Agenda item

To consider the attached motion.

On invitation of the Chairman Cllr Nick Botterill proposed the motion as set out in the Summons, which was seconded by Cllr Allison Bucknell.

Cllr Botterill stated he was used to working with housing associations in a cooperative way, noting the homes built and occupied had a social purpose. He had received many communications identifying unacceptable communications and actions from some associations, and he had felt it necessary and appropriate to bring the matter to Full Council to bring the issue to light and express the council’s dissatisfaction with some of the performance they had seen.

Cllr Phil Alford, Cabinet Member for Housing, endorsed the motion, speaking about the council’s own actions to deliver high quality housing, and the reliance on housing associations to support many residents in Wiltshire, to invest in their stock, and deliver on their social purpose. He accepted some stock would need to be sold, but that even with financial challenges scaling back from villages was causing challenges for many communities.

A statement was then received from Cllr Lisa Farrell, Marlborough Town Council, in support of the motion, stating she was concerned some associations were putting profit before other considerations.

The Chairman moved that the Council debate the motion, which was seconded by the Vice-Chairman.

Group Leaders were then invited to comment on the motion.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council, noted there were some good housing associations, but that others were too focused on behind simply developers. He spoke of the importance of social rent housing in villages throughout Wiltshire, and that the issue of poor provision needed to be raised with MPs and at national level.

Cllr Ian Thorn, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, agreed action needed to be taken on the issue but suggested the motion’s wording could be more focused on specific housing associations rather than imply all acted in the same manner.

Cllr Ernie Clark, Leader of the Independent Group, stated many Members had problems with Green Square Accord in their Divisions, and supported the motion though considered the wording could be adjusted slightly.

Cllr Ricky Rogers, Leader of the Labour Group, supported the motion, also noting that fortunately Salisbury District Council had not sold off its housing stock.

The Chairman then opened the item for general debate.

During debate Cllr Gavin Grant proposed additional wording to the motion as follows.

This Council expects Housing Associations which own homes in Wiltshire to be putting their social purpose first and foremost, as is the case with those homes owned by Wiltshire Council. There is a desperate need for social and affordable properties for rent in Wiltshire and we are concerned by the recent reports of future property sales, poor maintenance, and excessive charges by GreenSquare Accord as well as a number of cases where Aster tenants have been removed from their homes so that demolition can take place before properties are rebuilt for sale on the open market.

Selling social and affordable homes in our towns and villages will undermine the social fabric of the area. We therefore call on these Housing Associations to invest in their older stock in Wiltshire and not be disposing of it on the housing market in the anticipation of buying cheaper replacements in our towns or in other local authority areas.

We request the Director responsible for housing Leader of the Council write to all relevant Housing Associations in Wiltshire, the Secretary of State, all six Wiltshire MPs, and the Social Housing Regulator setting out this motion.

This would be to focus the motion more precisely on those associations considered to be performing poorly rather than proposing to write to all associations.

Following an adjournment to consider the precise wording of the amendments, the mover and seconder of the original motion accepted the proposed alterations as a friendly amendment, without the need for a seconder for the amendment.

With consent of the meeting the motion was then further altered by the mover and seconder as follows:

We request the Leader of the Council write to all relevantHousing Associations in Wiltshire. Should no acceptable response be received, to write to the Secretary of State, all six Wiltshire MPs, and the Social Housing Regulator settingout this motion.

This would be to provide a means of escalating action in the event the housing associations did not engage with the initial response.

Before and after the amendments, comments in support of the motion included highlighting the vital importance of social housing, that several though not all housing associations had reduced the quality of their service, questioning whether all were building more homes than they were demolishing, and citing instances of poor communication with residents from some associations.

There were a great many comments from Members across Wiltshire drawing attention to what they regarded as unacceptable behaviour from housing associations, in particular Green Square Accord and Aster, raising issues such as poor quality or absent maintenance, raising of fees, poor treatment of tenants, the need for central government action, limitations on social housing, as well as positive comments against some other associations such as Selwood.

Cllr Alford as relevant Cabinet Member then had the opportunity to respond to the debate.  He welcomed the comments from Members about the problems in their areas, stating he would continue to challenge associations appropriately.

At the conclusion of the debate Cllr Botterill as mover of the motion  was given the opportunity for further comments.

It was then,

Resolved:

This Council expects Housing Associations which own homes in Wiltshire to be putting their social purpose first and foremost, as is the case with those homes owned by Wiltshire Council. There is a desperate need for social and affordable properties for rent in Wiltshire and we are concerned by the recent reports of future property sales, poor maintenance, and excessive charges by Green Square Accord as well as a number of cases where Aster tenants have been removed from their homes so that demolition can take place before properties are rebuilt for sale on the open market.

Selling social and affordable homes in our towns and villages will undermine the social fabric of the area. We therefore call on these Housing Associations to invest in their older stock in Wiltshire and not be disposing of it on the housing market in the anticipation of buying cheaper replacements in our towns or in other local authority areas.

We request the Leader of the Council write to all relevant Housing Associations in Wiltshire. Should no acceptable response be received, to write to the Secretary of State, all six Wiltshire MPs, and the Social Housing Regulator setting out this motion.

In accordance with the Constitution there was a recorded vote.

Votes for the motion (79)

Votes against the motion (0)

Votes in abstention (0)

Details of the recorded vote are attached to these minutes.