Northampton's social housing operator described as 'mixed bag' by council leader who claims 'positive strides' have been made with emergency work
The council has said their performance in housing has been a 'mixed bad' with some 'positive strides', after the housing regulator found 'serious failings' in their social housing stock
A report exposing inaccurate data being published on council-managed social housing was sent out by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) in November 2024. It revealed that some of its homes did not meet strict national quality and safety standards and highlighted “serious shortcomings” which were overseen by Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH).
The review also found inaccuracies in reporting on fire risk assessments, with 180 homes overdue for inspection. Cllr Rosie Herring, cabinet member for housing, commented that the improvement plan was “going on at pace”.
In the latest update report, the council reported that over 99 per cent of its properties were compliant with gas, fire, asbestos and water safety checks. WNC confirmed that all overdue fire risk assessments were completed by the end of December 2024 target.
A spokesperson added that, whilst all buildings do have an in-date fire assessment, a decision has been made to recomplete the entire programme of fire safety checks by the end of May 2025 to ensure all assessments meet the required standards.
According to the December data, 580 properties had overdue fire safety works which mostly concerned compartmentation, signage and fire door works. WNC said all remaining actions were passed onto the contractor in January and would be prioritised by risk, number of jobs, and age of the risk assessment.
According to the NPH report, in December there were 628 open damp and mould cases in council homes, with 103 new cases reported in that month alone. The council said that all remedial works were on track to be completed within its 90 day target.
Just seven out of 30 housing performance indicators were on target when measured in December 2024, though the council has noted that 17 categories saw improvements. Several missed targets are in customer satisfaction on various issues, including repairs, home safety, complaint handling, and landlord maintenance.
Leader of WNC, Cllr Adam Brown said: “It’s very much a mixed bag on NPH performance, so they have made very positive strides on the most urgent aspects of their performance, clearing the emergency works within the required deadlines.”
WNC said it is reporting to and meeting with the Regulator of Social Housing on a monthly basis to provide progress updates on the work being undertaken to address the housing stock issues.
The council will be subject to a full inspection by the Regulator after receiving the C3 ‘serious failings’ grading last year, however the timing of this is currently unknown.