by Paul Scully | Sep 2, 2009 | News |
The London Borough of Sutton is spending £437 million of taxpayers’ money in 2009-10. Like the proverbial iceberg, many of the services are not always visible. Many services affect everyone, others affect the most vulnerable in our society. Either way, they matter, contributing to the quality of life of every resident in Sutton.
The State of Sutton: A Borough of Contradictions is one part of a once in a generation opportunity to conduct a thorough investigation of the relationship between Sutton Council, other service providers and residents. Conservative councillors in Sutton have listened to experts, politicians and residents. This is the only way to achieve the balance between a range of priorities while ensuring no-one is left behind. All but one preconceived idea was kept out of the investigation; one of the few rules that we are not prepared to be diverted from is that we must always achieve the very best value for money, making the most of every penny of tax and council income spent in the Borough.
As the Borough changes, we want residents to help manage that process ensuring that they continue to live in a place that represents their views and aspirations and one that reflects their concerns. This report is the first step in renewing the connection between politicians and residents. It is the first move in starting the debate about the changes needed in Sutton.
I’ll be going through each area in turn over the next few days. In the meantime, you can read our report by clicking on the picture on the right or the link above. As ever, let me know what you think. It’s your borough too.
by Paul Scully | Aug 11, 2009 | News |
Sutton Council recently sent a letter to a property in Cedar Road, Sutton with a booklet explaining how to clear up after a flood, how to claim on insurance, how to protect your property and about temporary housing. The Environment Agency includes such nuggets such as “wear your gloves when clearing up after a flood as water may contain sewage, chemicals and animal waste.”
As you may have gleaned from the title of this article, the council-government partnership have a little to learn about target marketing. The addressee died over two years ago. The first floor flat, far from being first for the sandbags, would make a perfect mooring point should Noah need to drop in.
The only flood plain identified by the local authority is around the banks of the River Wandle in Beddington. Quite why flats in the middle of Sutton Town Centre are being targeted is beyond me. How much has this futile exercise cost?
by Paul Scully | Aug 8, 2009 | News |
Sutton’s Liberal Democrat town hall leadership has been accused of insensitive “Emperor Nero-style largesse” after opting to spend over £16,000 on a specially tailored air conditioning system for the Council Leader’s Office. This rubs salt into the wounds of tenants of Sutton Council after they discovered that the plug has been pulled on desperately needed funding to bring tenanted properties up to the nationwide ‘Decent Homes Standard’.
Council housing in Sutton – managed by the Sutton Housing Partnership – has been labelled as amongst the worst in Britain by the Government watchdog, the Audit Commission. Housing Ministers added insult to injury last week by telling the Council that the option of £112.5million capital funding was being deferred.
After 23 years of Lib Dem administration council tenants have very little to show for it and that systematic neglect over that period has condemned tenants to more years of substandard accommodation. Conservative opposition councillors unearthed the controversial plans to spend £13,000 on the Leader’s air conditioning system, plus £3071 on ‘fees’, after they were buried in a ‘Delegated Decision Notice’.
I’m shocked and angry that the Lib Dem Council Leader is planning on billing the taxpayer for over £16,000 to pay for his luxury air conditioning after the devastating news for council tenants – frankly, it’s Emperor Nero-style largesse, while Rome burns.
This rubs salt into the wounds of tenants who have been sentenced to yet more years of living in substandard homes, missing out on Government funding because of long-term underinvestment in our council housing.
After all these years with Lib Dem council bosses in charge of housing it’s clear that tenants have very little to show for it. Argos is selling electric fans for £12.99 each; I’ll happily chip in for one to save Sutton taxpayers £16,000.
![Door Slammed on Housing Cash]()
by Paul Scully | Jul 23, 2009 | News |
The door has been firmly slammed shut on the Sutton Housing Partnership (SHP) by the Government for much needed investment in Sutton Council’s housing stock. The hammer blow comes after SHP’s failure to achieve the Audit Commission’s ‘Decent Homes Standard’ for a ‘two star’ status last year.
Detailed in a letter to SHP from the Homes & Communities Agency, Sutton Council will not receive a penny in capital funding needed to raise the standard of its public housing, until at least 2011/12. It is the final blow for council tenants after two decades of failure in maintaining decent homes for council tenants, by the Liberal Democrat administration, condemning tenants to more years of misery in poor quality housing.
According to figures from the National Federation of ALMOs (Arm’s Length Management Organisations) Sutton’s social housing is in the bottom 11% of the 69 ALMOs across the country. 50 of the 69 ALMOs set up since April 2002 have been judged as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ – this means Sutton has some of the worst social housing in Britain.
Conservative Opposition Housing Spokesman, Councillor Barry Russell, commented by saying: “This is a disaster for Sutton Council’s tenants. Lib Dem town hall bosses have failed to maintain decent housing for council tenants over a twenty-year period. They have nowhere to hide on this issue and tenants are paying the price for their failure.
“By letting our council housing fall into such a state they have condemned Sutton Housing Partnership tenants to more years of uncertainty, living in substandard accommodation.”
Just one of a number of examples of the poor state of housing was discovered by a fact-finding visit of our Housing Policy group members to June Close in Carshalton. The tenant who did not want to be named, is a working mother with two children. The photo shows her highlighting a plug socket located over a gas hob in contravention of basic safety regulations. On top of the mould in her young child’s bedroom and single glazed windows, she could barely keep the flat at a habitable temperature, telling us, “It’s like Russian Roulette with our heating. We had to get it fixed four times since the beginning of this year. In winter we have to sleep downstairs because the house gets so cold. There is a ice-cold draughty from the neglected windows and it’s horrible when it snows. What do we pay our rent and Council Tax for? We love the area and we really don’t want to move but the conditions are appalling.”
The u-turn by the Government is a disaster for Sutton and its tenants. But it is one that has been compounded by a lack of attention from the council over many years. In setting up SHP, lead councillors were more interested in playing politics with the composition of the board rather than the quality of the service delivered to tenants.
by Paul Scully | Jun 11, 2009 | News |
A group of MPs has criticised councils for ignoring the warning signs about the Icelandic banking system. The BBC reports that the all-party Communities and Local Government Select Committee said that complacency, lack of expertise and inaction all helped put taxpayers’ money at risk. The Local Government Association defended councils saying that they had received poor advice.
Sutton lost £5.5m after investing in Heritable Bank, a UK subsidiary of Landsbanki. Lead Councillor for Resources John Drage has dismissed each of the accusations over the last year despite admitting that he himself, had taken his eye off the ball. Cllr Drage is a retired Bank of England economist, working through the collapse in Japan in the nineties. When Cllr Drage fell asleep on the job, this smacked of complacency and robbed the authority of some expertise, leading to inaction, thus fulfilling all three of the accusations included in the report. End result? Sutton taxpayers are £5.5million worse off for the time being, with the latest prediction that we will lose £1.1million and get the rest back in a few years.
