THE housing service at Stroud District Council has made a strong recovery after the embarrassing £1 million overspend in 2009.

In May 2009 it was revealed that the council had overspent on its Housing Revenue Account by £1 million, put down to a shambles in the housing department.

However a recent report by the Tenants Services Authority has given the council a clean bill of health and praised the housing department for its progress.

In a letter to the council the TSA said: "You have transformed the level and breadth of tenant involvement and empowerment at Stroud to include new and innovative ways to involve tenants in the design, delivery and scrutiny of services."

Cllr Debbie Young, cabinet member for housing, said the outcome has been to create a more ‘customer-focussed’ service with tighter financial controls and better internal systems.

"The overspend triggered a comprehensive review of the service and the findings raised serious concerns, but it gave us the opportunity to completely re-evaluate what we were doing and effectively rewrite the DNA of the service," she said.

"A better service for tenants and a more empowered workforce has to be a good thing."

The changes have included the introduction of mystery shoppers, tenant inspectors and a new tenant scrutiny panel, all designed to help drive up service standards and monitor performance. The service has also managed to free up more houses for residents in need of accommodation in the district.

Phil Leighton, empty property manager for the council, said: "Our surveyors are dedicated to improving and renovating our empty homes to new standards, which we have developed with our tenants, and as quickly as possible, so that we reduce the amount of time they are empty.

"Over the last year we have brought back into use around 120 homes following major refurbishment, including 50 in the Stroud area and 28 in the Dursley and Cam area."