11 OCTOBER 2026
Dear Judith
Please find attached a joint letter from Cripplegate Ward Members and GLERA setting out our concerns about persistent failings in repairs and maintenance on Golden Lane Estate.
The letter sets out issues that we believe need urgent attention, including concerns about whether the current reporting framework is delivering a robust and effective repairs and maintenance programme for all residents on Golden Lane Estate.
We want to stress that this letter comes from a genuine desire to work constructively with officers and to see these issues resolved as quickly as possible.
As councillors, we feel it is important to put our concerns about these serious issues clearly on record and to fulfil our responsibility as elected representatives for residents of Cripplegate to challenge where standards are falling seriously short for our community.
As GLERA, representing residents, we want to be clear about the standards residents should reasonably expect from the department, both in how they are treated and in how their homes and estate are maintained.
Our aim in sending this to you, is to not just catalogue what has gone wrong, but to ask you to establish a clearer basis for putting things right, demonstrate a more visible sense of urgency in addressing these longstanding issues, demonstrate that you are truly listening to residents when they tell us that services are not working as they should, rebuild trust on the estate and move forward.
We look forward to working with you to achieve this.
Alderwoman Liz King
on behalf of GLERA and Cripplegate Councillors
in summary
The letter sets out four reasonable demands:
1. ENFORCE THE INTERNAL ACTION PLAN
The City’s own Internal Action Plan which it committed to in May 2026 must be enforced without exception, and includes:
- All communal entrance door failures must be treated as Priority 1 (Emergency)
- Interim securing measures must be implemented within one working day where permanent repair is not immediately possible
- Residents must be notified the same day when a communal security issue cannot be resolved immediately
2. ADOPT A PROACTIVE MAINTENANCE STANCE WITH EMPOWERED ON-SITE STAFF
Estate staff must be empowered to identify and report issues before they escalate, conduct regular documented inspections, and hold contractors to account. The new Estate Manager, when appointed, must be present, visible and directly accountable to residents.
3. MODERNISE THE REPAIR REPORTING PROCESS
Residents must be able to report repairs online. Every report must receive a 24-hour acknowledgement with a tracking number. Residents must be able to check the status of a repair online. This is standard practice at other housing authorities and long overdue at Golden Lane.
4. OPEN AND TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION
When a repair is delayed residents must be told why, by when it will be fixed, and who is responsible. The City must stop issuing vague holding responses and ensure that front-line staff are briefed on all outstanding commitments made by senior officers.
