Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

The minutes of the Housing and Community OSC meeting on 4^th December 2018 were agreed by Members and signed by the Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies received from Banks, Bassadone, Fethney, Mills, McLean and W Wyatt-Lowe

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

The Chairman asked F Williamson to give a verbal update on the Osborne and Sun Realm contract from the report that was presented at Novembers OSC.

F Williamson explained that it was agreed at the Strategic Core Group meeting held on 11 Jan 2019 to defer the decision on the year 4 contract extension due to the fact that the expectations in respect of two fo the key strategic indicators had not been fully met. F Williamson explained that by the nature of strategic indicators they are open to a degree of interpretation, but it had been agreed that there had been some issues with the IT interfaces in respect of the quality of information provided. The performance in the current year, year 5, has demonstrated a number of improvements in these areas.

Cllr Adeleke asked if they had provided reasons for the two failed  indicators. He also referred to the reviewing of the contract and asked if they have interim discussions on it or if it’s just reviewed after the 4 years.

F Williamson said it’s not that they have failed, its due to the fact that some of the recommendations from the cost consultants that undertake the audits had not been fully implemented and therefore it made it more onerous to separate project costs by block. Also there was some information that had not been fully interfaced into the Council’s systems and therefore  the Council wanted to make sure this had been received in the correct format before a decision on the extension is made.

F Williamson advised that the contract mechanism entails an annual review of performance and on the successful completion of each individual year, Osborne can earn another year. To date three additional years have been awarded.

N Beresford introduced the report explaining that it’s to set out a proposed revision of licence fees payable by landlords of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in order to meet the statutory requirements of fee setting. The aim of the report is for members to provide feedback on the fees schedule for the licensing of HMOs and associated activities, as set out in the report and Appendices.

Cllr Pringle asked if the initial assessment fails how it is down to the council to manage it.

N Beresford said that if people fail to comply with the HMO then we look at the safety of the residents and take on any works that need to be done to bring the property up to standards. We will then re charge the property owner, serve improvement notices, or even give civil penalties. Any income gained can only be re invested in the private sector housing.

Cllr Armytage referred to page 13, could you please explain.

N Beresford said they liaise corporately and they drill down on funds to undertake a stock condition survey.

We need to identify what we need from the private sector housing and the key pieces of work for this year, to inform a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

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