Struggling Southwark Labour Council Fails to Apologise for Putting Responsibility on Residents for Mould
- Deputy Leader fails to apologise to residents whose health is being put at risk.
- Council took over a year to enact certain recommendations from Housing Ombudsman.
- Southwark Council was rated as one of the country’s worst performing councils for damp and mould.
Labour failed to apologise for putting responsibility on residents for mould and damp issues, at Wednesday evening’s council assembly.
Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Southwark Liberal Democrat Leader, asked the Labour administration to apologise for telling residents on its website that mould was their responsibility to fix.
Cllr Jasmine Ali, deputy leader of Southwark Labour, failed to apologise for this piece of communication following Cllr Chamberlain’s request.
In a rambling response, Cllr Ali summarised by saying: “In order to crack this, you have to work with the residents.
“Apologies for your misunderstanding of the website, but we are absolutely committed to cracking this.”
However, the council website on 22nd November explicitly informed residents that it was their “responsibility to reduce condensation and mould,” in their homes.
This page also linked to a 2014 leaflet that repeated the same message and suggested residents avoid condensation by covering cooking pots, among other pieces of advice.
This is in direct contravention of the Housing Ombudsman’s recommendations on tackling mould and damp in an October 2021 report.
The report, which ranked Southwark as one of the worst English landlords for dealing with mould and damp, requested an end to placing the onus on residents for these issues.
Southwark Council recently reviewed its processes for mould and damp, which resulted in it making changes in line with the ombudsman’s recommendations.
One change was to improve communication with residents, with the council website no longer displaying the same advice on mould and damp as it did on 22nd November.
The Southwark Liberal Democrats pointed out that all of these changes astoundingly only took place this week, which is a year after the ombudsman report was published.
In response to a late question, the council said it had 68 complaints regarding mould and damp since the ombudsman published its report.
Commenting, Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Southwark Liberal Democrat Leader said: “The awful news about Awaab Ishak’s death means Southwark has to start reflecting on how it deals with mould and damp in its own housing stock. Particularly as it was ranked as one of the worst performing councils. Many of our mould and damp issues are structural, which means they are not the fault of residents. Like dozens of local residents, we are appalled that this Labour administration is not brave enough to apologise for the council’s horrendous response to mould and damp.”