Cabinet Member for Housing
In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 18.3, 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 6 February 2019, Cabinet considered Paper BCa/18/63, together with amendments to the Housing Revenue Account. Paper BC/18/40 now includes all the relevant updated information.
Minutes:
103.1 Councillor Jan Osborne introduced the report and informed Council that the Housing Revenue account presented a positive financial picture over the longer term, but there were short to medium term challenges with a continuation of the 1% rent reduction required by the Welfare Reform and Work Act. However, the Government had announced last year that local authorities could increase rents by a maximum of consumer price index plus 1% for 5 years from 2020/21, this additional income would support the Housing Revenue Account going forward. A further announcement from the Government included the removal of the debt cap in October 2018 and the High Value Asset Levy would no longer be introduced, this would also help the Housing Revenue Account in the long term. Councillor Osborne went on to say that the Council experienced lower than anticipated right to buy sales in 2017/18, but these have remained as predicted during the current financial year. The Council was currently forecasting a deficit in the 2019/20 housing revenue budget of £193K a balanced budget had been achieved by using strategy reserves to fund the budget deficit, the good news for the Council’s housing tenants was that they would see a further reduction in their rent of 1% from April 2019, an average of 90p per week. Garage rents would also remain the same level as last year, but the Council would be implementing a project this year to reduce the number of vacant garages. Sheltered tenants would also receive a 1% reduction in their rent and service charges would remain at the current levels. However, the Council was recommending a small increase in utility charges of 5%, which was an average increase of 61p per week. This followed an average 8.4% increase in energy prices in 2017 and 7.6% in 2018, which resulted in Babergh subsidising utility charges in 2017/18. The Investment and Development team continued to move the housing programme forward and the Council was anticipating the supply of 178 new homes over the next three years. This would enable Babergh to increase its rental income for the HRA as well as provide much needed affordable homes.
103.2 Councillor Osborne then MOVED the recommendations in the report which Councillor Simon Barrett SECONDED.
103.3 Councillor Beer raised the issue of anti-social behaviour around housing developments across the district?
103.4 In response Councillor Osborne informed Council that the Housing Solutions Team regularly worked with tenants on some of the issues of anti- social behaviour, obviously parking was a situation that will partly resolve the issue when civil parking enforcement came into place. The Team was also currently looking at introducing estate rangers to carry out regular visits to see whether there were any problems and look to see how these could be resolved.
103.5 Councillor Kemp asked when the rent reduction would cease and also asked if there had been any changes to the legislation with regard to Right to Buy?
103.6 In response Councillor Osborne informed Council that the reduction in rent would cease next year and obviously after that any decision would be made by the new administration. With regard to the Right to Buy legislation a consultation had recently been carried out, but the results of that consultation were not known yet.
The recommendations were PUT to the meeting and CARRIED.
103.7 In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 18.3 the vote was recorded as follows:-.
For |
Against |
Abstention |
Cllr Arthey |
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Cllr M Barrett |
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Cllr S Barrett |
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Cllr Beer |
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Cllr P Burgoyne |
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Cllr Burrows |
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Cllr Busby |
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Cllr Campbell |
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Cllr Carpendale |
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Cllr Creffield |
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Cllr Cresswell |
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Cllr Davis |
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Cllr Gasper |
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Cllr Grandon |
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Cllr Hinton |
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Cllr Holt |
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Cllr Hurren |
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Cllr Kemp |
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Cllr Lawrenson |
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Cllr Long |
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Cllr Maybury |
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Cllr McCraw |
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Cllr Newman |
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Cllr Nunn |
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Cllr A Osborne |
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Cllr J Osborne |
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Cllr Plumb |
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Cllr Ridley |
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Cllr Rose |
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Cllr Swan |
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Cllr Ward |
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Total 31 |
Total 0 |
0 |
It was Resolved:-
(i) That the HRA Budget proposals set out in the report be approved.
(ii) That the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Capital Programme 2019/20 to 2022/23 and HRA Budget for 2019/20 be agreed.
(iii) That the mandatory decrease of 1% in Council House rents, equivalent to an average rent reduction of £0.90 a week as required by the Welfare Reform and Work Act, be implemented.
(iv) That garage rents be kept at the same level as last year.
(v) That Sheltered Housing Service charges be kept at the same level as last year.
(vi) That Sheltered Housing utility charges be increased by 5% (average £0.61 increase per week).
(vii) That in principle, Right to Buy receipts should be retained to enable continued development and acquisition of new council dwellings.
(viii) That the revised HRA Business Plan in Appendix B be noted.
Supporting documents: