' being commonplace in many schemes.

Even high priority schemes such as those to provide disabled access have fallen years behind schedule. Many disable access schemes planned for last year (2003/04) are unlikely to end up being completed until 2005/06 and none of this years schemes are going to be completely until next year either.

Across the board, nearly half the work planned for last year was uncompleted and many of the schemes are unlikely to even get finished by the end of this year. Last year's total budget was £34 million and just £19 million was actually spent, leaving £15 million of work delayed into this year. This year's budget of £38.7 million is already showing severe 'slippage', just a quarter of the way through the year, with the latest council report showing that £10.5 million worth of planned work will not be completed on time.

Councillor Stephen Knight, Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem opposition on the Council slammed the latest figures:

"The Council's property function is clearly in crisis and has got worse since the Conservatives took office in 2002. The Conservatives are presiding over a complete mess and the residents of the borough will be the ones paying the price, especially those most in need. In particular, it is a disgrace that those with disabilities are being forced to wait years for access improvements that should have been completed by now.

"The Borough's secondary schools have been promised tens of millions of pounds worth of improvements over the next few years, but as things stand, how can we trust the Council to deliver the work on time?!"