“Distressed” residents living in dilapidated homes have slammed a “shambolic” council meeting about housing.
Attendees have questioned why the council allegedly spent £1,800 on refreshments but failed to provide a functioning PowerPoint presentation.
Over 800 residents, appearing via zoom and in-person, attended meetings on January 11 and 12 to vent about mould, disrepair and poor council communication.
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Jeffrey Boachie-Frimpong, 35, the Tabard Garden Estate tenant who found his neighbour dead ten months after warning the council about her living conditions, attended.
He said: “It was just very bad. The presentation they were always referring to wasn’t there so people had to stand up and ask: ‘where’s this presentation?’
“The language used wasn’t the right language… if you don’t have a finance background people didn’t understand what was going on. It felt like a corporate presentation rather than a tenant presentation.
“It felt like they had spent more on the refreshments – loads of sandwiches and desserts and brownies, muffin, croissants – they should have spent more time focussing on the IT.”
Southwark Liberal Democrats told the News £1,800 was spent on refreshments despite there being only 125 in-person attendees across both meetings.
Commenting, Lib Dem Cllr Jane Salmon, who attended the residents’ forums, said: “I was shocked by the shambolic set up of the meetings and saddened that the tenants and homeowners feel so distressed at the poor service they receive.
“These meetings did nothing to alleviate their justified concerns that they are not being heard. To find out that the council spent so much on food for so few attendees makes this all the more farcical.
“This shameful debacle shows that our residents are crying out for regular, local meetings where their concerns can be heard.”
A council spokesperson said: “We are always grateful to our residents for volunteering their time to help shape council policy and inform how we provide services that meet their needs.
“Treating residents with courtesy and respect is something that has long been reflected in the council’s values.
“We asked tenants and leaseholders to give up their time to attend these resident-chaired meetings, with the option to join in-person and online, and we are grateful that so many did so – more than 850 in total across the two evenings.
“Providing refreshments for our residents, many of whom had come straight from work, and with many struggling with the cost of living crisis, felt like the right thing to do, but we will certainly take on board all feedback as we plan future resident meetings.”