02 September 2005
A council-owned housing company in Nottinghamshire risks losing £62m after becoming the first arm's-length management organisation to receive no stars from inspectors.
Bassetlaw District Council had already gained one star for its housing service prior to setting up an Almo - A1 Housing - in October 2004. It was confident of increasing this to two stars following an inspection in May.
But, instead Audit Commission inspectors declared that the service had deteriorated from fair to poor.
Among the failings identified by the commission were poor customer service, slow repairs, high rent arrears and a failure to focus capital spending on achieving decent homes. It criticised the Almo for not following recommendations in earlier inspection reports.
A1 Housing, which manages 7,300 homes, was due to receive £62m from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister by 2010.
Frank Martin, A1 Housing's chair, said an improvement plan was in place. 'Services have been improving,' he said. 'Despite this, the pace is inadequate to satisfy the housing inspectors.'
Six Almos have previously gained just one star instead of the minimum of two required by the ODPM.
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