A quarterly Council newsletter for tenants – costing around £7000 an edition to design, print and deliver – has been criticised.

The Streets Ahead magazine has been produced for several years and was recently subject to a re-tendering exercise.

The contract – which was awarded to a local company – covers design, editorial, printing and publication of the magazine. In total the current contract is worth £86,716.00 over 4 years

Additional costs are involved in delivering the magazine to 8000 Council tenants.

The news sheet can also be read “on line”

The Council has an inconsistent approach to providing tenants and residents with information. Housing staff rarely provide up to date information for the many public noticeboards that exist around the City.

Even the Council web site is sometimes hopelessly out of date.

For example, last year there was a major row when it was discovered that dozens of Council garages were lying empty despite there being a long waiting list of people wanting to rent them. The Council promised that information would be updated regularly.

6 months later and the leaflet displayed on the Councils web site has not been updated.

Potentially thousands of pounds a year in rental income is being lost while complaints about inadequate street parking continue to grow.

…and even  “Streets Ahead” isn’t being used to advertise the garage vacancies.