Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes of the Housing and Community OSC meeting on 8^th July 2015 were agreed by members and signed by the Chair.

Cllr Mahmood informed Members and the Portfolio Holder that he had had a useful meeting with David Austin to understand as Chairman of the committee the policies that come to us and why they comes to us.

Cllr Mahmood also has a similar meeting scheduled with the Housing Team.

Secondly Cllr Mahmood came in last week to discuss the Homelessness Policy with Mark Brookes. The policy was scheduled to go to Cabinet the following Tuesday.

To receive any apologies for absence

There were no apologies received.

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]

There was no declaration of interest.

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.

R Baker presented this report. The purpose of this report is to outline the Councils final forecast as at the end of Quarter 1. The outturn position, section 2 provides an overview of the General Fund Revenue Account, which is all of the Councils day to day services excluding HRA. The position at end of quarter 1 is an overspend. Section 3 provides a breakdown of the budgets in the remit of this Committee, section 4 provides a summary of the Housing Revenue Accounts, so the tenants account, tenants income, repairs and maintenance.

Section 5 provides a summary of the Capital Programme including the new build programmes and other General Fund schemes.

R Baker was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Mahmood asked the officer to explain the difference between the various accounts, HRA, Capital etc for the benefit of the new members.

R Baker explained the various accounts and their function.

Cllr Mahmood asked how the Housing Revenue Account budget will be impacted in the future, considering the recent budget announcements.

R Baker explained that in terms with the rent policy and the 1% reductions there will be significant reductions to income for HRA. The impact of these reductions is being modelled and options are being reviewed for the New Build Programme and Investment programme.

Cllr Hearn refereed to page 5, 3.2 – Savings on premises, please could this be explained.

E Brooks explained that the new Homelessness Strategy that was launched last year emphasised the work undertaken to reduce homelessness. In the early stages when they know someone is going to be made homeless they intervene early to avoid homelessness situation if possible. He went onto say that they have invested in the private rented sector and worked with private landlords and also work around mediation with families therefore all this is good news.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe asked, Woolmer Drive is being used for this purpose you say and then you go onto say that this particular place is now full, will this not lead to greater problems?

E Brooks said both Woolmer Drive and Lays Road are currently full; there are peaks and troughs in demand, so they are not always full. They can’t predict when they will be full or not but they have noticed trends.

Cllr Imarni referred to page 5, 5.3. How did the overspend come about and how are they not forecasted.

E Brooks explained that when a housing scheme has planning approval not all the details are agreed and things can be change, and this is where the over spend comes in.

Cllr Mahmood added that the overspend on things like the kitchen at The Elms should have been budgeted for, and requested that in future schemes e provision is made for such things so that schemes can be brought in budget.

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E Brooks said it’s safe to say they don’t think they will be building another Hostel like The Elms in the near future and thus so it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

E Brooks presented this report, service plan and risk register. He had taken note of the feedback given at the last meeting and reduced the number of PI’s significantly. It’s not that the previous Performance Indictors don’t exists or are not being managed, they are by our Team internally rather than being brought here.

The most critical ones have been selected and brought to Overview and Scrutiny so it’s more manageable. You will notice form item 2.1 this explains how the Osbourne contract works and the recent process which they have been through to approve the year 6 of the contract. The report touches on empty homes and an increase of repairs performance of approximately 12 days over the year which is good so that’s 12 days extra rent.

There is an update on 2 key projects one is completed and Longlands should be completed by Christmas.

The appendix attached will slightly change next year, we have been asked to use a different template going forward.

E Brooks was happy to take questions from members.

Cllr Imarni said she has spent some time with the Empty Homes Team and some of Osbourne staff and found it to be a very well run and efficient service and staffs seem competent.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe added to that, regarding the Longlands development, and asked for thanks to be conveyed from the Adeyfield Community Centre for the way in which the contractors have been very assistive of the community centre. 

Cllr Mahmood said that in general the Empty Homes management has seen a massive improvement in recent times, in terms of performance they are all green or yellow which is good, Item 1 has no colour and needed explaining.

E Brooks said that the items lists number of complaints received by the service, instead of performance indictor on the percentage of stage 1 complaints responded to within target. The council are on target.

Cllr Mahmood asked if residents were fully aware on how to lodge a complaint as a resident knocked on his door recently to discuss an issue he was having with his council housing. 

E Brooks said yes all this information is on the website and staffs are trained on reception to take complaints and there are plenty of avenues to complain, he is confident our robust system works because he sees the complaints coming in.

Action:  None.

Outcome: Report was noted.

J Guiton presented this report in absence of Julie Still. For new Members this report covers Neighbourhood Action, Anti Sociable Behaviours, Community Safety, Children Services, CCTV, Old Town Hall, Youth Democracy Safeguarding Children and Young people.

J Guiton was happy to take questions from Members on the report.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe referred to page 50 Community Safety Partnership could this be made clearer as we don’t know what the ratings are.

J Guiton explained that 1 = good and 9 = not good,  and that this is a county score and cannot be changed but he will look at adding a key for Members to refer to as a reminder.

Cllr Mahmood referred to item 6.6 and sought clarity on how resources were targeted to items listed and if the items were listed in any order of priorit?

J Guiton said yes they are priorities that come from the police and others, and high priorities are in order. He also added that it doesn’t mean to say if the priority isn’t there it’s not dealt with.

Cllr Mahmood referred to item 10, is there anymore verge hardening planned for future years as this was a positive scheme in recent times..

J Guiton said so far we are in the final year of the scheme, with 4-6 projects left.

Cllr Conway referred to item 10, Tring. She went to that event and it was really well done.

Cllr Bassadone also liked to add that the open days at the Adventure Playground were fantastic and a good attendance.

Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe referred to CCTV on page 54. Are there any new CCTV in place to cover the new projects like the Water Gardens.

J Guiton said with those sites are already covered with CCTV, there is a new code coming out so they will have to justify why they have CCTV in certain places and the need for it. This won’t be a problem in the mentioned area as it’s in the Town Centre so these areas will still be covered.

Cllr Mahmood has had requests from Taxi drivers regarding CCTV, if they can have CCTV that covers their area for public safety.

Cllr Mahmood moved onto the Old Town Hall and wants to see it do well. He asked, Is there something we can put in ‘News and Views’ about the old Town Hall as the attendance has gone down in the recent quarter and yet there is a lot more performance space to let. Is there anything in the pipe line?

J Guiton said yes the numbers have been low purely due to a vacant position and sickness.

Council Services are starting to use the Old Town Hall a lot more.

Cllr Mahmood reads a lot of reports around Art Funding for Art Projects maybe this is something to pass on to the Old Town Hall team to pursue?

J Guiton said they have just filled a position and the new employee has come from an Art  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

CTroy presented this report and highlighted that we are slightly down on food hygiene inspections. This because officers can’t always get into the property at the time- this could be because they are closed or being refurbished.

There has been some slippage in noise complaints being closed within 60days this is due to some long running investigations that can’t be closed in 60days.There are approximately 30/40 complaints to deal with Bovingdon and it’s a long standing investigation.

With regards to food safety enforcement, there was a notice served in Hemel due to lack of food safety measures and poor hygiene and temperature control. There was one premises in the Old Town which voluntarily closed down due to an infestation of mice.

There were 2 prosecutions for fly tipping and 1 caution.

Air Quality Strategy has now been finalised and can be viewed on Herts Direct http://www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/a/airqualitystrategicplan.pdf

As a Primary Authority, we have just signed up with Costco, which along with Tesco and Hilton help DBC to influence national policy.

Corporate H&S – there is an alcohol policy is going to Cabinet next month and we are piloting H&S of risk assessments for Display Screen Equipment. (DSE) . DSE has the potential for causing a number of Occupational Health issues and therefore it is right to prioritise these.

The Enforcement Policy went to Cabinet and has been approved.

Officers have been giving pre advice on H&S and Food Safety to organisers of outdoor events including Chill Fest in Tring.

C Troy was happy to take questions from Members.

Cllr Hearn said it was a well presented comprehensive report.

Cllr Mahmood added to that by saying everything was there and it was really easy to follow.

Cllr Mahmood attended a ‘2 day Construction Design and Management (CDM 2015) Training course recently for his day job. He noted that the regulations covers a wider scope maintenance works rather than just construction work. How Will the Council be picking up this bit of HSE legislation?

C Troy said yes 2 of our officers went on a similar CDM course yesterday to see what the changes are, and officers are empowered to take action under the regulations.

Cllr Hearn referred to the Air Quality in Tring near the second largest comprehensive school in the area and said that they are now building houses the other side so there is a lot of air pollution there, is there any consideration taken into account.

C Troy said it’s not an air quality issue, the levels aren’t high enough.

Cllr Timmis asked if the strategy covers Luton Airport.

C Troy said it is a Herts based strategy but the airport operations would have an impact because of the increase in the number of vehicles going through Hertfordshire. The emissions from the aircraft themselves would not have such an impact. Districts will have an important role in monitoring pollution levels in Herts.

Action:  None

Outcome: Noted

Agreed

Two items that were moved from this agenda, Assigning Tenancies which will be coming to us in October and Annual Review of HRA Business Plan.