Tories hit out at 'appalling' IT failures at the council (From Harrow Times)

Conservatives hit out at 'appalling' IT failures at Harrow Borough Council

11:30am Wednesday 9th January 2013 in News By Emma Innes

Conservatives have claimed that “appalling” IT failures at Harrow Borough Council are blocking the public's access to important documents.

The opposition group claims that the failures are causing issues for residents and that the Labour-run council has been “beset” by IT problems in recent months.

Tories say residents are having problems obtaining documents for major planning applications, particularly those for the proposed Marlborough and Vaughan School expansions.

The group told the Harrow Times that documents are not opening, old documents are being mixed up with new ones and duplicates are being presented.

Councillor Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative group, has been contacted by some of the concerned residents.

She said: “Our residents deserve much better than this, and it’s appalling they have experienced so many problems when trying to obtain these planning documents.

“These are significant developments which the residents are hugely concerned about.

“How can the council be said to be properly consulting on these proposals if people can’t actually get full sets of the proper documents?"

Cllr Hall said the problems had reached the point where the authority had offered to put documents on CDs for residents, but that this did not fix underlying problems.

She added: “Labour’s IT problems in Harrow seem to be going from bad to worse.

“Labour boasts a lot about how much money they’re pumping into IT, but with all these problems being reported it’s clear they’re not getting value for taxpayers’ money - and it’s those taxpayers who suffer most when the council’s IT doesn’t work properly.”

The Harrow Times is awaiting a comment from Harrow Borough Council.