Residents on the Alton estate in Roehampton have voiced overwhelming support for the action the council has taken in bringing management of the estate back under town hall control.

Under the RMO, requests for repairs were ignored, routine maintenance jobs were abandoned, health and safety work neglected and rubbish left to pile up on the streets.

Even the children's playgrounds had to be closed because the RMO couldn't or wouldn't make them safe.

As well as delivering an appalling level of service to people on the estate, we now learn significant sums of public money are unaccounted for by the RMO.

In contrast, since the council took over in mid-December, the estate has been a hive of activity with council staff steadily working their way through the backlog of missed repairs and neglected jobs.

Our staff have had to work flat out to get things back on course and from the flood of letters and e-mails we have received at the town hall, I know local people appreciate our efforts. In the words of one resident, "the return of council staff to the Alton makes me realise how the citizens of Paris must have felt when they were liberated in 1944".

One of your correspondents recently called for an independent investigation into the collapse of the RMO and the circumstances that led to its demise.

We would welcome the opportunity to share our experiences with any Government inquiry so that lessons can be learned about how to make sure the dreadful experience of residents on the Alton estate is not repeated anywhere else.

Councillor Martin Johnson

Cabinet member for housing

Wandsworth town hall

January 29, 2003 13:00