Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Tom Simon

AN emergency meeting has been called for councillors to debate a damning report into the state of Camden Council’s housing repairs service.

The opposition Liberal Democrat group triggered the rare special session, which will take place at the Town Hall on Thursday, after the Housing Ombudsman published a host of criticisms about the department.

Its report last month called the service “rude, dismissive, confrontational” and highlighted the case of how one elderly council tenant had been forced to move into an unheated wooden shed on his estate because the lifts were unusable.

The Ombudsman described Camden as having a “defensive complaints culture, with documents containing dismissive tones that run the risk of discouraging the acknowledgement of valid complaints”.

Lib Dem leader Councillor Tom Simon said: “The report has shown how there is a defensive culture and that same defensive culture has responded to the report. The Town Hall’s response pointedly acknowledges the work to be done but then says ‘oh, we are doing lots of good things, the report is old’. That is the same old message and why we have requested this meeting.”

He said that the culture in the housing repairs team, which allocates jobs to outside contractors, was damaging as it failed to recognise problems.

SEE ALSO OMBUDSMAN CONDEMNS CAMDEN’S ‘RUDE, CONFRONTATIONAL REPAIRS SERVICE’

He added: “You have to start by acknowledging there is a problem if you want to put it right. It is not about tweaking around the edges, and we are not just using this meeting to have a go at Labour.

“It should be a forum to discuss what has gone wrong and suggest ideas to improve and transform the service.”

He said Camden had grown to accept low standards, adding: “We should have the ambition of being the best repair service available. I think that there is a cultural issue. I can’t see why they cannot try to be the best.

“Other London councils face similar difficulties but they have not been targeted by the Housing Ombudsman. A standard needs to be set by leadership.

“A key issue is around communication. Everyone has experienced contractors saying we showed up and no one was in, or they left a message, or completed the work when they clearly haven’t.

“We also questioned the effectiveness of the council holding contractors to account and to a high standard. We have just not been good enough at that for years. Each time they say they will improve but they do not.”

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It has been a winter which has seen a host of tenants and leaseholders turn to the New Journal in desperation after getting nowhere with repairs.

This week we report on residents struggling with no hot water or heater on the Lymington Road estate in West Hampstead.

A Camden Council spokesperson said: “Our tenants and leaseholders deserve high-quality, responsive and empathetic services, and we have been investing and working hard to improve the services they receive.

“We are going above and beyond the ambitions set out by the Ombudsman’s recommendations, ensuring that considerations about our residents are at the centre of our work. The Ombudsman acknowledged our proactive work to make key improvements throughout their investigation. We will continue to engage constructively with them and are meeting in the near future to discuss the action plan we have put in place to address their recommendations.”