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Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Meeting Room G.01, Ground Floor, City Hall, 115 Charles Street, Leicester, LE1 1FZ

Contact: Jerry Connolly, Scrutiny Policy Officer, Email:  Jerry.Connolly@leicester.gov.uk  Ayleena Thomas, Democratic Support Officer, Email:  ayleena.thomas@leicester.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

50.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Byrne and Corrall.

 

51.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

Minutes:

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

 

Councillor Joshi declared an Other Disclosable Interest in the general business of the meeting in that he had family members who were council tenants.

 

Councillor Alfonso declared an Other Disclosable Interest in the general business of the meeting in that she had a family member who was a council tenant.

 

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

52.

PETITIONS

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

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been received.

 

53.

QUESTIONS, REPRESENTATIONS OR STATEMENTS OF CASE

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

Minutes:

The Monitoring Officer reported that no Questions, Representations or Statements of Case had been received.

 

54.

HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT BUDGET (INCLUDING CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2019/20 TO 2021/22) pdf icon PDF 407 KB

The Director of Housing submits a report to the Housing Scrutiny Commission to consider the proposed Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for the three years from 2019/20 to 2021/22, and is set in the context of the government requirement that rents are reduced by 1% per annum for the four-year period from 2016 to 2020. The proposed budget includes the final year of the four-year rent reduction.

 

The Housing Scrutiny Commission is recommended to:

 

i)             Note the financial pressures on the HRA and comment on the proposals for delivering a balanced budget;

ii)            Note the proposed reduction in rent of 1%, increase in service charges of 2% (excluding district heating and communal cleaning), and increase in garage rent of 3.7% for 2019/20;

iii)           Note the proposal for Hostel rents to remain unchanged.

 

Minutes:

The Director of Housing submitted a report, which considered the proposed Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget for the three years from 2019/20 to 2021/22 and was set in the context of the government requirement that rents are reduced by 1% per annum for the four-year period from 2016 to 2020. The proposed budget included the final year of the four-year rent reduction.

 

In presenting the report, reference was made to Appendix D showing rent comparison figures for various property types.It was noted that the Government’s decision to implement a 1% p.a. rent reduction over a four year

period had placed the HRA under significant pressure to deliver a balanced budget. Several other external pressures and changes also brought about by central government placed the HRA at further risk including the impact of increasing Right to Buy sales, the introduction of Universal Credit and inflationary pressures. It was expected that these issues would create a period of significant uncertainty in setting the budget for the HRA.

 

Despite those pressures and uncertainties, the report recommended that the budgets for the three years from 2019/20 to 2021/22 be set as balanced budgets, with the limited use of reserves to fund specific schemes.

 

In response to Commission Members’ questions, the following issues were discussed and noted:

 

·         The budget marked a watershed for the department in that it would include the last year of a four-year programme of reducing rents by one per cent each year.  The reductions were at the direction of government.

 

·         From the second year of the proposed programme the adjustment of the Government’s rent cap would (for now) allow for increases in rents and the Commission acknowledged that rents would be likely to rise by Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus one per cent – the highest allowed under current government rules. 

 

·         The tenant representative suggested that they might want to comment on future rent proposals and the negative impact on the department’s plans for building new homes out of HRA funds and improving the housing stock and the environment of estates across the city was recognised. 

 

In this regard it was considered that the comments were important because they came from those who directly use the council’s services and were in the best position to see how well those services were performing.  The Commission echoed the tenant representatives’ comments supporting the proposals and agreed to note:

 

o   The financial pressures on the HRA

o   The proposed rent reduction of one per cent and the increases in service charges and garage rents

o   The proposal for unchanged hostel rent levels.

 

·         Many programmes had been cut back over the last three years.  However, the 12-month pay-back period for the installation of new LED lighting in communal areas and in walkways was welcomed as an environmentally and economically strong programme and was being continued.

 

·         In considering the capital programme, the plans to build 50 new homes across six sites were particularly welcomed. The Commission also welcomed the evidence presented concerning continued improvements to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

55.

CLOSE OF MEETING

Minutes:

The meeting closed at 6.32 pm.