Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Byrne, Dawood and Joshi.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

Members were asked to declare any interests they might have in the business to be discussed.

Councillor Aqbany declared an Other Disclosable Interest in the general business of the meeting in that family members were council tenants.

Councillor Newcombe declared an Other Disclosable Interest in the general business of the meeting as family members were council tenants.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, the interests were not considered so significant that they were likely to prejudice the Councillors’ judgement of the public interest. Councillors were not therefore required to withdraw from the meeting during consideration and discussion of the agenda items.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any petitions received in accordance with Council procedures.

In accordance with the Council procedures, it was reported that no petitions had been received by the Monitoring Officer.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any questions, representations or statements of case received in accordance with Council procedures.

In accordance with the Council procedures, it was reported that no questions, representations or statements of case had been received by the Monitoring Officer.

The Interim Director of Housing submits a to consult with the Housing Scrutiny Commission on the proposed Housing Revenue Account budget for 2017/18, and is set in the context of the government’s requirement that rents are reduced by 1% per annum for the four year period from 2016 to 2020.

The Acting Director of Housing presented a report which sought the views of the Commission on proposals for setting the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for 2017/18, before being taken to Executive and then Full Council.

It was noted that the budget would be set in the context of the government’s decision to implement a 1% per annum rent reduction for the four year period from 2016 to 2020, and had placed the HRA under significant pressure to deliver a balanced budget, and it was proposed to set a one year budget for 2017/18. Total rent loss for 2017/18 was forecast to be £2.96million.

The Chair commented that almost £30million had been taken out of the HRA by the rent cuts imposed by the Government, which would have an enormous impact on the Council’s ability to improve existing homes, provide estate environmental improvements and build new homes at a time when the housing crisis in the city was becoming more serious. He added the cuts had made it impossible to follow the 30-year business plan for the Housing Department to maintain, improve and add to social housing in the city.

It was noted that the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum were highly supportive of the proposed HRA Rent Setting and Capital Programme Budget for 2017/18 as outlined at Appendix H to the report, but did not support the proposed reduction to the Environmental and Communal Improvements budget by £250k.

Arising from Members’ questions it was noted that:

a)    Current CCTV units were 20 years old and would require upgrading to digital at a cost. CCTV pod cameras and mobile units enabled the authority to be more responsive.

b)    The authority had a planned programme of cleaning, including shop fronts. The Estate Warden Service only operated from Monday to Friday and proposals to slightly reconfigure the service did not incorporate weekend cleaning.

c)    The reference to the council’s potential commissioning role for supported housing services related to the homelessness strategy, and the proposal to remove 60 units as part of the homelessness review change, and any procurement of supported housing, would be done in conjunction with the Homelessness Strategy review.

d)    Additional proposals under Phase 3 of the Housing Transformation Programme in addition to those presented at the commission on the 19^th December to deliver service improvement and efficiencies would be brought to the Commission for consideration.

e)    Under Right to Buy the Authority had lost, on average between 200-250 homes a year. For 2017 it was anticipated that 600 homes would be lost.

f)     Universal Credit (UC) had not yet been fully rolled out (currently to less than 150 people) though it was acknowledged there would be future challenges in collecting rents from tenants. A future report would be brought to the Commission when UC was fully implemented.

g)    Members requested that the charge for providing information to mortgage providers and solicitors (currently £125) be increased as a recommendation of the Commission to bring in more income and relieve the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

No other items of urgent business had been brought to the attention of the Chair.

The meeting closed at 7.32pm.