Agenda item
Cabinet Member update
The Cabinet Member(s) will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions.
Minutes:
The Head of Housing introduced this item in the absence of Councillor Tim Ball.
He said that in response to a query raised by the Chair that he had the following information regarding boat dwellers. The Council has approved the establishment of the Council Strategic River Group. This is a multi-partnership group which includes representatives of the Environment Agency, the Canals & Rivers Trust & Wessex Water and is chaired by Councillor Ben Stevens. He added that at the meeting on the 2nd May it was agreed that this group would progress the wider issues resulting from the task & finish group on boat dwellings, which would include utilising the £40k of funding agreed by Council.
The Chair asked if an officer would be available to work directly with the group.
The Head of Housing replied that an officer would be allocated to the group and that he believed the job description was in development.
The Chair commented that she would like to receive an update on the work of the group in due course.
The Head of Housing explained that the Housing Options & Homelessness Team has recently received a number of positive assessments as a result of benchmarking initiatives and peer review activities. These were:
· Peer review by 2 local authorities using the Government’s rigorous Homelessness Gold Standard framework. The feedback was very positive. We scored 73% the 2nd highest score of the 8 authorities who have so far gone through this voluntarily process. They were particularly positive about our partnership working.
· Mystery shopping provided by Shelter, the national homelessness charity, has been very positive. In particular they commented that telephone calls were promptly answered and that staff were friendly and helpful. The website was graded as excellent. There was however some concerns expressed about an email that was not responded to. This will be investigated.
· Independent benchmarking, facilitated by the Housing Quality Network Ltd using 2013/14 data shows that of 12 national peers:
· B&NES operate with 0.49 FTE staff per 10,000 households (less than half the mean peer group);
· B&NES staff make more statutory decisions per FTE than the average of the peer group;
· B&NES homelessness prevention rate per FTE is the highest in the peer group;
· At the time of writing there were 10 households in temporary accommodation, a record low for the Council. This is despite a national increase in homelessness. If the national rate of households in temporary accommodation was applied to this Council we would have in excess of 170 households in temporary accommodation.
Councillor Brian Simmons commented that he was aware of two rough sleepers in Keynsham and that they were not able to travel to Bath to access facilities.
The Head of Housing replied that it was only feasible to have one centre and added that outreach workers do visit people across the Council.
Councillor Steve Hedges asked how many of the 513 new affordable homes were truly ‘affordable’.
The Head of Housing replied that the majority of them had been delivered under the social rent regime, though some of the later developments would indeed be affordable rent tenancies, that is, up to 80% of local market rent.
Councillor Steve Hedges asked how many Mandatory Housing in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licence applications had been received.
The Head of Housing replied that around 1,000 applications had been received and that these were now being visited.
Councillor June Player asked if there was a condition of the licence that referred to the garden of a property.
The Head of Housing replied that the licence was to protect the tenant in terms of the condition of the property and not really about the appearance of gardens. He asked Councillor Player to pass to him the details of the properties that she was concerned with.
Councillor Steve Hedges asked when a licence would be reviewed.
The Head of Housing replied that they would be reviewed in five years’ time.
The Divisional Director for Project Management addressed the Panel in the absence of Councillor Ben Stevens. He wished to highlight the following points from the report that was circulated.
London Road
o Original scheme proposal has been re-evaluated in light of concerns raised by cycling community group(s).
o Revised scheme developed - support from community groups now in place
o Contract award anticipated in June 2014.
o Anticipated commencement of works on site: Summer 2014
o Target completion of scheme by end of 2014
Bath Transport Package
• Bus Stops
· ER Hemmings are delivering the Bus Stop construction works; currently 242 stops have been upgraded. The Bus Stop programme is expected to complete around March 2015.
Keynsham Regeneration Project
o Project remains on-time and on-budget
o Brass and gold cladding is nearly complete
o Raised access flooring is ongoing
o Internal decorations commenced
Weston All Saints Primary School
KS1 new classroom block
o The previously withdrawn Planning application was re-submitted in April which is expected to go to committee in June
St. Nicholas CE Primary School
The Chair commented that through her work as a governor at St. Nicholas’ School, Radstock she was aware that some major repairs were required.
The Divisional Director for Project Management replied that he was aware of a further leak at the site and that floor work was planned for the summer and would be in place by September.
The Chair thanked the officers for their updates.