08 09 2004

12.

 

Apologies for inability to attend the meeting had been submitted on behalf of the Mayor, Councillor Mrs Champion and Councillor Rigg.

 

13.

 

There were no declarations of interest.

 

14.

 

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Board meeting held on 20 July 2004 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.

 

 

 

15.

 

Consideration was given to a report by the Housing Services Manager (a copy of which is affixed in the Minute Book as Appendix “A”). The report presented this year’s update to the Council’s Housing Strategy 2004 - 2007 and supporting documents for approval.

 

Members were advised that each year the Council was required to submit a series of documents outlining future housing needs and how it intended to meet those needs. As the Council’s Housing Strategy and HRA Business Plan were assessed as ‘Fit For Purpose’ by the Government Offices for the South East (GOSE) in 2003/4, the Council was only required to produce an update to this submission for this and the next financial years.

 

In previous years, the Council had been required to deliver its draft strategic submission to the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) by the 31 July each year.  This would normally then have been followed by Board approval in September and then notification to GOSE of the final submission after the Board meeting.  However, this year Officers had negotiated a submission date of 30 September 2004 to enable the Housing Board to approve the documentation prior to final submission to GOSE.

 

Members agreed that the final paragraph on page 8/23 of the report be removed and replaced with the words “Identification of ‘infill sites’ suitable for small developments continues”.

 

RESOLVED: That the Board approve this year’s update to the 2004 - 2007 Housing Strategy submission and supporting background papers, subject to the final paragraph on page 8/23 of the report being removed and replaced with the words “Identification of ‘infill sites’ suitable for small developments continues”.

 

 

This item was considered by the Board as an urgent item for the following reason:

 

Additional capital funding had been identified, which would enable the Council to bring forward improvement and structural related work required to ensure compliance with the Decent homes Standard. In order that such works could be arranged as soon as possible it was necessary for the Housing Services Manager’s report to be considered at this meeting of the Board.

 

Consideration was given to a report by the Housing Services Manager (a copy of which is affixed in the Minute Book as Appendix “B”).

 

Members were advised that, in March 2004 Housing Board had considered a report which concluded that, under the assumptions made by the Council’s management consultants PCA, following the transfer of its tower block homes, the Council could afford the level of investment identified by surveyors Property Tectonics as being necessary to achieve the total cost of meeting the Decent Homes Standard for the remaining stock by the 2010 deadline. However, it had been identified that the report was based on a range of financial assumptions and that a risk assessment process had concluded that there was very little room for error or miscalculation, as based on the ‘total cost’ of improving homes there was approximately £0.4 million, or about £50,000 per year between success and failure. However, on the basis of the ‘minimum’ requirement of work needed to meet the Decent Homes Standard, it had been estimated that there was a much greater safety net of some £3 million over 7 years. Since this date the Housing Services Manager and Financial Services Manager had undertaken a review of potential additional sources of income to improve these baseline assumptions.

 

The result of this process was that, following confirmation from the Government Office for the South East that the Council was by their assessment criteria, ‘free of long-term debt’, the Council could benefit by retaining a proportion over the next three years of capital receipts from the sale of Council homes sold under the Right to Buy – provided that these receipts were used for Housing purposes. The report informed Housing Board of this development and estimated that the benefit to the Council’s Housing Capital Programme would be in the region of £3m for the years 2004/5 – 2007/8. A report suggesting an amendment to the Council’s Capital Programme was currently being prepared for consideration by the Policy & Organisation Board recommending that the HRA Capital Programme for this year be increased by £600,000 and that further increases of £1,100,000 be applied for the following two years. This provision would be dependent on the level of actual sales receipts.

 

It was recommended that these additional funds be deployed during 2004/5 to undertake additional Decent Homes related and structural repair work and from 2005/6 onwards, provide a significant Kitchen and Bathroom modernisation programme – a key requirement of meeting the Decent Homes Standard. The Head of Technical Services was currently working on a suggested programme of works. 

 

Members were advised that all Local Authorities with stock were required to submit an Options Appraisal report to the Government Office by July 2005 for their approval, to confirm individual plans for meeting the Decent Homes Standard. The ‘for consultation’ review of the Options Appraisal work undertaken by the authority since 2000 (attached to the Housing Services Manager’s report) had been produced, which following consultation with the Housing Forum, was intended to meet this requirement. This document contained confirmation that the Council’s strategy for meeting the Decent Homes Standard had been to work with residents to develop proposals for the transfer of tower block homes to Kelsey Housing Association, enabling the residents of these homes and remaining Council tenants to benefit from the improvements that compliance with this standard would bring.

 

Members agreed that the words “and Housing Group Spokespersons” should be inserted following the word “Chairman” on line five of paragraph 4.5 of the Housing Services Manager’s report.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Board, subject to the words “and Housing Group Spokespersons” being inserted following the word “Chairman” on line five of paragraph 4.5 of the Housing Services Manager’s report:

 

i)   note the additional capital resources that are estimated to be available over the next three financial years as a result of the Right to Buy receipt ‘pooling’ provisions for debt-free authorities;

 

ii)  authorise, subject to Policy & Organisation Board approval, an amendment of the 2004/5 Housing Capital Programme to provide an additional budget of £600,000 to bring forward improvement and structural related work required to ensure compliance with the Decent Homes Standard; and

 

iii)  approve for the purposes of consultation with the Housing Forum and the Government’s Community Housing Task Force, the attached Options Appraisal review (Appendix 1) and authorise the Housing Services Manager to make amendments as appropriate and submit the finalised version to the Government.

 

 

Consideration was given to a report by the Housing Services Manager (a copy of which is affixed in the Minute Book as Appendix “C”).

 

Members were advised that during the current financial year it was recommended that the Council continue to provide its scheme offering free loft insulation and hot water cylinder jacket to owner-occupiers residing within its Borough, who were over the age of 60, not in receipt of an income related benefit, up to a maximum amount of £250 per property. 

 

It was reported that this scheme had operated successfully for the past four years in the Borough and that, at the March 2004 meetings of Housing and Policy and Organisation Boards, approval had been given to the continuing development of this scheme.

 

Members were informed that, given the quality of service provided and the market assessment by the Head of Internal Audit and Risk Assurance outlined in the report, the requirement to comply with Contract Standing Orders 8.4.1 and 8.4.2 (Service) could be waived to allow tEC to continue to provide the Council’s programme of low cost energy efficiency improvements.

 

RESOLVED: That the Board approve –

 

(i)

The waiving of Contract Standing Orders No.'s 8.4.1 & 8.4.2 (Service) with regards to continuing a programme of low cost energy efficiency improvements; and

 

(ii)

The reduction of spending proposals for low cost energy efficiency improvement grants in 2004/5 from £100,000 to £95,000.