Top councillor not happy with residents' six-month waits on MyDudley system

Councillor Ed Lawrence, Dudley Council’s cabinet member for transformation, was responding to questions from councillors at a meeting of the authority on December 1 about the MyDudley system.

Labour councillors said a new element of the system, which allowed elected members from all sides to report issues raised by residents, revealed how long cases they opened took to be dealt with and how delays were a result of spending reductions.

Councillor Qasim Mughal claimed cuts in staffing had ‘hollowed out the council’s ability to deliver even the basics’.

Councillor Mughal said: “Residents don’t come to us as a first resort, they come to us when the council has already failed to solve their problem, their issue or their concern. Councillors take on those concerns as casework.

“Since April, 841 of 3,279 cases remain unresolved. In the environment directorate, the average resolution time is 28 working days; in housing and children’s, it’s 31. Across these three directorates, one in five of just the closed cases dragged on for more than eight weeks.

“But it gets worse. Half of the unresolved cases in environment have been open for 12 weeks or more and across the chamber, 150 cases have been left unresolved for longer than six months.

“Six months of waiting for repairs, six months of chasing answers, six months of residents left in limbo.

“These aren’t just statistics; they represent families living in homes with repairs needed, parents waiting for support, communities left with potholes and neglected streets.”

Councillor Lawrence said: “We are aware there are some issues with the new MyDudley council portal.

“There are some issues with staffing within the directorates answering some of the questions.

“I don’t believe it is the technology but we are having a review, I have seen what the system is like and I am not happy with it myself.”