The latest figures from the official local government watchdog show that Southwark had the 3rd highest number of housing complaints in England, being beaten only by Lambeth and Birmingham. 3% of housing complaints in the country came from Southwark alone, and make up over 40% of total complaints made to Southwark.
The figures also put Southwark as the 6th highest complained about borough in London for all complaints with 81% of complaints being upheld last year.
This follows a string of shocking stories, with the ombudsman finding Southwark guilty of “inexcusable failures”, being slapped with tens of thousands of pounds of severe maladministration fines, and leaving families to “freeze.”
The council also failed to complete a single damp and mould repair in 2021-2022.
The Liberal Democrat group in Southwark have repeatedly drawn attention to the failure of the council to act, including at Council Assembly earlier this month when the leader of the group Cllr Chamberlain challenged the leader of the council on its record.
Southwark Leader of the Oppostion Cllr Victor Chamberlain said, “These shocking figures only confirm what we all know: that Southwark is letting residents down. That this number of residents are forced to go to the ombudsman to resolve these problems is bad enough, but the fact Southwark Council is one of the worst in the country and is consistently found to have failed is especially damning.
“The Liberal Democrats have been sounding the alarm on this for years, and have repeatedly brought plans to the council to solve the problem, but Southwark Labour just don’t listen or learn from their mistakes. We deserve a council that listens and takes customer service seriously”
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