The opposition has accused Havering of awarding a £58million repairs contract based on the "flimsiest of details”.

Housing and social care provider Mears won the 10-year contract to repair and maintain the borough’s housing stock last month, but the decision was called in by councillors on Wednesday (January 19).

They criticised the lack of transparency around how Mears was chosen, the terms of the contract and why it took so long to agree.

The overview and scrutiny committee heard the existing £35m contract with Breyer, due to expire early this year, had been subject to complaints from tenants, with the company’s “clunky” tech causing communication failures with residents who were expecting a visit from repair workers

Havering’s assistant director of housing property services Garry Knight told the committee the delay in choosing a replacement had been caused by a “potential conflict of interest” between a council-hired consultant and “one of the bidders”.

He added: “In order to ensure the matter was dealt with and to treat the matter properly, the procurement exercise was suspended, which caused the delay.”

Residents Group leader Ray Morgon accused the responsible cabinet member, Cllr Joshua Chapman, of not having read the contract, but Mr Knight responded that the cabinet member for housing “understands the big picture items” and did not need to know hundreds of pages of “minutiae”.

Regarding the lack of detail about the contract, Mr Knight said specification documents had not been included in the report because they were too long.

He said the contract sets out the standards Mears must meet and sanctions if it fails, and an agreement it will be charged £20 for any missed appointments.

The bid to force the decision to be reconsidered was rejected eight to seven, with committee chair Darren Wise using his second vote to tip the balance.

Cabinet will take a final vote on the contract’s approval.

Following the meeting, Cllr Morgon said he believed the contract had “been agreed on the flimsiest of details”.

“It just goes on for nine pages, another report agreed by cabinet on resident engagement goes on for 68 pages,” he noted.

Mears group executive director Lucas Critchley told the committee the company was committed to “clearly communicating about when we’re coming to people’s homes” and promised it would use subcontractors for no more than 10 per cent of the work.

He also said Mears is training a local workforce.