The following summarises a few of the key issues made in some of the Audit Commission's local authority inspection reports released during March 2005.
The housing management service of Homes for Islington was rated as good by the Audit Commission's inspectors and awarded two-stars with excellent prospects for improvement.
The rating means that Islington Council will receive £24.9 million additional capital funding on 31st March 2006, to improve the quality of its homes. This could potentially lead to a further £132.6 million over the next five years.
Homes for Islington is an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO), which manages the housing management service on behalf of Islington Council. Housing inspectors praised its effective partnership approach to tackling anti-social behaviour, its support for tenants to help them sustain their tenancies, its accessible services, its wide range of rent payment options, and an improving and well-performing repair and maintenance service.
Areas requiring further attention include improving the performance on gas servicing, processing Right to Buy applications, and ensuring estates consistently meet the cleanliness standard.
The repairs and maintenance service provided by Mansfield District Council is poor and has poor prospects for improvement, according to a report released by the Audit Commission.
The Audit Commission inspection team gave the service zero stars out of a possible three because:
To help the service improve, inspectors recommended that the Council should, amongst other things:
Audit Commission housing association reports issued during March 2005 included the following:
An Audit Commission inspection report concluded that the service provided by Moseley and District Churches Housing Association is poor and has poor prospects for improvement.
The inspection team gave the service zero-stars and highlighted the following specific problems: