What does it take to get a drain cover fixed? This is the story of how the PRERA committee managed to get the council to repair a dangerous drain cover:
On 5th July 2016 Rob (Deputy Contracts Representative) noticed a dangerously broken drain cover at the north corner of the estate. He took a photo and reported it to Teodoro De Carvalho (Estate Services Officer) on 6th July. Mr De Carvalho replied on the 7th July promising to investigate it on 8th July.
On 5th August Rob noticed that the drain cover was in an even more dangerous state than before, so he emailed Mr De Carvalho to enquire about progress. On 25th August Cllr Iain Simpson enquired about whether it had been fixed. On 30th August Mr De Carvalho replies to both confirming that the job to repair the drain cover has been completed.
On 30th August Franny (Vice Chair) checks the ‘completed’ repair job and finds that it really isn’t completed. Rob emails Mr De Carvalho to ask why a job is marked complete when it isn’t. This sparks an email discussion involving three councillors (including one cabinet member), three council officers and the primary contractor – Mears.
On 2nd September Mr De Carvalho confirms that the drain cover has been replaced, with a photo attached as proof.
Not all repairs are this much work to get fixed, but this story isn’t unusual. We are trying to work with the council to improve the efficiency of the routine and reactive maintenance of our estate.