New twist in housing renovations scandal
A COUNCIL told an MP it had no responsibility for a housing renovation scandal which has led to it facing strong criticism.
More than £300,000 was paid by Bridgend council to a company called Green Renewable Wales (GRE) to undertake private home renovations in Caerau, near Maesteg.
The company was liquidated in 2017. A consultancy called NuVision was engaged to assess the quality of workmanship on the homes.
The report considered by Bridgend council’s cabinent last month stated: “The NuVision report concludes that some of the work is defective, some of it significantly so.”
And it emerged that documentation relating to the awarding of the contract to GRE, which was run by one of its own senior managers, has gone missing.
It has now emerged that in February 2017, Ogmore Labour MP Chris Elmore wrote to the Welsh Government’s then Communities Secretary, the late Carl Sargeant.
In his letter Mr Elmore stated: “I am writing on behalf of several constituents who live in Caerau, Maesteg, with regards to their ongoing concerns with the Welsh Government’s Housing Renewal Scheme.
“The four constituents who contacted me all had work undertaken on their properties as part of the scheme and have since complained about the substandard workmanship they encountered as a result.
“These constituents have now been left with issues including damp, damaged roofs due to scaffolding and bubbled pebble-dashing.
“Several have been able to rectify some of the damage inflicted by the builders at considerable personal cost, but as you can imagine some have been unable to meet this financial burden.
“They have been attempting to seek resolution of this issue for upwards of five years.
“While I understand that Housing Renewal Areas are local authority led, Bridgend council have advised me they are unable to help my constituents in seeking to repair the damage to their properties.
“This advice was given on the grounds that the management of the scheme as a whole lies with the Welsh Government. Hence my letter to you as Cabinet Secretary for Communities.”
The letter from Mr Elmore has been published on the website of Bridgend County Independents, a group that has several councillors as members of the authority.
Despite the council’s denial of responsibility at the time, the following year – 2018 – the then chief executive asked the authority’s internal audit service to carry out a review to ascertain the extent to which the council’s policies and procedures had or had not been applied in the Caerau renovation scheme.
The review raised serious concerns about the absence of an audit trail, and highlighted a number of internal procedural issues relating to the governance, decision-making, procurement, monitoring and control aspects of the funding that the council administered for this scheme at this time.
The whole issue is now being investigated by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
Asked why Mr Elmore had been told in 2017 that the matter was not the council’s responsibility, a spokesman for Bridgend council said: “Any advice provided to the MP would have been based on the council’s understanding of the situation at that time. The council’s current position is that, while we have not accepted liability for work carried out as a result of the scheme, we are seeking to engage with the other organisations involved in the Arbed programme so that a co-ordinated, consistent basis can be established to help and support the residents of those properties where poor-quality work was carried out.”
Labour councillor Phil White, a member of Bridgend council’s cabinet until he stepped down in October, was a director and company secretary of Green Renewable Wales.
Cllr White has denied any wrongdoing, stating: “I have declared my directorship of Green Renewable Wales on a regular basis.”