Stoke-on-Trent City Council is exploring options to end its housing and maintenance repair contract with Kier, it has been announced.

The local authority, which owns around 18,500 houses and a number of public buildings in the city, has been in a joint venture with the company, Kier Stoke Limited, since 2008.

However, due to concerns over Kier Stoke's quality of service, the council will be asked to make a decision over carrying out future work at a meeting on 09 August, with the preferred recommendation likely to be creating a new council-owned company.

A council spokesperson said the new company "would continue the type of work currently undertaken by the same joint venture staff, and would look to provide opportunities for local contractors on longer term arrangements than have previously existed – giving the chance for local businesses to grow". In addition, it would "create opportunities to carry out third party work as a way of generating income into the council so it can be more sustainable for the future".

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Council leader Dave Conway added: "My focus has always been on the quality of service for tenants. I called for the review of options in the weeks after I became leader of the council following the local election last May.

"It is no secret that I have had some concerns with the joint venture with Kier Stoke, but I wanted this review to be undergone fairly, robustly and in a measured way. It is right that this has been examined independently in good time ahead of the contract ending in early 2018. We work closely with Kier Stoke and this will continue. We don't want tenants to experience any disruption and we want to further improve services. There should also be no concern for staff at this stage."

(LM/CD)