BASILDON Council says it is set to build 300 new council homes and spend £1.6 million repairing its existing ones.

Bosses at the authority insist they are pushing to improve the state of their homes and "constantly keeping this under review" while "putting our money where our mouth is."

Cllr Gavin Callaghan, the council's Labour leader, says the authority is working with contractor Morgan Sindall to 'fast-track repairs'. 

He said: "We have 3,000 people on our council house waiting list and we will be building 300 new council homes in the next five years. I am also aware things have got massively out of hand with Morgan Sindall and the house repairs budget. I am putting £1.6 million from the budget into housing repairs to get on with it and quickly build better Basildon homes.

"A lot of housing is 75 years old and needs some tender loving care. Since the autumn, we've been looking at the budget and how to get things right. I also want a better relationship between the council and tenant; it shouldn't always be the tenant chasing us for repairs.

"Morgan Sindall has been up before the scrutiny panel, and we have an improvement plan in place, too.

"We are constantly keeping this under review and keeping Morgan Sindall's feet to fire, and we are putting our money where our mouth is."

A spokesman for Morgan Sindall Property Services said: "In partnership with Basildon Council, we are committed to improving the quality of service provided to residents.

"Based on feedback from residents and through our improvement plan, we have implemented changes to our services and processes, including:

"Reduced average call waiting times from 19 minutes to just over three minutes, the introduction of weekly and weekend repair drop-in sessions so that residents can log repairs and raise any concerns with our repairs team, 88 per cent of appointments completed as a first-time fix. Delivering a service that meets our residents' needs is our priority, and we will continue to listen to residents and take on feedback so we can deliver a high-quality service and experience."