`Quite often, it is very difficult to come away from Council Meetings without looking for a wall to bang one’s head against. 
Thus, in October I attended a meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. One of the key areas to look at was the Annual Review of the Joint Homes and Housing Annual Strategy. Lurking at the back of the paper was the delivery plan which included the following new task: 
“Ensure we deliver a quality repairs and planned works service by holding our contractors to account. Making sure they respond to works orders in a timely manner as set out in their contract KPIs and our tenancy agreements.” 
If we are not holding contractors to account already, what are we doing? Ten years ago, I asked after the frequency of checking on housing repair. I was told that Babergh aimed for one contract in three but only managed to check one in six. It now seems that we are not even doing that! I was told that the main problem currently is one of resources. In which case we need a reallocation of resources from writing about work to doing it. 
Meanwhile, The Suffolk County Council Head of Community Safety advised that any additional statutory responsibilities assigned to the (Western Suffolk Community) Partnership would result in increased financial costs (my italics) for recruiting external officers to undertake these duties and that there would be significant risks regarding the capacity of existing Officers to fulfil their standard responsibilities within their own organisations.  
Is this a classic case of crying before you are hurt? What’s wrong with waiting to see what’s coming down the pike? What’s wrong with axing a lesser service priority?  
The principle must be that if something is not worth doing well, then it is not worth doing. But it is easier to raise taxes than it is to be more efficient. `Quite often, it is very difficult to come away from Council Meetings without looking for a wall to bang one’s head against. 
Thus, in October I attended a meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. One of the key areas to look at was the Annual Review of the Joint Homes and Housing Annual Strategy. Lurking at the back of the paper was the delivery plan which included the following new task: 
“Ensure we deliver a quality repairs and planned works service by holding our contractors to account. Making sure they respond to works orders in a timely manner as set out in their contract KPIs and our tenancy agreements.” 
If we are not holding contractors to account already, what are we doing? Ten years ago, I asked after the frequency of checking on housing repair. I was told that Babergh aimed for one contract in three but only managed to check one in six. It now seems that we are not even doing that! I was told that the main problem currently is one of resources. In which case we need a reallocation of resources from writing about work to doing it. 
Meanwhile, The Suffolk County Council Head of Community Safety advised that any additional statutory responsibilities assigned to the (Western Suffolk Community) Partnership would result in increased financial costs (my italics) for recruiting external officers to undertake these duties and that there would be significant risks regarding the capacity of existing Officers to fulfil their standard responsibilities within their own organisations.  
Is this a classic case of crying before you are hurt? What’s wrong with waiting to see what’s coming down the pike? What’s wrong with axing a lesser service priority?  
The principle must be that if something is not worth doing well, then it is not worth doing. But it is easier to raise taxes than it is to be more efficient. 

This blog/post is the sole responsibility of its author Brian Riley.
It has not been approved nor is it endorsed by Babergh District Council or South Suffolk Conservative Association