THE lead councillor with responsibility for housing in Thurrock has issued an upbeat message to residents about the authority's efforts to create new homes and its performance in managing repairs.

The ruling Conservative administration has come under a lot of criticism for not building new homes.

Last month, for example, ward councillors in Grays slammed the council for selling off land to the private sector for homes, which they say would have been the perfect place to build social housing in a borough where he council house waiting list tops 7,000.

The council has also repeatedly come under criticism for alleged failings in its management of social housing repairs and its inability to get to grips with a borough wide problem of homes affected by damp and mould.

Last month councillors on the housing committee were critical of he council's performance and even Conservative members said things were not acceptable, with veteran Tory Joy Redsell damning he council and saying "We ought to be thoroughly ashamed of ourselves as landlords."

However, housing portfolio holder Cllr Luke Spillman remains upbeat about the council's housing performance levels and he has addressed residents in a digital message.

He says: "I am delighted that your feedback through our monthly tenant satisfaction surveys continues to show such high satisfaction levels with the service we provide - 2020/21 was the strongest performing year for overall tenant satisfaction.

"Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our teams, we are seeing year-on-year improvements in the service we offer.

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"My number one priority is to end out-of-borough temporary accommodation placements, unless they are required as the result of safeguarding. I will be announcing some hugely exciting plans in the very near future.

"Housing development delivery is another priority. We are committed to exploring innovative ways to develop and create new homes, and the vital infrastructure which supports them. We are also working with the private sector to bring forward other sites in the borough. My focus will be on providing more secure low-cost tenancies, and Help to Buy scheme homes.

"In the past 12 months, we've handed over the keys to 82 high-quality council homes and work is underway to hand over 35 apartments designed specifically to meet the needs of our older residents in Tilbury later this year."