Council houses Rent may rise for fire safety
THOUSANDS of council tenants in Bristol will be given a greater say over how the city’s housing service is run.
Bristol City Council is planning to make it easier for people who live in council flats and houses to raise complaints with their homes and influence new policies.
The council acts as landlord for more than 28,000 tenants and leaseholders in Bristol, responsible for taking care of issues like repairs, anti-social behaviour and fire safety. A huge review is underway looking at how the landlord service can be improved for these tenants.
But some residents have previously criticised the council for being slow to act or answer questions.
Last month tower block residents raised questions about sprinklers and fire safety, while a tenant in Bedminster suffered months of polystyrene balls flying into her flat.
City Hall chiefs are reviewing how tenants can “participate” with the council, raising problems like anti-social behaviour or damp, and how the housing department responds to complaints. They faced
questions about the ongoing tenant participation review during a communities scrutiny meeting last week, and on fire safety measures in tower blocks.
Sarah Spicer, business innovation manager, said: “We’re looking
at a new platform which will allow access in different ways.
“What we’re not trying to do is say people can’t contact us. But if somebody wants to contact us and report that their tap is leaking, they shouldn’t be on a phone line with 50 other people trying to do the same, while somebody at the bottom of the queue is trying to phone up about domestic abuse.”
A major task facing the housing department is replacing flammable polystyrene cladding on 38 tower blocks across Bristol. Concerns about expanded polystyrene (EPS) cladding have been growing for years, but the council decided to take action after a fire at a tower block last month, which was spread via the EPS cladding found in many other council blocks.
Housing bosses have pledged to hold meetings with affected residents to hear concerns and answer questions, and write to them explaining the changes. The first meeting was held last week in Gilton House in Brislington.
The multi-million-pound costs facing the council, for replacing cladding and introducing waking watch patrols, means there is less budget to spend on increasing resident engagement. Rents for council tenants will also likely increase, warned Cllr Tom Renhard, cabinet member for housing.
Cllr Renhard said: “We’ll sign off the housing revenue account budget next March, but I would just caution about the amount of additional spend we’re going to need to make on fire safety, and that creates some difficult choices around where investments are made and also the level of rent rise that may be needed as a result of that.”