Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes of the Housing and Community OSC meeting on 14 October 2015 were agreed by members however Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe requested two minor changes.

The committee agreed to the changes and for the minutes to then be signed.

The Committee agreed for Item 11 - Sportspace Annual Review to be brought forward as the first item on the agenda.

To receive any apologies for absence

There were no apologies received. Cllr Imarni and Cllr Harden had informed the Committee they were running late.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)           may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

Cllr Imarni declared an interest in Sportspace as she is a Trustee.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation

There was no public participation.

None.

D Cove presented the Annual Sportspace Review April 2014 – March 2015, the powerpoint presentation explained what Sportspace, Little Hay and XC do so new Members had a full understanding. It also provided Members with information about the performances; activities provided and outlines some proposals for the future.

Cllr Griffith arrived at 19:38

A few key points which D Cove highlighted where;

We are top 3 in the County for H&S Audits.

Post audit figures 2014/15

There are new processes put in place for Customers Journey.

The new facilities in Little Hay are doing extremely well, the function hall and foot golf.

The attendance figures are stationary but they have changed the way they record attendance.

Complaints and accident and staff accidents have gone down.

The next financial year they will be looking at income generation.

Cllr Harden Arrived at 19:50

D Cove finished off with a short video highlighting key facts.

Cllr Imarni Arrived at 19:53

D Cove was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Mahmood referred to the complaints at Longdean, why have they gone up?

D Cove said yes the number have complaints have gone up but there has been no trend and they are regularly monitored they are just small unfortunate complaints like accidental over booking etc.

Cllr Mahmood said you referred to facilities, did you mention the track up Jarman in your presentation.

D Cove said yes the track was mentioned however it doesn’t generate much income it’s mainly clubs and schools which use this facility.

Cllr Mahmood said the grant has gone down, do you have a risk register for this.

D Cove said the trustees monitor this closely. Since having the new low cost gym they have lost out on 150,000 due to competition.

Cllr Mahmood asked if people apply for a sports grants.

D Cove said the older ones, and it’s a struggle to get a grant.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe referred to the pie chart showing venues, is corporate profitable.

D Cove said corporate is not a venue it’s the Councils grant.

Cllr Imarni declared an interest. (see above OS-258-15)

Cllr Timmis said that she had noticed that Watling area is showing as an obese area, is this something that you are going to approach.

D Cove said they do work with school Nurses around obesity and help with active living, yes it can be expanded out to the villages.

Cllr Timmis also added to that by saying she had recently spoke to a resident who was a swimming instructor who would like to see an Olympic size pool. Would this be possible?

 D Cove said it’s very unlikely as its costly and there is no room to expand and they don’t have funding.

Cllr Link asked if the investment in Tring and Berko could be explained.

Cllr Harden said they are looking at the budget for Tring to see how they can upgrade the pool.

Cllr Conway said when this happens how will it be managed?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

D Skinner presented a brief report on the forecast outturn for 2015/2016 as at 30 September 2015. D Skinner gave an overview of the General Funds, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme.

D Skinner was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Mclean referred to 4.9 interests and investment income, this sounds good is that storing problems due to rent income?

E Brooks said yes the right to buy has an impact on the loss of income. We are not building at the rate we are selling so there is a loss of income there.

Cllr Griffith added to that, this is factored into the budget.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe referred to 4.6, policy change. How much reduction is due to the change and he can’t get the figures to add up.

E Brooks said it’s a contractual change, we felt we were paying for more than what we were getting. The figures need a tidying up.

Cllr Mahmood asked if there was a risk with employees 3.1.

D Skinner said the budget is set on historical trends and the budget is set for a staff turnover, it is now reducing but this is something we can’t control.

Cllr Mahmood spoke about appendix B and C and said with regards to the home improvement grant it’s a shame it didn’t go to the people it should of.

D Skinner said its stays in the unclaimed grants.

C Troy added to that it’s the Government grant for non-Hemel.

Action: None

Outcome: The report was noted.

E Brooks presented this report, and highlighted the following points,

Good performance throughout Osbornes the performance indicators are green and amber.

The trend for out of hours work has reduced.

Recruitment of a total asset Manager.

The empty homes are performing well.

Income collection, they are confident they will hit this year’s targets.

Longlands development is nearly complete and the new homes will be advertised shortly.

E Brooks was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Mclean commented on the reds on the risk register.

E Brooks said the reds are what we give them before we score them, it’s the end column you look at, this shows work going on to reduce it.

Cllr S Adshead asked if other blocks were being expanded.

E Brooks explained that this was a pilot scheme. It is a possibility that it can be done again but it would now fall under total asset management.

Cllr Mahmood asked if Capital Programme is that in accordance with plans.

E Brooks said in terms of planned works they are approximately 1.8% behind profile budget end, However he is confident they will catch up.

Cllr Mahmood referred to the risk register, when does amber become red in terms of the numbering.

E Brooks will feedback to the committee.

Action:  As above.

Outcome: Report was noted.

D Austin presented this report on behalf of Julie Still who couldn’t attend tonight’s meeting.

D Austin gave updates on the following key points of the report.

Page 42, update on Dacorum crime statistics, page 44, love your neighbourhood, page 45 The Adventure Playground. Spike in violent crime, if Members would like more information on this J Still will be happy to provide this. Coming to this committee in January will be the new code of practice for CCTV, Jim Guiton also won an award recently for the CCTV.

D Austin was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Mclean referred to 7.3 can you please explain what it actually means, does it mean if someone is to use a personal CCTV camera it can’t be used in prosecution?

D Austin said the best person to ask would be Jim Guiton so he will get clarification and feedback.

Cllr P Hearn asked if the Community Centres were covered by CCTV as Tring seems very keen to have cameras.

D Austin said he will have to check with Jim Guiton but going forward from the code of practice in January we need to justify where we are placing our camera.

Cllr Bassadone referred to 12.5 can you explain what the 8 is as the page cuts off.

D Austin said it looks like the text has rolled to 12.6 and should ‘read 87 requests for footage’.

Cllr Mahmood said he’s been looking at the risk registers and in terms of probability p52 ‘response to EH Emergencies’ how likely is this.

C Troy said it’s not easy to predict but they can only plan for these things and have procedures in place.

They are looking at planning an evacuation sometime next year, the most recent one was a year and a half ago which took place in Kings Langley.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe referred to 7.3 there have been a few cases where people with their private CCTV cameras have been looking into neighbour’s gardens and they had to be told off for doing so, could this be taken back to the CCTV experts to find out what renders the CCTV.

D Austin to take back to Jim Guiton.

Action:  As above.

Outcome: Report was noted.

C Troy presented the report and highlighted the performance indicators and a few key points on food safety inspections, they aim to reach target by the end of the year. They issued a notice to a resident in Albury for playing loud music. A voluntary closure, due to a cockroach infestation. Bovingdon Airfield is still an on-going issue and residents have raised an issue regarding foot paths around there, C Troy did confirm that the footpaths have been patrolled and they are up to standard. The DCS chairs are being replaced throughout the Council.

There has been lots of in house training rather than buying in a consultant.

C Troy was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Timmis referred to page 65, is a sting by a wasp really a notifiable risk.

C Troy said yes because this could be due to a reaction and having time off work for it.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe said can you think of any barriers which would possibly be of use to prevent fly tipping.

C Troy said we need to increase monitoring on fly tipping and speak with landlords of where this is happening. With regards to barriers we would need to look into this more, depending on who owns the lands etc.

Cllr Silwal added to that saying he has an issue in his area regarding fly tipping and asked if we could put prosecution signs.

C Troy said there are processes regarding this and they would need to be followed, C Troy asked if Cllr Silwal could pass on information regarding the fly tipping so this can be looked into.

Cllr Mahmood asked if there was a policy on HMO’s.

C Troy said yes and he will feed back on this.

C Troy left the meeting at 21:09

Action:  C Troy to report back on the above questions

Outcome: Report was noted.

E Brooks presented this report and covered the HRA business plans which they have to consider this year and explained the issues and assumptions which needed to be considered.

E Brooks highlighted the key issues, Homelessness is rising and it’s doubled in the last year. The 1% decrease does have an impact and development costs have gone up. Capital Programme is reducing. All details can be found in the report. If the report is approved the budget starts in February 2016.

E Brooks was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Imarni put forward a question regarding selling Council homes and giving monies to HA, how does that work.

E Brooks said we are not exempt,

Cllr Mclean said that the Committee need to digest the information.

The Committee agreed that they need time to digest this report.

Action:  None

Outcome:   Report was noted.

E Brooks presented this report on behalf of Isabell Connolly who unfortunately couldn’t attend tonight’s meeting. Elliot gave a brief overview to the committee explaining that they acknowledge that young people are at a disadvantage, the strategy has no changes and asked the committed if they had questions or feedback on the report to email or speak to Julia Hedger, Isabell Connolly or E Brooks himself as the report is going to the next Cabinet meeting.

Action:  None

Outcome: Report was noted.

To consider passing a resolution in the following terms: That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded during the items in Part II of the Agenda for this meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that if members of the public were present during these items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to:

Agreed.

Agreed.