Newham’s cabinet member for council housing says an improvement plan is now in place to tackle long-standing issues highlighted in an inspection last year, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Blossom Young, cabinet member for council housing in Newham

Council housing failures in Newham “impacted the safety, dignity and trust of our residents” a senior councillor has admitted.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) hit Newham Council with its lowest possible C4 grading after an inspection in October 2024. The inspection found “very serious failings” including thousands of overdue fire safety remedial actions and repairs.

Speaking to a council meeting yesterday (Monday 14th) councillor Blossom Young, cabinet member for council housing improvements, said the council had been “right to apologise”.

Cllr Young said: “These weren’t just technical failings. They were failures that impacted the safety, dignity and trust of our residents.”

She added: “But apologies alone don’t rebuild trust – action does.”

Cllr Young said the council had launched an improvement plan in May aimed at “fundamentally changing” how the council’s housing service works.

The plan included promises to carry out electrical condition tests on homes that hadn’t had one for ten years, put new safety measures in place, improve how damp and mould cases are managed, and set up a new resident challenge board.

Cllr Young told the meeting that the council was “already making progress.”

She said: “Tenant satisfaction has jumped from 59% to 71%. Electrical safety checks are up from 60% at the time of the inspection to 92% and the 2,700 overdue repairs identified by the regulator are now reduced to fewer than ten.”

Cllr Young added: “This improvement journey will take time but we’re turning a corner and we are going to complete it.”

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