REDDITCH Conservatives are calling for the resignation of the man responsible for the borough’s housing portfolio, Councillor Mark Shurmer.
The move comes in the wake of the failure by the authority to complete annual gas safety checks on more than 900 council homes in 2015.
A lengthy internal and external investigation concluded last year with new safeguards being put in place.
Now a notice of motion is being brought to the full council meeting on Monday (January 30) calling for a vote of no confidence in Coun Shurmer (Labour, Lodge Park) and demanding his resignation.
“This Labour administration has once more proved incompetent and demonstrated its complacent attitude to its council housing responsibilities,” said Coun Brandon Clayton (Con, Aswood Bank & Feckenham), deputy leader of Redditch Conservatives and their spokesman on housing.
“Yet again we have another clear example of the Labour Group’s manifest incompetence that could have put in jeopardy the lives of our residents.”
The failure led to an investigation by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in 2015, which was alerted by the council itself, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
In its report the HCA concluded the authority had failed to meet its Home standard with the potential for “serious detriment to Redditch Borough Council’s tenants” which it said had “exposed a number of tenants to the potential of serious harm for lengthy periods.”
The HCA added that an internal audit carried out by the council had found: “That the issue arose due to inadequate contract management, failures in recording and incomplete records and contractor failure.”
As a result the council was put on notice by the HCA which was removed in November 2016 after it had received assurances that the borough had addressed the issues.
The leader of Redditch Borough Council, Coun Bill Hartnett (Lab, Church Hill): “When we found out about the gas safety checks we self-reported the situation and the authorities carried out an investigation.
“They then wrote a report with recommendations and we agreed to all those recommendations.”
