Council faces rising costs to maintain buildings

WOKINGHAM BOROUGH: Reactive maintenance costs for properties owned by Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) are on the rise, writes Jade Kidd.

The results of two Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) made by the Advertiser show that between Saturday, May 1

2021 and Sunday, December 5 2021, the total reactive maintenance costs within the borough’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was £1,103,927.

In the same time-period in 2020, the total costs were £752,617, which is £351,310 less than 2021.

Reactive maintenance is when a tenant contacts the council to report something that needs repairing – this does not include scheduled upgrades or scheduled maintenance.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA) refers to the council housing budget and is a ‘ringfenced self-financing budget’, separate to the normal General Fund.

A breakdown of the figures by month show that costs from May to December have all risen yearon-year in 2021, with November coming in highest.

In November 2021 reactive maintenance costs were £124,583 more than in 2020, with the figure standing at £254,575, compared to the 2020 figure of £129,992.

December had the lowest costs across both years, with £42,163 in 2020 and £44,500 in 2021 – showcasing an increase of £2,337 in 2021.

Cllr John Kaiser, executive member for finance and housing, said: “The figures only reflect a small percentage of what we actually spend on the social housing we own.

“This is because we were asked about repairs, and so the total does not include the much higher figures we spend on annual and planned maintenance, bringing properties up to appropriate standards when necessary, any adaptations needed for particular tenants, and general improvements.

“Repair costs by their nature are reactive and fluctuate year by year. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the flow of repair requests.

“Tenants may not have wanted workers in their homes and therefore postponed reporting routine non urgent repairs during the national lockdowns. Also, as we can see nationally, there has been significant inflation in the construction industry.

“We actively manage cost by following our agreed procurement process. However, it is unlikely we will be able to reduce repair costs due to continuing inflation in the construction industry.”