Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Democratic Services

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Agenda item

Minutes:

96.1 Councillor Jan Osborne – Cabinet Member for Housing (BDC) introduced the report to the Committee outlining the history of the strategy, what the aim of the document was and that it was agreed that the report would be presented to Overview and Scrutiny on an annual basis.

 

96.2 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager gave a presentation to Members of the Committee on the progress to date, the actions that are currently underway, and the future action planned over the remaining two and a half years of the strategy.

 

96.3 Councillor Muller asked whether tenants who currently rented garages would be accommodated by alternative arrangements if existing units were demolished.

 

96.4 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that a full consultation would take place and that alternative arrangements would be  considered for customers.

 

96.5 Councillor Dave Muller enquired whether the identified 5 properties for rough sleepers would be similar to the converted shipping containers that were being used by Ipswich Borough Council.

 

96.6 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager confirmed that they would be modular units but would not be the same as the former shipping containers but that the detail of the exact models could be provided after the meeting.

 

96.7 Councillor Sue Ayres asked about possibly working together with Officers in the Housing Needs team and Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Group  to get training for other Councillors.

 

96.8 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that he would welcome the opportunity and work with the group to provide the training as required.

 

96.9 Councillor Terence Carter asked about the Councils’ Development Acquisitions and why MSDC had 71 less than BDC.

 

96.10 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that the supply of new affordable housing varied year upon year and that an average would provide a better representation over a 2-5 year period.

 

96.11 Councillor Carter enquired about internet supply to tenants and what advice would be supplied with regards to securing a better deal for tenants. The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that he was unable to answer the question but would consult with the relevant officer and provide a response outside of the meeting.

 

96.12 Councillor Carter questioned whether the Council would be working with partners to ensure that the modular rough sleeper units would be wheelchair accessible and have access to medical supplies.

 

96.13 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that there were different levels of accessibility throughout the planning process and that he did not know what level there would be for these units but that Officers would work with any individual user to meet any accessibility needs to ensure that they had adequate housing.

 

96.14 The Cabinet Member for Housing responded to a point that had been raised earlier regarding the acquisition of homes for housing stock and confirmed that it varied from month to month and that BDC’s Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was in a better position than MSDC’s so could make more acquisitions at this time.

 

96.15 Councillor Keith Welham (Chair) asked about the supply of affordable housing and whether the Council was meeting the District’s needs and whether there would be enough dwellings to ensure that there would be no homelessness or rough sleeping, and to reduce the amount of time families spend in B&B’s.

 

96.16 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that the numbers were included in the Draft Joint Local Plan and that these were being kept under review to ensure that they met the future demand, and that the service had been flexible in responding to demand in the past 18 months,

 

96.17 Councillor Welham enquired whether there would be any review of the number of affordable units and rented units as a result of the pandemic compared with the Joint Local Plan.

 

96.18 The Cabinet Member for Housing outlined that housing need was monitored through the housing register which included the type of properties needed and that the team would be working to ensure that people who haven’t got a home is as low as possible, which included sofa surfers and rough sleepers. She reassured the Committee  that the use of  temporary accommodation was being constantly monitored and minimised where possible.

 

96.19 Councillor Keith Scarff questioned whether the dates and timescales in the report were the most up to date version and what relation did this have on the Councils current position.

 

96.20 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that the delivery plan was as at July 2021 and the committee presentation was up to date.  A further annual review would take place next year in September.

 

96.21 Councillor Scarff enquired what work was planned with Citizens Advice  with regards to actions in the plan. The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that this point would be taken away and followed up with Stowmarket Citizens Advice and that the action would be re-prioritised.

 

96.22 The Cabinet Member for Housing commented that BDC had a very good working relationship with Sudbury CA and that work could be undertaken to review and improve the relationship in both districts.

 

96.23 Councillor Ekpenyong questioned the large number of actions and how they are managed with 38 of the 92 being ongoing with many being the day to day work of the department rather than specific projects or actions, and whether a more concise set of actions and their timeliness should be reviewed. Further to this Cllr Ekpenyong highlighted:

 

-         item 1.8 of the action plan regarding affordable housing and the number of affordable houses. 

-        Item 1.14 of the action plan regarding self and custom build and what conditions would be attached and;

-        Item 1.10 which related to the number of stalled sites and the situation regarding them.

 

96.24  The Housing Needs and Standards Manager agreed with regards to the actions being reviewed especially with regard to ongoing/ completed actions, that it was difficult to predict the timings of supply , that the Council maintained a stalled site register and that the actions for stalled sites would be responded to outside of the meeting.

 

96.25 Councillor Sian Dawson asked why under paragraph 2.1 the reviews were proposed to be annually instead of bi-annually and that this information is not communicated to Councillors.

 

96.26 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that 2.1 related to an annual review of the strategy and which had been agreed by Overview and Scrutiny at a previous meeting.

 

96.27 The Leader of Mid Suffolk District Council, Councillor Suzie Morley responded that the acquisition of housing came under the Housing Revenue Account in the Assets and Investments Portfolio and that there was a target of 214 new Council Houses to be added to Babergh and 200 for Mid Suffolk.

 

96.28 The Cabinet Member for Housing (BDC) responded that there was a waiting list for affordable homes and that the action plan was reported at monthly meetings with the portfolio holders.

 

96.29 Councillor Margaret Maybury questioned the size of existing properties and those proposed in the future, including their private amenity space.

 

96.30 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that there were minimum space standards and that there was a draft design specification for new Council developments and associated outdoor amenity space.

 

96.31 Councillor Margaret Maybury questioned private amenity space for an individual property as well as the placement of homes close to drainage basins.

 

96.32 The Chair noted that some of the issues raised were planning matters and should be raised with the appropriate department.

 

96.33 Councillor Margaret Maybury questioned the statements at 5.16 in the report (p16) and the aims of the strategy as well as grants that could be provided to landlords to provide central heating.

 

96.34 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that the installation of heat pumps was taken on a case by case basis after assessing the thermal efficiency of a property, and that if a landlord did not provide suitable heating it could lead to a category 1 hazard. Grants had been issued to landlords to improve the heating of properties.

 

96.35 Councillor Maybury questioned the responses from the Tenant forum whereby 500 respondents replied with 42% being satisfied with repairs and outlined her concern with affordable housing and the right to buy programme and whether the Council be overrun by requests for Affordable Housing.

 

96.36 The Chair responded that the scope of the question was too large to be answered in the meeting and asked that it be responded to outside of the meeting.

 

96.37 The Cabinet Member for Housing (BDC) clarified that the Council was bound by Government Policy but there was a banding process in deciding the allocations.

 

96.38 Councillor Terence Carter declared an interest that he was a Council House Tenant and outlined his view that how there were a growing number of rough sleepers and whether the council used any translators for those who did not speak English.

 

 96.39 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager and Cabinet Member for Housing (BDC) responded that the Council had a dedicated team for supporting individual reports out of hours and was also beneficial in terms of prevention of rough sleeping taking into account the diverse needs where they want to engage with Officers.

 

96.40 Councillor Paul Ekpenyong endorsed the comments from the Officer and the Cabinet Member and questioned the aims and how they read more like statements and asked how many people on average were homeless at a given time.

 

96.41 The Housing Needs and Standards Manager responded that he would feedback the comments on the aims and that number of people who were homeless at any given time varied but information on this could be provided to Members.

 

 

96.42 Councillor Keith Scarff proposed the following recommendation for the MSDC O&S committee only:

 

-        In relation to 3.13, this committee recommends that urgent action is taken, to build improved joined up working with Citizens Advice and recommends that this is a top priority. Furthermore, that consideration is given to creating a jointly funded post by Cabinet, in order to move this priority and critical area forward.

 

96.43 Councillor Terence Carter seconded the motion.

 

96.44 Members debated the benefits and disbenefits of the proposal including: the value for money and the prioritisation for other areas in the service.

 

96.45 Councillor Paul Ekpenyong proposed that there be an overhaul of the presentation and action plan to provide further clarity in any subsequent report.

 

96.46 Councillor Margaret Maybury proposed that there be additional recommendations to planning regarding pre-application advice and private amenity space.

 

96.47 A short break was taken for the Governance Officer and the Monitoring Officer to collate the wording for the recommendations.

 

96.48 After the break the Governance Officer read out the list of proposals as follows for the recommendations that had been proposed:

 

1.      (MSDC only) In relation to 3.13, this committee recommends that urgent action is taken, to build improved joined up working with Citizens Advice and recommends that this is a top priority. Furthermore, that consideration is given to creating a jointly funded post by Cabinet, in order to move this priority and critical area forward.

 

2.     That the content of the action plan was noted and the Committee asked for further information on the day to day activities of the action plan.

 

3.     That the homes and housing strategy and homelessness and rough sleeping strategy be reviewed twice yearly.

 

The Governance officer clarified that the matters relating to the planning function were outside the remit of the committee but would be recorded in the minutes.

 

96.49

It was RESOLVED by the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

 

By 3 votes to 2 that;

 

In relation to 3.13, this committee recommends that urgent action is taken, to build improved joined up working with Citizens Advice and recommends that this is a top priority. Furthermore, that consideration is given to creating a jointly funded post by Cabinet, in order to move this priority and critical area forward.

 

 

It was RESOLVED by the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee :

 

By a unanimous vote that;

 

That the content of the action plan was noted and the Committee asked for further information on the day to day activities of the action plan.

 

It was RESOLVED :

 

By 7 votes to 2 that;

 

That the homes and housing strategy and homelessness and rough sleeping strategy be reviewed twice yearly.

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents: