Gas safety checks on council houses and flats in Bristol stopped during the pandemic but then “never restarted again”. Last year a government watchdog found serious problems with how Bristol City Council ensures its thousands of homes are kept safe.
Each year the council is obliged to carry out gas checks, but this and other safety work stopped when the first coronavirus lockdown hit. An expert review into the root causes of the widespread issues into the safety of council flats found these checks didn’t restart after the pandemic.
The latest data shows however the council has begun checking gas safety again, with just three properties with an out-of-date service last November. An update on the work to address the findings was given to councillors on the housing policy committee on Friday, February 14.
Conservative Councillor Richard Eddy, vice-chair of the committee, said: “Annual gas and other inspections — which we’re obligated to carry out every year — stopped naturally because of the extreme conditions during Covid, but never started again. That is a damning indictment. This is one set of lessons learned we should never forget nor allow to happen again.”
Last year the Regulator of Social Housing found serious failings in how the council manages its thousands of homes. The problems also include long delays to address damp and mould, with residents in more than 300 homes waiting over a year.
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After the judgement, Green Cllr Tony Dyer, leader of the council, apologised to all council tenants for the failures. However the Greens only took control of the council in May last year, and Labour had been in power for the previous eight years.
Green Cllr Barry Parsons, chair of the housing committee, said: “When we took on responsibility for our 27,000-odd council homes, we inherited very large backlogs of repairs and remedial works in such critical areas like damp and mould and electrical safety. Through this programme, we’re making good progress in many areas and dealing with those backlogs.
“This is years and years of repairs that we’re working through. We’re now trying to understand the reasons that we got into this situation that we’re in now, in order to make sure that this never happens again.
“Historically there was not enough focus and attention paid at the highest political levels to the safety and decency of the homes that our residents live in. We cannot be complacent — it’s incumbent on us to make sure that this programme is a success.”