HOUSING
AND HEALTH COMMITTEE 11
July 2001
(5.30
– 7.45pm)
PRESENT: Councillors
Nimmo-Smith (Chair), Bagnall, Gilchrist, Griffiths, Howell, James, Liddle,
Overhill, Smart and Stebbings
Co-opted
Members: Mr H Gault
(Cambridgeshire Social Services), Mr M Jones (Cambridge Housing Partnership),
Ms W Forster (Federation of Housing Associations), Mrs K Harris (tenant representative), Mr B Haywood (tenant
representative), Mr T Sweeney (tenant representative)
FOR ADOPTION BY
THE COUNCIL
01/G/54 HOUSING
STRATEGY 2001
The Director of Community Services presented a report which sought approval for a draft of the Housing Strategy that would be included in the 2001 Housing Investment Programme (HIP) submission.
The Chair thanked the officers for their hard work in producing the
Strategy. As well as being a crucial
part of the HIP submission, it gave a very useful description of the Council’s
many different areas of work in relation to housing.
In answer to a question from Councillor Overhill, the Director of Community
Services said that, as part of the Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy agreed by
City Board on 9 July 2001, the Council would work in partnership with
registered social landlords to address anti-social behaviour by non-Council
tenants.
In response to a question from Mr Hayward, the Director of Community
Services stated that the Cambridgeshire Social Services waiting list for
occupational therapy referrals was 11 months.
He was representing the City Council on a best value fundamental service
review group of the County Council’s occupational therapy services. This review included the proposal to
establish a single, county-wide occupational therapy service, comprising
Lifespan, the National Health Service and Social Services. This should create a single point of contact
for clients, reduce overlaps and lead to greater efficiencies, thereby reducing
waiting times.
Councillors Overhill and Griffiths commended the work of the Contact
Assessment and Tenancy Sustainment Team.
Councillor Griffiths added that she welcomed the additional funding for
drug and alcohol work, but more financial support was still needed.
Councillor Bagnall suggested that the first point in the mission
statement at the start of the Housing Strategy should read, “Directly providing
well managed, good standard homes for so long as the tenants wish this to be
the case”. The Chair felt, however,
that the statement did not need changing at this stage, although it could
always be amended in the future.
Under page 4 of the Strategy, Councillor Bagnall asked why “modern
kitchens and bathrooms” had been given a higher priority than “free from
hazards” and “secure from break-in”.
The Director of Community Services responded that these headings
referred to upgrading to modern standards as part of the planned programme of
works. Any actual emergencies or
dangerous situations would always receive priority attention.
Under page 11 of the Strategy, Councillor Bagnall stated that there
should be an acknowledgement that Neighbourhood Community Planning resources
had now been cut. The Chair responded
that Neighbourhood Community Planning budgets were still ongoing.
In answer to a point made by Mr Sweeney under page 8 of the Strategy,
the Director of Community Services said that he would add in a reference to the
handyman service under “Estate Management Issues”.
In response to a request from Councillor Gilchrist, the Director of Community Services said that he would make copies of the final version of the Strategy available to members of the Committee after its submission to the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.
2)
The
Director of Community Services be given delegated authority to make factual
changes to the text prior to its submission to the Department for Transport,
Local Government and the Regions, providing that the alterations have no policy
implications.
HOUSING
AND HEALTH COMMITTEE 11
July 2001
(5.30
– 7.45pm)
PRESENT: Councillors
Nimmo-Smith (Chair), Bagnall, Gilchrist, Griffiths, Howell, James, Liddle,
Overhill, Smart and Stebbings
Co-opted
Members: Mr H Gault
(Cambridgeshire Social Services), Mr M Jones (Cambridge Housing Partnership),
Ms W Forster (Federation of Housing Associations), Mrs K Harris (tenant representative), Mr B Haywood (tenant
representative), Mr T Sweeney (tenant representative)
ALSO PRESENT: Councillor Stuart
FOR THE INFORMATION
OF THE COUNCIL
01/g/55 APOLOGIES
There were no apologies for absence.
01/g/56 DECLARATIONS
OF INTEREST
Councillor Stebbings declared a Code of Conduct (non-financial) interest in minute number 01/g/60 – “Tenant Participation/Tenant Compact Revision and Update” – as he was a Council tenant. He remained in the room and took part in the decision.
Councillor Griffiths declared a Code of Conduct (non-financial) interest in minute number 01/g/61 – “Housing Revenue Account Business Plan 2002/03 to 2032/33” – as she was a member of the Cambridge Youth Homelessness Project Group for the English Churches Housing Group. She remained in the room and took part in the decision.
Mr Jones wished to make it known that he was employed by Cambridgeshire
Housing Planning and Research, which had been commissioned to carry out a study
of key worker housing issues, as recorded in the report under adoption minute
number 01/G/54 – “Housing Strategy 2001” (page 45 of the agenda).
01/g/57 PUBLIC
QUESTION TIME
No members of the public wished to address the Committee.
01/g/58 HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT PROVISIONAL OUTTURN FOR 2000/01
AND BUDGET CARRY FORWARD REQUESTS INTO 2001/02
The Head of Accounting Services presented a report which described the provisional revenue income and spend position (revenue outturn) for the 2000/01 financial year for the Housing Revenue Account and the latest position on requests to carry forward underspends into 2001/02.
Resolved (with no votes against) that the provisional outturn position be noted and the latest budget carry forward requests detailed in Appendix C to the report be approved.
Action
by: Director of Community Services and
Director of Finance
01/g/59 HOUSING CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2001/02
The Head of Accounting Services presented a report which described the latest estimated capital funding statement for the 2001/02 Housing Capital Programme, as put before City Board on 9 July 2001. She reported that City Board had agreed to make good the estimated £618,000 shortfall using General Fund reserves including utilising the £480,000 that had been received as a result of the negative subsidy transfer. City Board had also agreed to provide from the General Fund an additional £160,000 for renovation grants and £40,000 as a revenue grant to the English Churches Housing Group through the rough sleepers programme.
The Chair said that, in approving these additional resources, City Board had demonstrated that the Council viewed as top priorities both the development of new affordable housing and the repair of existing properties. This situation had demonstrated that the Capital Programme was dependent on Right To Buy sales; the Government should consider introducing other ways of making funding available for affordable housing.
Councillor Bagnall stated that she was very pleased that City Board had provided the additional resources and was giving such a high priority to housing. She felt that the Council should introduce mechanisms to predict shortfalls in funding in the future. She also suggested that any surplus money out of the £160,000 earmarked for renovation grants should be used towards funding new affordable housing. The Director of Community Services responded that it was unlikely that there would be any surplus, but, if there was, the Committee would be asked to decide how it should be used at the appropriate time.
The Director of Community Services pointed out the Council would need to consider how all the affordable housing provision included in Section 106 agreements would be funded in the future.
The Committee noted the latest estimated capital funding statement for
the 2001/02 Housing Capital Programme and
Resolved (with no votes against) that, in light
of the response from City Board, the Housing Capital Programme for 2001/02 be
progressed as planned.
01/g/60 TENANT PARTICIPATION/TENANT COMPACT REVISION AND UPDATE
The Director of Community Services presented a report which highlighted
the main issues arising from the review of the Tenant Compact and sought
approval for a new, suggested action plan for tenant participation and the
implementation of the Tenant Compact for 2001/02.
Mr Haywood said that the tenant representatives had not seen the new
action plan until it had appeared on the agenda, with the result that there had
not been time to seek views from other tenants. Tenants had been involved in the drafting of the new action plan
in April but had not had a chance to comment on the final version in the
committee report. He therefore
requested that this item be deferred, to allow consultation to take place with
tenants.
Members were concerned to learn that the tenants had not been consulted
on the final proposals, and were sympathetic to the request to defer the
item. However, a deferral would mean
that many of the proposals would need to be put on hold until the next meeting,
in November, and this would result in an unsatisfactory delay. It was felt, therefore, that the action plan
should be agreed at this meeting but reported to the Committee again in
November for consideration following further tenant consultation. The Chair asked officers to ensure that
tenants were properly consulted on proposals relating to the Tenant Compact in
the future.
In answer to points raised by Councillor Gilchrist, the Director of
Community Services said that it was important that more tenants took an active
interest in how the housing service was being run. It had been disappointing that only 80 tenants had expressed a
wish to be members of the consultation panel, when the target number had been
500. In response to a question from Mr
Sweeney, the Director of Community Services said that he would set up a meeting
for those 80 tenants as soon as possible.
Action by: Director of Community
Services
In answer to questions from Councillor Gilchrist, the Director of
Community Services said that he would report to the Committee in November on
the proposals to pay tenants an allowance for attending consultation
meetings. The law would not allow the
tenant representatives to become full voting members of the Committee; for
tenants to have voting rights on the management body of the housing service,
the service would need to be externalised in some way, for instance as an
arms-length company.
Resolved (with no votes against) that the
revised action plan for the implementation of the Tenant Compact for the year
2001/02 be agreed, subject to review at the next meeting following further
tenant consultation.
01/g/61 HOUSING
REVENUE ACCOUNT BUSINESS PLAN 2002/03 TO 2032/33
The Director of Community Services presented a report which sought approval for the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan for 2002/03 to 2032/33. He tabled an amended version of Appendix D to the Plan (agenda page 90).
The Director of Community Services explained that the Plan had been
written on the assumption that the level of inflation would be 2.5%. City Board had, however, changed this
assumption to 2.25% at its meeting on 9 July 2001. The Plan would have to be rewritten to accommodate this change,
and he asked that he be given delegated authority to approve the final version
of the Plan following this rewrite, in consultation with the Chair and
Spokespersons of the Committee.
The Director of Community Services also advised that recommendation 2.2
in the report should be amended to read:
“That the officers exemplify a 2% reduction in management costs for
2002/03 and investigate the possibility of increasing income by reducing voids
and increasing garage rents”.
The Chair thanked the officers for their hard work in producing the
report. He said that the Business Plan
showed that within a few years the Council might not have enough resources to
maintain its housing stock to a fit standard.
It might be necessary to consider other options for managing the
stock. In the meantime, the Council
would look to make savings in other areas, partly by reducing management costs;
these had already been reduced last year, and it would be a significant
challenge to find a further 2% reduction.
The Council ran its stock at a low cost, but it was not helped by
Government policy; the rent subsidy system, for instance, put a great burden on
the Housing Revenue Account, and the new rent restructuring proposals would
reduce the Council’s discretion in rent-setting.
Councillor Howell stated that the Council had very little power to address the projected shortages in the Housing Revenue Account. It was important that empty properties were kept to a minimum, a tight policy on rent arrears was maintained, and management costs were reduced in line with Right To Buy sales. However, these steps would have a limited effect; the Council must consider the other options for stock management with an open mind, and make clear to the tenants the consequences of each option.
The Director of Community Services agreed to amend the
Business Plan in line with the following points:
Paragraph
2.4: Mr Sweeney asked that the word
“customers” be replaced by the words “tenants and leaseholders”.
Paragraph
9.1: Councillor Gilchrist asked
that the same amount be written about properties in the north of the city as
was written about properties in the south of the city (paragraph 9.2).
Paragraph
9.5: Councillor Griffiths said that
the statement “English Churches has suspended its provision for young people”
was no longer correct; in fact, the project had been restarted in a new form.
Resolved (with no votes against) that
1)
The
Business Plan be amended to reflect the assumed level of inflation at 2.25% and
to incorporate the changes listed above.
2)
The
Director of Community Services be given delegated authority to approve the
final version of the Plan in consultation with the Chair and Spokespersons of
the Committee.
3)
The
officers exemplify a 2% reduction in management costs for 2002/03 and
investigate the possibility of increasing income by reducing the number of
empty properties and increasing garage rents.
4)
The
officers report on the longer-term strategy of reducing management costs in
line with reductions in stock numbers.
Action by: Director of Community Services
01/g/62 TELECOMMUNICATIONS
EQUIPMENT AND HOUSING PROPERTIES
The Director of Community Services presented a report which described the current situation regarding telecommunications equipment installed by telecommunication companies on Council properties. He added that the word “deferred” should replace “refused” in the second line of recommendation 2.2 of the report.
Members supported the recommendation to hold a Council-wide seminar on this issue. The Council had a responsibility to its residents and tenants, and it was important that members were made aware of all the information available. There should be a consistent policy across the Council, and consultation should take place with local tenants and residents before telecommunications equipment was installed.
Resolved (with no votes against) that
1)
The
report be considered at a Council-wide seminar.
2)
Subject
to the legal position, all applications for new installations on Housing
properties be deferred until such time as the Council has reached a conclusion
on this issue, with the exception of applications which cannot reasonably be
refused where companies have the right to add to existing installations.
Action by: Director of Community Services and Head of
Strategy and Partnerships
01/g/63 EXCLUSION
OF THE PUBLIC
Resolved (with
no votes against) that the public be excluded from the meeting for the next
item on the grounds that if they were present there would be disclosure to them
of information defined as exempt from publication by paragraph 13 of Part I of
Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972.
01/g/64 COMPULSORY
PURCHASE ORDER
The Head of Environmental Health and Waste Strategy presented a report which described proposed action to use compulsory purchase powers on a vacant dwelling to bring it back into occupation.
The Chair reported that City Board had, at its meeting
on 9 July 2001, agreed to provide funds for the compulsory purchase to take
place. The Head of Legal and Democratic
Services said that there were various expenses in addition to the cost of the
property which the Council would have to meet.
In his experience, the Council had generally recovered its expenditure,
including these additional expenses, from the resale of the property, but there
was no guarantee of this, especially if the property market fell.
Resolved (with no votes against) that the Head of Environmental
Health and Waste Strategy in consultation with the Head of Legal and Democratic
Services and the Director of Finance be authorised to use compulsory purchase
powers in respect of the property described in the report to bring it back into
habitable use.
Action by: Head of Environmental Health and Waste
Strategy, Head of Legal and Democratic Services, and Director of Finance
The meeting ended at 7.45pm.