Council hits back after audit report

11:14am Friday 27th June 2008

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Affordable housing and improved waste recycling for Craven residents are on the cards, it was claimed this week.

In a robust defence against criticism of the district council, Craven councillor Mark Wheeler claims progress is being made.

In its annual report, the Audit Commission criticised the council's progress in the provision of affordable homes.

It also said the council was inconsistent in some of its own priority areas - such as waste management - and suffered from high staff absence levels, which were hitting its performance.

But the council was praised for its high resident satisfaction - the joint highest in North Yorkshire.

Coun Wheeler, a member of the council's Audit Committee, which met on Monday, said: "It was not a damning report; it could have been better, but there are a lot of things we are doing.

"There are some key areas where we could have done more and the pace that we are working at could be better, but in the next year or so there will be significant improvement.

"While the Audit Commission has highlighted some issues with the council's performance in 2006/2007, there were many issues the council could be proud of.

"Residents' satisfaction with the council was in the highest 25 per cent and our recycling target was exceeded, with waste collection the third best in the country."

The council's progress on providing affordable homes was criticised by the Audit Commission as "slow".

But Coun Wheeler said securing land and gaining planning permission would naturally make it a slow process.

And he said the next couple of years would see hundreds of new homes built at sites in Skipton, Hellifield and High Bentham.

"The Audit Commission highlighted some key areas of improvement which coincided with our own corporate priorities and the provision of affordable housing is the biggest issue," he said. "It is fair to say that progress has been slow, but before building takes place there needs to be a degree of groundwork."

He said 140 affordable homes would be provided as part of the Skipton Developments project, due to start next year.

"Three sites have been gifted to Yorkshire Housing at Hellifield, High Bentham and Skipton, which will provide 61 affordable homes. There will also be 65 at Burnside," he said.

The commission also criticised the council's work in tourism, but Coun Wheeler said: "Both Skipton and Settle tourist offices scored 99 per cent when they were mystery-shopped by the Yorkshire Tourist Board."

The commission highlighted the council's problems with staff absences due to sickness, which it said was a "significant challenge".

And, at Monday's Audit Committee meeting, the council's acting head of financial services, Tony Plant, revealed that just two members of his department were council employees while three others were agency staff.

"We are overstretched. We cannot continue to rely on agency people. Since December I have lost three full-time members of staff and we've had to replace them with agency staff," he said.

But Coun Wheeler, speaking after the meeting, believed that the council had turned a corner.

"Our turnover and absence-through-sickness record has not been good, but our head of human resources has made some changes and there seems to be a more positive feeling about the place," he said.

He said that a staff morale survey had taken place last summer.

"From time to time there are staff upheavals, but we will do the best we can and if that means us having to have some temps in, that is what we will have to do," he said.