Liberal Democrat councillors have criticised the latest figures for customer service standards at Haringey Council. The results, published recently in the Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP) 2004, show Haringey Council has failed to meet four of its five customer care targets, with two out of four of them getting worse in comparison with last year.

In one case, customer services centres waiting times, the target was not met despite it being lowered from 80% in 2002/03 to 70% in 2003/04 for customers being seen within 15 minutes.

What has concerned the Lib Dems most is the dramatic increase in telephone queuing time that has seen the average increase from 2 minutes 42 seconds to 3 minutes 28 seconds, missing the target of two minutes by almost 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Lib Dem leader Neil Williams says that the statistics support residents complaints that Haringey Council is not easily accessible and does not deal with complaints effectively. He wants Haringey Council to redouble its efforts to ensure that residents are served quickly and effectively.

Cllr Williams (Highgate ward) comments:

“These figures are worrying but not unexpected. Every week councillors hear from residents who can not get the answers they want from the Haringey Council.

“Haringey Council must take immediate action to ensure that this situation is drastically improved, or else Haringey will in no way live up to its claim of being an open and accessible local council.”