Agenda item

A presentation will be delivered to provide information to Commission Members on the West Neighbourhood Area of the City.

Suki Supria, Head of Service, delivered the presentation on the West Neighbourhood Area. The following points were covered during the presentation:

·         Marie Murray was District Manager for the area.

·         Schemes were going to plan, and the £400k spend for environmental and community projects should be achieved.

·         Key tasks were outlined in the presentation for the new organisational structure.

In response to questions from the Chair and Members, the following information was given:

·         The Environmental and Communal Project budget was always historically and remained split dependent on how many properties were in each estate

·         In a number of cases, it became extremely difficult to take action against perpetrators of anti-social behaviour for a number of reasons, for example, human rights or disability. Processes could take a significant amount of time with complex meetings taking place with other agencies. The Council had to clearly demonstrate that any action taken had been reasonable and just. Barristers’ advice was sought to ensure the Council was not at risk of legal challenge.

·         Rent arrears share for the area at 38.9% of the city’s total was high, and historically the west area had higher rent arrears due to the make-up of people in the area, i.e. families had less income, there were many vulnerable people entitled to benefits. It was noted the rent collection rate for the city was 99%.

·         The Council had a robust system to minimise evictions which were a last resort, and wherever feasible tenants were referred to other agencies for assistance, but the Council had a statutory responsibility to maximise its income. The increase in the number of evictions from 17 to 21 in the past year was not considered to be significant, with the majority of people evicted being single.

·         The Council was proactive rather than reactive and conducted welfare visits to certain tenants to identify vulnerable people in the tenancies. For example, someone not paying their rent might be an indication there were other issues for the tenant, such as poor health. Assistance given to tenants to maintain their home meant less voids and cost less money in repairs and maintenance.

·         Under the Housing Transformation Programme, there would be a review on how anti-social behaviour was managed.

·         Flexible tenancies were expected around September 2017, which were different to secure tenancies, requiring the Council to set a fixed time for the tenancy and then towards the end of the period review the persons eligibility to retain and renew the tenancy. A paper would be presented to the Commission later in the year.

·         Staff had recently gone through significant changes, and motivation and support would ensure they were skilled up to focus on their service areas and deliver the best possible service.

·         Following Transforming Neighbourhood Services and the Using Buildings Better programme, the New Parks Centre had now reopened. It still had had housing on site. Self-service kiosks provided a digital offer, with assistance provided from floor walkers. Likewise in Beaumont Leys, staff had seen an increase in customer numbers with the movement of libraries and STAR into one hub building. Face-to-face support was also available at the Customer Services Centre on Granby Street. The Chair stated it would be useful to receive customer feedback on the new centres in 12 months.

·         There were 160 Homecome properties in the city. Figures for those in the West of the city would be provided to Commission Members, and a future report on the properties would be brought to a future Commission meeting.

·         There had been an increase in the number of Right to Buy properties, with slightly over 500 purchased in the city for 2016/17 financial year, resulting in a loss of rental income. Limited funding was available to replace social housing properties. There could potentially be a change in the level of staffing required as the number of tenancies was reduced.

·         An issue with the call centre not recognising that the Council was responsible for District Heating service would be looked into further.

·         The estate warden service would be structured to ensure it was aligned to new District areas was due to start and it was also considered as an opportunity for work placements on the service and an apprenticeship programme. Estates did not attract the levels of rubbish as in earlier years, and the cleansing team also operated on the estates.

·         Members requested a report on how the three Gypsy and Traveller sites were being used, if there had been any issues, and further detail on management arrangements for each site.

The Chair thanked the officers for the presentation.

AGREED:

that:

1.    The report be noted;

2.    The Director of Housing to provide to the Commission customer feedback on the centres in 12 months;

3.    The Director of Housing to circulate figures on the number of Homecome properties in the West area to Commission Members, and a future report on the properties to be brought to a future Commission meeting;

4.    The Director of Housing to provide a report on how the three Gypsy and Traveller sites were being used, if there had been any issues, and further detail on management arrangements for each site.

5.    The Head of Service to look into issues around the call centre not recognising the Council’s responsibility for the District Heating service.