Agenda item

FJump introduced the report, explaining the purpose is to present the forecast financial position for the Council as at the end September 2018.

Section 2 (pg 4) contains summary table of areas of pressure for Council as a whole.

Overall position for the whole Council is summarised in Section 2.5 of the report.

Section 3 (pg 6) summaries pressures related to this Housing OSC area.

Detailed appendices refer; General Fund (Appendix A), HRA (Appendix B) and Capital Programme – Housing and Community (Appendix C).

Summary; overall pressure of £249k (£15k within H&C).  Pressure of £19k against HRA. Slippage £195k against Capital Programmes. 

FJump invited questions on the report.

Cllr England asked; is it correct to say there is a link between slippage on Capital Programme and the lost in rent revenue where builds are not completed?

F Williamson responded no, that is not the case.  Slippage is mainly attributed to the two garage sites (temp accommodation).  Initial discussions with Planning Dept identified there were potential issues with the original designs due to the proximity of Garages to local residents, and wanted to ensure these issues were addressed so the revised designs are sympathetic to nearby residents.  Also some party wall issues that have caused some delay.  Finally, programming of delivery meant work would start on site just before the Christmas shut down which would incur a 2 weeks delay in programming in various trades, so made decision to start at beginning of calendar year.  Those factors have impacted timeline so caused the slippage.

Cllr England asked; when that development is done it will bring in income?  So therefore the delay will cause slippage?  F Williamson advised the forecast for that rental income was not included for in this financial year so should not have any slippage impact. The rents were impacted by the timeline for the delivery of Kylna Court, which will be completed week commencing 10^th December, so only the final quarter of the year will rental income be received.

Cllr Griffiths highlighted the point that the money from the Garage sites will go into General Fund account as this will be temporary accommodation.  Rents from Kylna Court will go into HRA as it is Housing Rental.

Cllr Bassadone asked, where did the name Kylna Court come from?

Cllr Griffiths responded that it came from historical data relating to Kilns in area, however we could not have that name due to it already being in use so this was selected from one of the other options put forward. 

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe raised a query regarding main sub contracts with Sunrealm and Osbornes, specifically the figures around gain share. 

F Williamson referred to the final Qtrs 3 & 4 for last year, commenting that by time gain share was audited we were already in next financial year.  Decision was therefore made with colleagues in finance that rather than accounting for it in year and trying to spend it in year, we instead forecast an accrual at the end of the year when we have the audit reconciliation.

Cllr W Wyatt Lowe commented that he did not feel that was reflected in the figures.

FJump added that gain share will be included in the forecast, but that she would confirm and go back to the Cllr to clarify. 

Cllr Armitage referred to Appendix C, item 52 - creation of new units – and asked for clarification as to what that referred to. 

F Williamson confirmed it is the the 2 new garage sites as referred to previously; with development of 6 temp accommodation units on each of the sites.

Cllr England asked about the garage shortfall, asking what data do we have about our garage stock and what condition they are in, commenting that the data does not seem to be as good as it could be. 

F Williamson confirmed an audit has been undertaken on the garage management.  A draft report has been prepared and is with management for comments.  The report contains some recommendations that will be shared with Audit Committee when finalised.  In terms of ongoing work – there is a garage project ongoing looking at improving information on all our sites.

Cllr Imarni asked; for a future scrutiny meeting could we look at the whole Osborne contract, commenting that it comes up often with Leaseholders and would be good for Members to have a better understanding of it. 

The Chair advised this would be covered under Item 8 on the agenda so will discuss then.

Cllr England referred to item 4.3; £240k underachievement of income due to voids not being as estimated and asked; what is the rationale for the voids being higher?

The Chair advised that this will also be covered under Item 8 so will discuss at that item.

The Chair commented that he understands there is a strategy in place to look at garages and how we can increases income and look at the £160k slippage pressure under Item 2.2?

F Williamson advised that with the online portal to access where garages come available we have seen an increase in interest.  There was a concern that we had reached a peak rental level and that may be causing people to end their garage tenancies, so we are now doing some work when tenants return keys to understand why people end their tenancy.  Also tracking some work on which sites are more attractive than others, so that we can work with Estates to identify low income level sites to look at viability for disposal.

The Chair referred to the cost of £80k on Adventure Playgrounds; why has that cost increased?

MRawdon advised it was a one off cost relating to redundancy and pension strain of staff.

The Chair referred to Appendix B, noting that rent charges have doubled and queried how, with rents and rates fixed at beginning, how such a large variance?

FJump advised that although grouped with rent and rates, this actually refers to Council Tax on voids; because voids are higher the Council Tax impact is also higher.

Cllr England referred to Adventure Playgrounds and the one off cost due to transition and asked; should that not have been factored in last year when we decided the budget and took the decision on the Adventure Playgrounds? 

MRawdon responded that he believed it was factored in but he would have to check that as he was not managing the service at that time.  Adding that we had to forecast the redundancy cost as that was an unknown at the time.

Cllr England queried; so when we were looking at savings there, we should have been looking at range of possible savings?

MRawdon advised that the savings still stand, this is year 1 costs only.

Report noted.