An additional £943,000 is set to be ploughed into council houses in Babergh, including those on the Shotley peninsula, to accelerate repairs and improvements.

Babergh District Council's cabinet will meet on Tuesday to approve the use of money from reserves to help clear a backlog of repairs, which mounted during the Covid pandemic.

The money would also support wider improvements to the council housing service in the districts, with Babergh clear their determination to address repair and maintenance issues with their properties as they are set to release £943,000 from reserves. 

Cllr Jessie Carter, Babergh's cabinet member for housing, said: "We want to address these problems urgently. 

Cllr Jessie Carter (Picture: Babergh DC)

"We must prioritise the needs and concerns of tenants – it is our responsibility to provide high-quality, safe, and secure housing for them. I am committed to supporting and working with our housing team to ensure that's precisely what we do."

Earlier this year, the council referred themselves to the Regulator of Social Housing after falling behind on gas and electric safety checks on a small proportion of properties. In most cases, these inspections are now up to date, and processes have been overhauled. 

Cllr Carter added: "The housing team has done a lot of really good work in getting the compliance testing back on track. There are still other issues we must tackle, particularly around repairs. We also need to ensure our complaints system is robust, and that there are regular checks on our housing so work can be prioritised."

If approved by cabinet, the additional funds would accelerate repair work – providing resources for 2,000 repairs, as well as supporting ongoing changes to the housing service.

The report to be discussed on Tuesday notes there has already been reduction by a third of outstanding repairs, while wider improvement work in the councils' housing service has continued to progress.  

This has included overhauling processes and obtaining more robust data, with regular feedback sought from tenants..