A COMPANY responsible for repairs to Basildon’s 11,500 council homes has come under fire for poor response times.

The future of Mitie, which was hired by St Georges Community Housing, was put under review after the company failed to respond swiftly enough to emergency call outs and urgent repairs during the first nine months of its contract.

But the company has asked for the 90-day review, which was due to end on December 17, to be extended after it suffered further setbacks due to poor weather and problems with new staff brought in from another company.

At a meeting of Basildon Council’s housing scrutiny committee, councillors criticised Mitie for failing to complete the review, which it wants extended until March 31.

Councillor Paul Kirkman said: “We’re employing a firm which can’t manage its staff.

“It’s just simple co-operation being asked for, for a skilled team to do a proper job.”

Repairs service manager for St Georges, Peter Long, told the meeting Mitie had made some improvements during the review, such as starting to send text messages to tenants the day before an appointment, but bosses had struggled to make improvements to their workforce due to tensions within the company.

Andrew Baggott, Tory councillor responsible for community, said: “Repairs are fundamental to the people of the district.

“We still have the same problem time and time again if the management system is always changing, but the people on the ground are the same. Then its the people on the ground contributing to the problem, not the management.”

Pargas, the company which repairs boilers for council tenants, was also put under review, for delays to repairs and replacements, last August. The committee heard significant improvements had been made.

Proposals for £8.5million improvements to council homes were put to the cabinet by the committee and will be considered on Thursday.