Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2017 be confirmed.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

No declarations of interest were received.

Eric Jenkinson, Chair of LTP advised on the following matters:

·         The next LTP meeting would be held on Wednesday 15^th March 2017 at 10am followed by the AGM at 1.30pm.

·         A video demonstration on how to book repairs online would be produced and publicised though Facebook by the end of the year.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing, Councillor Peter West:

a)    presented his report regarding activity and achievements within his portfolio

b)    reported on several achievements of note during the year as follows:

·         Refurbishment of Shuttleworth House

·         Renovation of St Botolph’s Court

·         Latest phase of our own building programme at Birchwood providing 20 bungalows

·         A development agreement with Waterloo Housing Group to bring 155 new affordable homes into the city

·         A programme of over-bath showers in all council housing properties

·         External environmental improvements around our estates

·         Progress with our IT issues with Servitor now working

c)    reported on improved performance in relation to rent arrears, void properties and repairs in the city.

d)    advised on the following work that had been undertaken since the writing of the report:

·         Stakeholder meetings on the Housing Strategy had been held and the Strategy was well received.

·         £3.2m had been received for extra care provision

·         An assessment for works on Derek Miller Court and De Wint Avenue was ongoing.

·         The team would continue to apply for grants including Mitigating Impact Fund for work in Private Sector Housing.

·         Working with other social providers of housing to provide more affordable housing across the City.

·         The ASB accreditation would commence on 22 May 2017.

e)    commended officers throughout the housing department for their efficient work throughout the year.

The committee congratulated the portfolio holder and housing officers for excellent work and progress made within the housing portfolio.

The committee asked the following questions and received the relevant responses.

Question: What would be achieved with the money from the Mitigating Impact Fund?

Response:  It would be used to address difficulties in the Private Sector including the inspection and assessment of landlords.

Comment: Thanked officers for the tour of St Botolphs court modernisation works and commented on how impressed they were with the standard of work that had been completed.

Question: How had the number of people on the Housing waiting list been reduced?

Response: Applicants had been contacted by Officers after 1 year of being on the register to review their application which had reduced the number of applicants on the register.

RESOLVED that the report be noted with thanks.

Bob Ledger, Director of Housing and Regeneration

a.    presented the end of quarter report on Performance for the fourth quarter of the year 2016/17 (January 2017 and March 2017).

b.    advised that in total there were 23 measures and of these 6 had not been met.

c.    referred to paragraph 4 of the report and highlighted the areas where there had been overall improvement including:

·         Average Re-let Period – All Dwellings (including major works)

·         Percentage of Rent Lost due to Vacant Dwellings

·         Emergency Repairs

·         Average time taken to Complete Repairs 

d.    further highlighted areas that had not achieved their target and explained the reasons for this:

·         Percentage of homes with valid safety certificate

·         Percentage of offers accepted first time

·         Percentage of ASB cases closed that were resolved

·         Complaints

Comment: The LTP members commented that the repairs that  had been completed was of an exceptional standard

Response:  Gave credit to the Housing Repair team and their excellent team work.

Question: Had the decent homes work reduced the number of repairs required?

Response: There were some signs that the amount of repairs may be reducing but further analysis was needed.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.

The Democratic Services Officer

a.    presented the work programme for the Housing Scrutiny Sub Committee for 2017/18 as detailed at appendix A of the report.

b.    advised that this was an opportunity for the committee to suggest other items be included within the work programme.

RESOLVED that the contents of the report be agreed.