Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs Cartwright (Economic Development – Grow the Economy Portfolio Holder) and Councillor John Smith (Green, Healthy and Arts Portfolio Holder).

Members are asked to disclose any interests in matters for consideration at the meeting.

No pecuniary interests were disclosed.

The action notes from the meeting held on 13 December 2012 were noted.

The Good Housing Portfolio Holder reported improvements to parking in Stamford since the introduction of Civilian Parking Enforcement and interim arrangements for residents’ parking. This was echoed by another Stamford Councillor.

At its meeting on 7 January 2013, Cabinet agreed the Tenancy Strategy, which the PDG helped develop at its meeting on 13 December 2012. The Good Housing Portfolio Holder advised members that key considerations for the Cabinet in taking the decision included the PDG’s deliberations and a minority report produced by the Labour group. He explained that he was not recommending use of fixed-term tenancies in the Council’s housing stock. One Councillor expressed disappointment that this removed an opportunity for ejecting tenants responsible for anti-social behaviour. Councillors were assured that no difference would be made to enforcement and that early intervention in instances of anti-social behaviour would be a priority.

Report number H&N0412 by the Head of Housing and Neighbourhoods. 

                                                                                                       (Enclosure)

The Head of Housing and Neighbourhoods explained that members of the PDG were being invited to make comments and recommendations to assist the development of the Council’s Housing Strategy and Allocations Policy.

Housing Strategy

It was proposed that the Housing Strategy should be developed around three key priorities:

1.    High quality new affordable homes available to buy or rent

2.    Improved housing standards across all neighbourhoods

3.    Access to housing and wellbeing services

Mr Richardson explained the sustainable neighbourhoods project mentioned as a potential solution in support of priority 2 and added that it was not material to the strategy. He gave a brief summary of the project, explaining it was a national project which was a diagnostic tool to improve viability and regeneration, which supported sustainability.

Councillors discussed each proposed priority (summarised in the bullet points below) and made recommendations. Any recommendations are shown within the bullet points as bold italics.

1.    High quality affordable homes available to buy or rent

·         Despite changes to the way targets were put together, Councils were still required to project affordable housing need and make plans to meet that need.

·         The affordable housing need for the district was estimated at 667 new homes per year. This was not prescribed and would be delivered in partnership with housing associations.

·         The Council had a duty to deliver against priority 1.

·         It was hoped that this priority would be supported by deterring owners from leaving properties empty through reduced council tax discounts.

·         Vacant properties brought back into use could attract New Homes Bonus, which could then be used to bring further vacant properties back into use.

·         There were a number of technical definitions for ‘affordable housing’: 1) local authority: rented housing or access to shared ownership housing. 2) Government: a new build funding programme which provided a subsidy to developers who in turn would charge 80% market rate.

·         There was no planned government funding to support the delivery of new affordable housing beyond 2015, which would mean stretching the capacity of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and looking for new funding opportunities.

·         A comment should be included about ensuring that affordable housing should reflect local need (the make-up of affordable housing should reflect household sizes across the district).

2.    Improved housing standards across all neighbourhoods

·         The intention of the priority was to raise standards across the district regardless of neighbourhood or tenure.

·         It was difficult to define the terms ‘neighbourhood’ and ‘community’ in the context of the priority.

·         The priority should be amended to read “Improved housing standards across the district and all tenures”.

·         To support developing neighbourhoods that work, a fourth priority was proposed: Promotion of sustainable neighbourhoods and communities.

·         Reports about the condition of properties in the private-rented sector were usually received from a concerned party however inspections were reliant on landlords granting officers permission to enter a property.

·         The Council budgeted for 500 voids each year. A significant amount of work had been done to minimise voids and keep the number below the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

Report Number LDS086 by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services

                                                                                                       (Enclosure)       

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services presented report number LDS086 on the Community Right to Challenge. She explained that this was another right introduced through the Localism Act, which related to requests from organisations to run council services. An organisation could apply to run services already contracted out or those run in-house. If the application was accepted the organisation would be given the right to be included in a procurement exercise.

The proposed scheme, which was attached as an appendix to the report would regulate when expressions of interest could be made. If it’s a service run in-house then expressions of interest would be limited to a period of months that would allow consideration as part of the budget process for the following year. If the application was about an outsourced service then expressions would be tied in with the renewal of that contract.

If the Council did not produce a scheme, it would have to accept applications at any time.

An indication was received that the Labour group might submit a minority report on the Right. Any transfer of staff would be dealt with separately from any procurement exercise. The scheme could not impose conditions on any procurement exercise.

Recommendation

That the Cabinet adopts the draft Community Right to Challenge Scheme as appended to report number LDS086.

                                                                                                       (Enclosure)

Noted.

The meeting was closed at 16:39.