RESIDENTS who live in the Stockton Borough Council area are angry to discover that for the past 14 years they have been paying half of the cost of the pay of concierge employees who work in the authority’s blocks of flats in Stockton, Billingham and Thornaby.
Fifty per cent of the cost of the service was financed by those living in the concierge-covered flats. The remainder came from the housing revenue account – contributed to by tenants from across the borough.
Because of a change in government policy the total cost of the service must now be met by those living in the properties covered.
I have lived in one of the flats for 12 years and think we do not need concierge staff at all. They are really just very expensive doormen. We have handsets in our flats and if anyone comes to visit us we can decide whether to let them in or not. The annual cost of the concierge service is now £1.5m. The sooner they all go the better.
Keith Dewison. Billingham.
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