Agenda item

L Walsh gave a presentation and was happy to take questions on the report.

Cllr Imarni arrived at 19:37

Cllr Bassadone referred to 5.2 pages 7, do you plan to do away with all the offices in sheltered schemes and where will they be based.

F Williamson said that they have assessed all scheme and these are the most suitable, they will be based in communal areas and lounges where there is Wi-Fi and there will be designated area that will have lockable cabinets to store paperwork etc.

Cllr Bassadone said that we only have 1 scheme that has 2 beds; we need more as some couple can’t share the same beds.

F Williamson said that they are looking at plots to consider transforming.

Cllr P Hearn said what about 3 bed houses, will we be building more as we are in high demand.

F Williamson said we are also looking at this and developing properties that they are most in need of.

L Walsh said that the demands are 2 bed properties. 

Cllr England asked if there was a demand for Bungalows.

F Williamson said that there are limited 2 bed bungalows and they are normally small. Its normally a demand for sheltered support bungalows in kings Langley. They are not all occupied by old people, there occupied with families.

Cllr P Hearn said as they are small would you consider looking at redevelopment to make them bigger.

F Williamson said it is something that they are considering the past 3/5 years, it’s only been considered so the asset management strategy needs to stay alive. We are constantly exploring and limit what is available. It’s a case of prioritising and next year we are upgrading fire extinguishers.

Cllr Silwal asked if it was necessary to installed carbon mono oxide detector, fire alarm and fire extinguisher, what’s your plan?

F Williamson explained, this is on plan and will do accordingly.

Cllr Conway referred to page 7, 5.4 all EPD’s are they going to be moved.

F Williamson said no only 3 so far, these provide the most scope.

Cllr Griffith said they will also be providing laundry services too as they currently don’t have them.

Cllr England asked if it had affected the right to buy.

F Williamson said that they had undertook work in Bennetts end to see what was brought and what was social to see what social arrears would benefit. Sheltered schemes benefit more as they are all social.

Cllr Mahmood referred to the reduction in revenue do we have an active policy on price.

F Williamson said that there are two parts to it, consult market target cost. We get a reduction from the target costs. 5 Year review is reviewed in the 4^th year.

Osborne have been asked to get comparison of three competitive quotes, then there are overhead costs to this. We do get the market tested.

Cllr Mahmood referred to sheltered housing, they use to be hard to fill, is it like that still.

F Williamson said that a lot of wheel chair properties are the overall demand so sometimes they are difficult to let.