DORSET Council’s continuing delays in dealing with land searches has been described as 'just not good enough' – leading to a public apology.

A public question from Tom Gawler to Tuesday’s place and resources scrutiny committee says that to take more than three months to complete a local search from information already held in the council’s records is unacceptable – 12 months after first implementing a new IT system to bring previous council systems and records together.

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“To continue to say that the department is ‘working towards’ bringing the service levels back to a more acceptable level is just not good enough,” he said.

Corporate director for legal and democratic services Jonathan Mair offered a public apology for the problems, saying he understood how frustrating it must be for people expecting to move.

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Mr Mair said the delays in searching land charges were not linked solely to the IT system changes and were partly due to the ‘unprecedented’ increase in demand caused by the Government’s easing of stamp duty fees for housing transactions with demand still above normal levels for the time of year, sometimes running at double the normal levels, coupled with a shortage of staff.

Council deputy leader Peter Wharf described the situation as ‘serious’ and said he would be pleased to see a conclusion to it and would welcome anything which could bring a quick change to the situation.

“I would echo the apology for the delays which have been absolutely appalling for some people…it has been a confluence of circumstances,” he said, pointing to the change in IT systems, an unprecedented demand, staff shortages and holidays, all compounded by home working because of the pandemic.

Charminster councillor David Taylor praised staff for the efforts they had made to escape a situation not of their making. “We must always remember we have a duty of care to them. We don’t want to burn them out,” he said.

Mr Mair said he understood why there had been a ‘lot of noise’ around the subject but assured the committee that staff were working extremely hard and that some members of staff had been temporarily transferred to help ease the situation, with new staff recruited and many staff continually working well beyond their expected hours. The council had also looked to employ locum staff, but to date had been unable to find any.

Current respond times average 30 working days for the east area and 60 working days for the rest of the Dorset Council area – the Government target is ten working days.