A partnership between North Lanarkshire Council and Mears has delivered a new pioneering service.

The 'Local Homes' service will see the partnership's repairs remit transformed to deliver more modern, accessible, caring and responsive services to help improve the lives of its tenants.

By using up-to-date mobile technology, tenants will now be able to report repairs using their digital television, computer or smartphone, while staff can now work directly from tenants' homes using their hand-held tablets. Here, they can complete repair requests on the spot and progress works at the touch of a button, meaning tenants will benefit from immediate repairs, identification and instruction.

Councillor Jim McCabe, Leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: "The Chartered Institute of Housing states that the standard of an area's repair service has the biggest impact of the quality of life for the majority of tenants and we understand this priority.


"As the largest local authority landlord in Scotland, servicing over 36,000 homes, we take our responsibilities seriously. It's our duty to maintain our homes but we must also make sure our tenants enjoy an improved living standard. That's why we've made significant changes to our repairs service, such as introducing further repairs by appointment and making best use of the very latest mobile technology. These are delivering results. We're carrying out more repairs on time and on target and improving services for our tenants."

The repairs service modernisation has been underway over the last two years, but the re-structure of the service will allow new technology to widen access to the repairs service and ensure information is processed quickly and without delay.

It will also see improved homes for tenants, as well as improved communication between partners, and continue to deliver value-for-money, modern services that tenants want and need.

Councillor Sam Love, Convener of Housing and Social Work Services added: "Our tenants are at the heart of our modern repairs service and are the focus for everything we do. An exciting future lies ahead for the partnership and it's one that I'm sure will continue to grow and develop, meeting the needs of our tenants while improving and maintaining council homes."

(JP/CD)