New Labour cuts services to council tenants
Council tenants will be forced to pay out for a range of substantial repairs to
their homes if the Labour-run City Council goes ahead with plans to make savings
to the housing budget.
The new measures will require tenants to fix internal
timberwork including window sills, maintain fences and redo tiling. The council
would also stop carrying out internal decoration for pensioners and those with
disabilities in all but exceptional cases which would be reviewed by council
officers.
The executive member responsible for introducing the new
measures is non-other than Blackbird Leys councillor Val Smith. Speaking in
the Oxford Mail, Mrs Smith attempted to play down the cuts saying, ‘We
want to move away from a situation where people ring up and expect us to change
a light bulb.’ Tenants will of course be aware that changing light bulbs has
never been the council’s responsibility.
Lee Cole of the IWCA said about the plans, ‘Tenants currently
pay for these services as part of their rents. Cutting the services effectively
means a rent increase.’
Before the new measures are implemented the council will have
to wait for the results of a consultation exercise with tenants. However, there
is no formal mechanism for tenants to block the proposal and the executive board
appears to regard the outcome of the exercise as a foregone conclusion.
‘A large part of the savings will come from people on fixed
incomes such as pensioners and the disabled,’ said Lee Cole, ‘Unfortunately,
this is just another example of where New Labour’s priorities really lie.’
Leys Independent, issue 16, December 2002
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