Interesting article on the BBC website, regarding local authority newspapers, or in East Ayrshire’s case newsletters. This got me thinking about the content and value for money for tenants. It could be argued that the newsletter is a waste of money, does not meet best value criteria, and is nothing more than “propaganda on the rates”.
Another area where best value is an issue is the annual “Tenants Conference” normally held in the Park Hotel. The rhetoric that precedes this event goes something like “Planned by Tenants” yet I am always amazed how effectively the housing dept can influence this agenda to avoid the hard questions. For example, two years ago after a particularly hard bruising by tenants on the council’s performance, I found in the following year, there was no part in the programme where tenants could voice an opinion using the electronic voting system that had been used in previous years?
Then there are the surveys, like the recent one to change the rent setting system. Now they think if a bus runs near your home of you are near shops you should be paying a higher rent. The actual choices presented in the survey could not be analyzed in any meaningful way. In the past I have been involved with North Ayrshire Council in designing and conducting a Community Survey and their interrogation by computer. I can assure you that this survey is nothing more than an amateurish attempt to find a new method to increase rents by the back door. Given that several of the amenities quoted are out with the control of the council, what right do they have to use them within the scope of a survey?