Cabinet Member for Finance
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 19.3, immediately after any vote is taken at a budget decision meeting of the Council the names of Councillors who cast a vote for the decision or against the decision or who abstained from voting shall be recorded in the Minutes of that meeting.
At its meeting on 8 February 2021, Cabinet considered Paper MCa/20/30, the Housing Revenue Account. Paper MC/20/25 is unchanged from the Cabinet meeting and includes the necessary recommendations.
Proposed amendment from the Green and Liberal Democrat Group also attached.
Minutes:
62.1 The Chair invited Councillor Whitehead to introduce Paper MC/20/25 and to move the Recommendations in the report.
62.2 Councillor Whitehead encapsulated the main subjects in the report and MOVED Recommendations 3.1 to 3.7.
62.3 Councillor Hadingham SECONDED the Recommendations and reserved her right to speak.
62.4 Councillor Field PROPOSED the Amendment, which was detailed in the Agenda and made a short introduction of the Amendment.
62.5 Councillor Warboys SECONDED the Amendment and outlined the reasons behind the Amendment, including that Council had a responsibility, as a major provider for housing, and that this Amendment would bring economic resilience to the budget. The Amendment had been scrutinised by the Section 151 Officers and did not include any increases to council tax or rents.
62.6 The Chair asked whether Councillor Whitehead accepted the Amendment, and Councillor Whitehead replied that he did not accept the Amendment, as the Capital expenditure had a modest increase of £2.5m over two years and an ambitious 30 Year Housing Revenue Plan which would be brought forward later in the year.
62.7 Members debated the Amendment and Councillor Otton began by stating that she supported the Amendment, as there was a lack of good insulated social housing, which would be essential in the coming years, as an increasing number of families would be unable to provide housing for themselves.
62.8 Councillor Eburne thought that the Amendment would improve the lives of tenants and that the Council would need to look to the future when budgeting for the HRA. She was not aware of the referred Housing Revenue Plan and asked that this information was shared with Members.
62.9 Councillor Mansel said that the Council should be committed to build its own housing for social rent and not only affordable rent, which was only a reduction to 80% of the rent. Some tenants could not afford this. Mid Suffolk District Council had a high tenancy rent in comparison to income. It was important to undertake the work for retrofitting of council housing stock to reduce carbon emissions when heating up homes, as this would not only support tenants but also help the Council to meet the challenge of carbon neutral by 2030.Councillor Geake stated that social housing was the only way to solve the housing crisis, and there was a need to provide good social housing, which would enable tenants to save up for a deposit to buy their own homes.
62.10 Councillor Amorowson thought this amendment would allow the Council to show leadership for the spirit of wellbeing and embrace those values.
62.11 The Chair asked if Councillor Field would like to provide a finishing statement before the vote, which he declined.
62.12 Councillor Whitehead informed Members that the HRA Business Plan would be presented to Members in due course.
62.13 The Amendment was put to Members for voting.
By 16 votes for and 18 against, the vote was LOST
To Vote on the amendment to the 2021/22 HRA Budget as proposed by the Green and Liberal Democrat Group.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 19.3, the vote was recorded as follows:
For |
Against |
Abstain |
Oliver Amorowson |
|
|
|
Gerard Brewster |
|
|
David Burn |
|
Terence Carter |
|
|
|
James Caston |
|
Rachel Eburne |
|
|
|
Paul Ekpenyong |
|
John Field |
|
|
|
Julie Flatman |
|
|
Jessica Fleming |
|
Helen Geake |
|
|
|
Peter Gould |
|
|
Kathie Gould |
|
|
Lavinia Hadingham |
|
|
Matthew Hicks |
|
|
Barry Humphreys |
|
Sarah Mansel |
|
|
John Matthissen |
|
|
Andrew Mellen |
|
|
|
Richard Meyer |
|
|
Suzie Morley |
|
|
David Muller |
|
Mike Norris |
|
|
Penny Otton |
|
|
|
Timothy Passmore |
|
|
Stephen Phillips |
|
Daniel Pratt |
|
|
|
Harry Richardson |
|
Keith Scarff |
|
|
Andrew Stringer |
|
|
Wendy Turner |
|
|
Rowland Warboys |
|
|
Keith Welham |
|
|
|
John Whitehead |
|
TOTAL 16 |
TOTAL 18 |
|
62.14 The Chair invited questions from Members on the Recommendations in the report.
62.15 Councillor Field queried the framework for increasing the tenant rents.
62.16 The Chief Executive explained that previously Central Government had set the policy by which the Council had been obliged to reduce the rents on a year-on-year basis. This was no longer the case and Council was no longer obliged to reduce rents.
62.17 Councillor Eburne referred to paragraph 5.12 in the report and queried if it was possible to amend the Capital Programme for social rent, as the Council was making purchases of houses on various housing developments but none of these was for social rent.
62.18 The Assistant Director – Housing, replied that it was unlikely to change as the funding was set out in advance by Homes England who provided the funding.
62.19 The Assistant Director – Assets and Investments informed Members that on the Needham Middle School site and the Stowmarket Middle School site, social and affordable rent housing was included in the developments.
62.20 Councillor Eburne followed up with a question for how many social rent properties there where in the HRA programme for the next three years and the Assistant Director - Assets and Investment said she would provide this information outside the meeting.
62.21 Members debated the issues and Councillor Field thought it would be an advantage if the Opposition was kept informed of developments. There was a reason for the Government to reduce the rent by 1% and he could therefore not support this budget.
62.22 Councillor Eburne said that cross party support would have been preferable for the HRA budget and could have been achieved if the opposition had been contacted in October to work on the budget. She thought that the Council must focus on social rent, as affordable rent was too high. As a result of furloughed workers and people losing their jobs, (especially women) an increasing need to provide housing with social rent was on the rise. The retrofit programme needed to be stronger to reduce the cost of living in these houses, and she questioned whether new build was truly highly sustainable as stated.
62.23 Councillor Scarff referred to the right to buy scheme from which the Council only kept 30% of these sales and had to find the remainder 70% to purchase additional housing stock. He commented that the Covid-19 pandemic had delayed the Council’s Housing Development Programme.
62.24 Councillor Mansel referred to Recommendation 3.4 asked for clarification of the of the increase in rent percentages, and whether it was £1.25 increase in service charges and £1 in rent per week for sheltered housing.
62.25 Councillor Matthissen implored the Council to deliver the maximum social housing.
62.26 Councillor Stringer thought that the Council needed quite a radical programme for retrofitting, so that social housing was affordable to live in and to move with the times.
62.27 Councillor Hadingham, who had reserved her right to speak, thanked Councillor Whitehead for the HRA Budget, which supported the Council tenant programme. The work of the Council enabled tenants to manage their lives to be successful and thrive. The Covid-19 Pandemic had impacted on the housing delivery services; however, officers had manged to continue to work in innovative ways to maintain and deliver the services to the community housing. New ways of working had been developed to make the service more efficient. Investment in existing homes and capital investment in new homes was included in the budget in the short term, whilst the HRA business plan would provide investments for medium and long term for housing.
62.28 Councillor Whitehead in response to comments made during the debate, clarified that Mid Suffolk District Council had 285 units across 14 sites and all units had a common charge of £30.85 per week. The increase of £1 per week for service charges was a of total 3.24%. He reminded Members that the budget had been to Cabinet on the 4 January and scrutinised by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 14 February and on both those occasions he had hoped for cross-party support for the modest increases.
62.29 The Chair informed Members that on the advice of the Section 151 Officer the Recommendations would be voted on block.
62.30 Recommendations 3.1 to 3.7 were put to Members for voting.
By 17 votes for and 16 against, 1 abstention.
It was RESOLVED: -
1.1 That the HRA Budget proposals for 2021/22 and four-year outlook set out in the report be approved.
1.2 That the CPI + 1% increase of 1.5% in Council House rents, equivalent to an average rent increase of £1.25 a week be implemented.
1.3 That garage rents are kept at the same level as 2020/21.
1.4 That Sheltered Housing Service charges be increased by £1 per week to ensure recovery of the actual cost of service.
1.5 That Sheltered Housing utility charges are kept at the same level as 2020/21.
1.6 That the budgeted surplus of £102k be transferred to the Strategic Priorities reserve in 2021/22.
1.7 That in principle, Right to Buy (RTB) receipts should be retained to enable continued development and acquisition of new council dwellings.
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 19.3, the vote was recorded as follows:
For |
Against |
Abstain |
|
Oliver Amorowson |
|
Gerard Brewster |
|
|
David Burn |
|
|
|
Terence Carter |
|
James Caston |
|
|
|
Rachel Eburne |
|
Paul Ekpenyong |
|
|
|
|
John Field |
Julie Flatman |
|
|
Jessica Fleming |
|
|
|
Helen Geake |
|
Peter Gould |
|
|
Kathie Guthrie |
|
|
Lavinia Hadingham |
|
|
Matthew Hicks |
|
|
Barry Humphreys |
|
|
|
Sarah Mansel |
|
|
John Matthissen |
|
|
Andrew Mellen |
|
Richard Meyer |
|
|
Suzie Morley |
|
|
David Muller |
|
|
|
Mike Norris |
|
|
Penny Otton |
|
Timothy Passmore |
|
|
|
Stephen Phillips |
|
|
Daniel Pratt |
|
Harry Richardson |
|
|
|
Keith Scarff |
|
|
Andrew Stringer |
|
|
Wendy Turner |
|
|
Rowland Warboys |
|
|
Keith Welham |
|
John Whitehead |
|
|
TOTAL 17 |
TOTAL 16 |
TOTAL 1 |
Supporting documents: