Cabinet Member for Housing
Minutes:
22.2 The Chair invited Councillor Jan Osborne – Cabinet Member for Housing to introduce Paper BC/22/7.
22.3 Councillor Beer referred to several pages within the report and asked when improved car parking, the satisfaction of residents and other priorities would be addressed.
22.4 Councillor Jan Osborne replied that the council was working with Suffolk County Council to make improvements to car parking provision, a garage review was underway, and an update was scheduled to be tabled at the September Cabinet meeting. Also, a lot of work was being undertaken alongside partners regarding anti-social behaviour.
22.5 Councillor Beer stated that he would appreciate more information regarding the improvements to car parking.
22.6 Councillor Hinton referred to page 35 of the report where it mentioned both rent increases and a rent freeze and asked for this to be clarified. He also asked why there was no mention of solar panels within the environmental section of the report.
22.7 Councillor Osborne advised councillors to watch the recording of the housing briefing held on 20th June which gave a thorough update on what the housing team had done over the last 12 months and what was planned for the next 12 months.
22.8 Gavin Fisk – Assistant Director for Housing thanked the councillors for their kind words regarding him leaving the council and stated that solar panels were going to be key to improving energy performance of existing homes and apologised for any confusion regarding rent freezes. He clarified that on page 43, scenario 2 looked at the impact of a potential rent freeze in 2023/24, this was one of a number of alternative impact examples.
22.9 Councillor Ward thanked the Assistant Director for Housing for the clarity regarding a likely rent freeze and stated that more than 65 houses a year for the next 5 years would need to be built to fulfil the numbers of social and affordable housing outlined in the Joint Local Plan.
22.10 Councillor Ayres expressed her concern regarding digital transformation and asked what support would be given to those unable to use or access the service digitally.
22.11 Councillor Jan Osborne gave assurance that ongoing support would be given and that choices on how to access the housing services were being increased not decreased.
22.12 The Assistant Director – Housing stated that people skill training was being embarked on in some sheltered housing schemes and an update on that would be brought to a future meeting.
22.13 Councillor Beer enquired why grass cutting was being reduced.
22.14 Councillor Jan Osborne replied that grass cutting was being reduced as part of the biodiversity plans to avoid and encourage wildflower areas.
22.15 Councillor Melanie Barrett commented that an increase in council owned properties would also mean an increase in maintenance costs, and it was not clear if this was reflected in the report, she also asked if the measures available to councils to ask residents to renew their tenancy agreement after five years was being used to good effect to address those on the waiting list.
22.16 Councillor Jan Osborne stated that maintenance costs were high at the moment as there were a lot of older houses that required upgrading and that was a reason for developing a design guide for the new houses to try and prevent this in the future.
22.17 The Assistant Director – Housing stated that Babergh and Mid Suffolk Councils have not adopted a policy to provide fixed term tenancies, tenancies were provided on a secure tenancy basis which gave any tenant the opportunity to stay in that property for their lifetime subject to not breaching the terms of the tenancy.
22.18 Councillor Melanie Barrett sought clarification of rights to pass on tenancies to children.
22.19 The Assistant Manager – Housing clarified that every council tenant had the right to one succession of their tenancy but the succession was to the tenancy not the property, when a tenancy was succeeded, the Housing Team would work with the individual that had the succession to the tenancy to find them suitable accommodation.
22.20 Councillor Dawson sought clarification on the introduction of additional zero carbon works and the possible introduction of a rent and service charge policy as detailed on page 44 and 45 of the report.
22.21 The Assistant Director – Housing clarified that scenario 1 was in relation to the investment to bring all of the councils social housing up to zero carbon standard in addition to meeting EPC and the rent and service charge policy was due to be presented to Cabinet in July.
22.22 Councillor McCraw asked if the fundamental drive of the HRA Business Plan and its overarching aims were similar to those in the original plan which was adopted in 2017.
22.23 The Assistant Director – Housing replied that the proposed plan was about development in terms of the housing service building on sound foundations that had been built since 2017 and taking the HRA Business Plan forward for the next 6 years.
22.24 Councillor Busby stated that it was an ambitious and challenging plan and that there were a lot of competing demands on funds but increasing the number of houses would mean increasing rents and more money to help achieve the council’s objectives.
22.25 Councillor Jamieson gave some details of a retrofitting model adopted by Lewes Council and wondered if this model could be explored as an option.
22.26 Councillor Hurren stated that it was a positive report, and he was thrilled that climate change was addressed and allotments were included.
22.27 Councillor Simon Barrett stated that the standard of new housing needed to be looked at.
22.28 Councillor Maybury asked if it was possible for broadband to be supplied in sheltered housing schemes.
22.29 Councillor Osborne thanked councillors for their comments.
Supporting documents: