Council leader refuses to apologise to tenants

12.29.19pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 6th Oct 2005

Tenants across Sheffield are facing cutbacks

Sheffield's Liberal Democrat group moved a motion at yesterdays Council which called on the Leader of the Council to issue an apology to all tenants who have had planned improvements to their home cutback due to mistakes made by Sheffield Homes, the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) setup by the Council. The leader of Council refused to apologise.

The call came after Sheffield Homes recently admitted that the Decent Homes Programme, which aims to bring all Council properties up to a Government minimum standard by 2010, will face a number of cutbacks in many areas throughout Sheffield.

Although all homes should reach the decency standard by 2010 tenants have been promised 'Decency plus' by the Labour led Council. Decency plus includes works like repair to external paths and a choice of windows and front doors. However budget pressures cited by Sheffield Homes, such as an overheating construction sector and specification creep on the first phases of work which lead to an overspend, mean work that had been promised previously has now been cut from the programme to the anger of many tenants who claim the Council have broken promises.

Cllr Diane Leek, Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods, said: -

"The Decent Homes programme is an opportunity to vastly improve the quality of all tenant homes across Sheffield, yet many tenants will be feeling cheated because Labour have promised things that they cannot deliver"

"Labour have shown that they cannot be trusted with the money to improve our Council stock. The Council are ultimately responsible for housing and the leader of Council should have made a full apology to all those tenants who have been letdown. The refusal to apologise is an insult to many tenants across Sheffield"