Agenda and minutes

There were none.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

The Board will receive information on Policy for adding to the Housing Stock in the future.

Officer: Janet O’Brien, Head of New Housing.

The Board will receive an overview of the housing stock and tenants in our community area. The presentation will include:

·       How much we know about the tenants and how this information assists us in responding to their needs.

·       How this informs planning for the future.

Officer: Derek Streek, Head of Housing Management.

Derek Streek, Head of Council Housing gave an overview of the current council housing stock and the tenants within the South West Wiltshire community area.

A few years ago the council had contacted all tenants to speak to them about the possibility of transferring to a housing association because the medium term financial position was unsustainable. Tenants voted in favour of staying with the council. However a self financing scheme was introduced to replace the subsidy system in April 2012 which allowed the council to take a £118 million loan but the repayments on this are less than was be paid to the government in the subsidy system.

The council previously had to pay a third of the rent revenue to government. This had now stopped and funds from revenues collected from rent could be invested on new council housing schemes for the future.

Parking had been highlighted as a common issue on housing estates. Having inadequate parking spaces can also lead to access issues. The Council aimed to work with tenants to establish how best to use funds available.

A new IT system would be launched in 2013, which would enable tenants to carryout tasks online, including; reporting repairs, tracking repairs and to check their rent account.

The new combined repairs and maintenance contract for council housing had gone out for tender in line with European regulations. The chosen contractors will provide a service which covers heating, electrical, response repairs and planned maintenance? One of the purposes of having larger contracts is financial saving. Several possible contractors had been interviewed; the contract would be awarded in due course.

A staff restructure was underway, to enable the Housing team to provide a more specialist service to the tenants. Officers would be able to deal with income recovery and to assist tenants in maximising the benefits available to them.

Comments and Questions were then taken, these included:

·       Would the new contractor for maintenance involve local tradesmen? Answer: We have emphasised that we would like to see local businesses involved where possible, however using a local sub-contractor may not be cost effective.

·       Could the maintenance work be carried out by direct labour? Answer: The council does has a team of direct labour staff who deal with response repairs, however when there is the need to install a batch of bathrooms for example, it would be more efficient and cost effective to use a contractor who can deal with the workload.

·       Some tenants requiring adaptations due to medical conditions have had to wait a long time to see the Occupational Therapist, in order for them to submit a report to the Housing Team, before any work can be carried out. The current system needs to be changed. Answer: There had been some delays within the Occupational Therapist Team; however extra staff were now in place so the backlog would be resolved.

To receive information on the background of the Housing Allocations Policy, why it is being reviewed by Wiltshire Council and how it is seeking the views of the community.

1.     Overview of the register for Salisbury (Officer: Nicole Smith, Head of Strategic Housing).

2.     Under Occupation (Officer: Nicole Smith, Head of Strategic Housing).

3.     Actions in response to under occupation (Officer: Derek Streek, Head of Housing Management).

4.     Update on the review (Officer: Nicole Smith, Head of Strategic Housing).

The Board received information on the background of the Housing Allocations Policy, why it is being reviewed by Wiltshire Council and how it is seeking the views of the community.

Wiltshire Council Housing Register

There were currently 17,088 people on the Housing Register across Wiltshire, 701 of those had expressed a first preference to housing in the South West Wiltshire (SWW) community area.

The total number of lettings across Wiltshire since April 2012 was 611, with 20 of those in the SWW area, of which 18 had a local connection. The breakdown on reason for local connection was as follows:

6        Close family in South West Wiltshire 

10      Household already lives in South West Wiltshire

2        Employed in South West Wiltshire

Under Occupation

Under the Housing Reform, the council was required to bring social housing in line with the private housing sector by introducing the underoccupation system.

In the SWW area 132 households would be affected by the underoccupation system which would be in place from 1 April 2013. The Housing Benefit payment to the occupants in a property which was underoccupied would be reduced.

The council had started a course of actions to ensure that all of the tenants involved were made aware of the options available to them prior to the 1 April 2013, these actions included:

•        Publishing articles in Housing Matters magazine which is distributed to every Wiltshire Council tenant.

•        Wiltshire Money to produce a short film which would be made available on the council’s website/facebook page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsSgiggqDtY&feature=share

•        The benefit service would be writing to all customers believed to be affected by the new under occupancy rules throughout September 2012.

•        Restructure of Housing Department to include Financial Inclusion Officer, extra Mental Health Housing Support Officer, Social Worker and dedicated Income Recovery Team.

•        Housing Management to contact all tenants affected by underoccupation (this is thought to be around 463 households in total 8.6% of tenants) and offer an appointment with their housing officer.

Update on the review

The Localism Act 2011 introduced amendments to Part 6 of the Housing Act.

It provides new freedoms to set the rules determining which categories of applicants quality for social housing, these could include:

•        Local connection

•        Exclusions or reduced preference

•        Under-occupation / Foster carers

•        Households in work or seeking work / training

•        Identified housing need

Opportunity for any further discussion and participation in a voting session on a series of questions on Housing Allocations criteria, by using the voting handsets.

Those in attendance then participated in a voting session on a series of questions on Housing Allocations criteria, by using the voting handsets.

A copy of the presentation slides for the meeting and the results of the voting session are attached to the end of the minutes.

The Chairman has agreed to accept this item as urgent late business due to the need to circulate the Tisbury Community Campus Mail shot before the date of the next meeting.

The Chairman agreed to take an item of Urgent Business which had been put forward by Councillor Deane.

Delegation of power to the Community Area Manager for the purpose of funding the production and distribution of a community newsletter providing an update to local residents of the Tisbury Community Campus Plans.

A report had been uploaded to the web and circulated at the meeting, detailing the proposal. A copy of the report is attached to the end of these minutes.

Decision

The South West Area Board agreed:

That in respect of the urgent matter above, the Community Area Manager, in consultation with the Chairman of the South West Wiltshire Area Board, be granted delegated authority to make a decision on expenditure for the purposes of distributing a community newsletter that will provide an update on the Tisbury Campus project, before the scheduled Area Board meeting on 6 February 2013.

The Board will receive an updated at the next meeting on 6 February 2013 detailing the total amount required to distribute the newsletter.

The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

The next meeting of the South west Wiltshire Area Board will be held on Wednesday 6 February 2013, at the Grove Buildings, Mere at 7.00pm.