The Chairman of the Council, the Chairmen of Committees and Sub-Committees and Portfolio Holders to answer any questions on any matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affect the District of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 13.
Minutes:
Question 1
Councillor Lindsay to Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
What triggered the in-depth review into building services?
Response from Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
The in-depth review was triggered by a combination of factors. Firstly, there were a number of new legislative and regulatory changes for registered housing providers. These included:
· New regulation by the regulator of social housing for stock-holding councils
· Social Housing White Paper
· Building Safety Act
· Changes to the Fire Safety Order
There was also the need to review the impact of the pandemic and to recover from the pandemic. Furthermore, we recognised that some of the previous changes hadn’t achieved the long-term impact we had hoped for, so we wanted to do a root and branch review to understand the issues and develop sustainable long-term solutions in the light of the impacts of the pandemic and the new regulations.
Supplementary Question fromCouncillor Lindsay to Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
Could you elaborate a bit on what the previous changes were that hadn’t achieved the impact we had hoped for?
Response from Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
I think obviously we’ve had issues with materials that we hadn’t visualised would happen so that has had a huge impact, staffing issues through sickness, covid and also going into the private sector as well. So these are issues that have impacted where we are, I think the important thing is to not look back but to look forward and to be assured that changes are going to happen, improvements are going to happen and I’ve been saying that for a long time but I am so much more confident now that this is going to be the fact. So I think rather than looking backwards lets look forwards and hopefully the new Administration will start to see improvements in a very short period of time.
Question 2
Councillor Lindsay to Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
Is the review looking at reasons for the backlog in housing repair work and whether outside contractors are completing work in a timely manner?
Response from Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
The review is looking at all areas, including the backlog in repairs, cost, and quality.
We have identified some areas for improvement with our contractors and are managing them closely to ensure that they are providing a quality service and good value for money.
Supplementary Question fromCouncillor Lindsay to Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
Are we getting a grip on the backlog now? Is it reducing or is it increasing?
Response from Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing
It’s not good news, we currently have 1845 outstanding repairs, and the problem is as fast as we try to catch up on those, we’ve got new repairs coming in, so it’s a really difficult situation. We need to look at this and that’s what the review will look at why the backlog isn’t actually getting less and in some respects it’s getting more. The operatives are working really hard to reduce this against some really big challenges - again it’s materials, and it’s lack of some skilled workforce but it’s an area that is obviously being looked at as part of the review.
Supporting documents: